A June 20 Business article about Discovery Communications incorrectly said that the Discovery Channel program "American Chopper" made its debut in 2004 and that the bike shop featured in the show is in California. The show began in 2002, and the bike shop is in New York.
Discovery at 20: Global Strategy
Little Room Left in U.S. to Grow
Chief executive Judith A. McHale leads Discovery Communications Inc. as it explores new ways to expand the company's television networks.
(By Bill O'leary -- The Washington Post)
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Monday, June 20, 2005
There is nothing more universal, it turns out, than a father yelling at his offspring.
Since its debut last year, millions of viewers worldwide have tuned in to watch "American Chopper," Discovery Channel's reality show about the battles between motorcycle builder Paul Teutul Sr. and his sons at a family-run business in California.
The show is No. 2 in Poland. It recently debuted in Malaysia. Teutul's sometimes vulgar vocabulary has been translated into Castillan, Portuguese and Chinese.
As Discovery marks its 20th anniversary, the Silver Spring media company has moved beyond the science-based premise of founder John S. Hendricks. It has set aside the risky Internet and video-on-demand ventures that cost it tens of millions of dollars during the dot-com craze.
Instead, it is trying to divine the tastes of 160 countries, hoping that U.S.-produced shows like "MythBusters" might take off in Tazania, or "FBI Files" might shoot to the top in South Korea.
Discovery is also trying to tap local sentiment with shows produced in Asia, Britain and elsewhere. The formula has already produced a couple of regional winners, such as "Virtual History," a British show that uses computer-generated imagery -- Adolf Hitler's face superimposed on an actor's body -- to re-create historic events. "Afterlife," a show popular in Asia, looks at how people in different cultures deal with death.
If that seems to be an exotic strategy for a company that began with a focus on documentaries about the natural world, there is a good reason. While its 16 U.S. channels still drive revenue at Discovery, they have been beset by challenges, including a sense that they are now at a saturation point with limited potential for growth. About 90 million U.S. households receive Discovery channels with their cable subscriptions.
Ratings are down at TLC, an important piece of the Discovery operation. The success of its popular "Trading Spaces" home-decorating show has been undermined by numerous copycats, and the loss of audience has forced the company to give advertisers several millions of dollars in make-good advertising.
The company brought in new management recently and stepped up program development. As many as 90 new shows are now in the works, with the first batch to debut this fall.
Discovery Communications Inc. chief executive Judith A. McHale said in an interview that consumer tastes are changing more rapidly than ever.
"We have to constantly reinvent ourselves," she said.
Discovery has room to add subscribers to its digital networks, such as FitTV and DiscoveryHome. But by and large, Discovery's U.S. networks are a "mature" business, said Andrew Baker, an analyst at Cathay Financial LLC.
