MUMBAI: US non-fiction broadcaster Discovery has announced upcoming new and returning series across its portfolio of US Networks, including Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, Science, Investigation Discovery and Velocity.

There?s the power of the presidency and then there?s the power of the men behind the president. Discovery Channel lifts the curtain for the extraordinary behind the scenes history of the White House Chiefs of Staff in ?The Presidents? Gatekeepers?, a 2013 world premiere television special event.

From the filmmaking team of brothers Gedeon and Jules Naudet, news producer Chris Whipple and Peacock Productions comes a series looking at the key moments, the quiet conversations, back room bargains and heated debates that made history and have never been heard before until now. In addition, White House photographer David Hume Kennerly serves as producer.

Battleground: Rhino Wars:

The world renowned Greater Kruger area of South Africa, just north of Johannesburg, is the new ground zero in a war to protect magnificent creatures on the edge of extinction.

Rhinoceroses are being hunted to death by poachers who will stop at nothing to kill them just to take their horns. The death toll is astonishing; each year, nearly 500 rhinos are killed with baby rhinos and calves separated from their mothers and left to fend on their own.

The human toll too is steep. More than 100 park rangers have been killed by these poachers in the battle to halt these criminals. The situation is worsening. Park rangers and security forces are desperate for help. And now four U.S. special forces veterans have come to help fight for the rhinos.

Beginning on 7 March Animal Planet will be embedded in ?Battleground: Rhino Wars, a three-part mini-series that documents this conflict that is centered on the worldwide commercial demand for rhino horns, an exotic commodity that?s more valuable than gold on the black market.

The mini-series reveals the conflict between blood-thirsty poachers and one of South Africa?s anti-poaching units, which has recruited armed forces to stop the illegal, lucrative trade of rhino horns. Cameras reveal a bloody war that these elite U.S. warriors find themselves fighting, in an area where both rhinos and people are being slaughtered with increasing regularity.

Four current and former members of the U.S. Special Ops (Navy Seals and a Green Beret) have been recruited and brought in to help the security forces. Together, they will survey the situation, train the anti-poaching corps, exchange tactical information and go on the front lines to help defeat these ruthless criminals before the rhinos are brought to total extinction.

Science Channel meanwhile will kick off this month ?Stuff You Should Know? - a new genre-bending television series about a real podcast that?s set in a fictional world. Let us explain?Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant are two real guys - uber-popular podcasters and actual Discovery Communications employees. Their podcast, also called Stuff You Should Know, is in the top ten on iTunes with more than five million monthly downloads. On 19 January Science Channel will follow Josh and Chuck inside and outside the recording booth with theseries that combines all the informational nuggets of their podcast and wraps them in deadpan mockumentary-style humour. Along for the ride are guests making cameo appearances, including John Hodgman, Sarah Silverman, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Rufus Wainwright, and Michio Kaku.

MUMBAI: Jungle Gold, a new reality series, is all set to make its debut on Discovery Channel beginning 7 January.

The series, which will air every night at 10 pm, is about rookie American gold miners George Wright and Scott Lomu who go bankrupt during the US real estate crash in 2008 that spiralled the world into a recession. 

With their houses and families? futures suddenly on the line, the duo head to the jungles of Ghana hoping to turn around their fortune by mining gold, which is available in abundance in the West African country.

After securing $150,000 from an investor, the two buy an 80 acre gold rich claim deep in the Ghanaian Jungle. The pressure is on from the very start to find gold to pay back this loan, as well as their other debts. 

But getting the gold out of the ground is only the first part. The real danger comes once they find it. Facing hostile, gun toting competitors, illegal roadblocks and underground mining operations, the pair learn that in Ghana, gold mining can be deadly.

MUMBAI: Discovery, which is a leader in US pay-TV market, is all set to become world?s leading pay TV programmer outside the US, after it acquired ProSiebenSat.1 Group?s SBS Nordic operations for $1.7 billion and a 20 per cent stake in Eurosport for$221.6 million ( ?170 million).

The acquisition of ProSiebenSat.1 Group?s SBS Nordic operations and a minority stake in TF1/Eurosport would add to Discovery Communications? earnings and accelerate the international growth, Discovery Communications CEO David Zaslav said on a conference call.

The two acquisitions will add sports and scripted programming to the company even as he sought to clarify that the wasn?t planning to become a player in US sports broadcast which has big players like ESPN and Fox Sports among others.

"The US sports TV business is a totally different business. I do not see us getting into big checks," Zaslav said.

Discovery, Zaslav said, now has 153 channels in 217 countries with more than 1.8 billion subscribers. He also pointed out that Discovery was a "unique" media company as it owns nearly all of its content, which allows it room for syndication.

Similarly, TLC, he said, is now in 150 countries and has more than 300 million subscribers worldwide, making it the number one female TV lifestyle brand in the world.

According to Zaslv, the two deals will help Discovery to grow faster.

On being asked as to when international would overtake US business, Discovery Networks International CEO Mark Hollinger said there would be "friendly rivalry" between the US and international teams.

Hollinger and Zaslav are also bullish about Eurosport which has a potential for growth in other regions inlcuding Asia. Eurosport was a viable proposition since it was focussed on low-cost sports like tennis and ice skating. It also airs Bundesliga outside of Germany where it is cheaper.

MUMBAI: Discovery Communications is all set to become the biggest pay-TV operator outside US following its acquisition of German media company ProSiebenSat.1 Group?s SBS Nordic operations and strategic partnership with French media company TF1/Eurosport.

Discovery has signed a definitive agreement with ProSiebenSat.1 Group to purchase the company?s SBS Nordic operations for a total enterprise value of approximately $1.7 billion (?1.325 billion).

The acquisition of SBS Nordic includes 12 television networks in Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland, among other assets, and further solidifies Discovery?s long-term growth in the strong Nordic TV markets.
 
The deal also expands Discovery?s brand portfolio by adding general entertainment, scripted and sports programming to the company?s suite of services for the first time. The transaction is subject to regulatory review and is expected to close in early 2013.

"SBS Nordic has a fully distributed portfolio of dual revenue stream networks with a terrific management team that will expand Discovery?s footprint across the Nordic region, which includes some of the most well-penetrated and stable TV markets in the world,? said Discovery Communications president and CEO David Zaslav.

Additionally, Discovery also announced that its Board of Directors has approved a $1 billion increase to its existing stock repurchase program.

Sports broadcasting play

TF1 and Discovery Communications have said that they have taken the next step in their negotiations aimed at forging a strategic alliance which will see Discovery taking a 20 per cent minority interest in the Eurosport group, the parent company of Eurosport International and Eurosport France.

The acquisition of the 20 per cent interest would involve cash consideration of approximately ?170 million ($221.6 million).

A relationship between Eurosport and Discovery Communications would unlock synergies and complementary capabilities, particularly at the European level, in content (sports programming, entertainment, documentaries) and in development opportunities (geographical expansion, new product launches, digital rollout), the company said in statement.

Discovery also would have the possibility of raising its interest to 51 per cent in two years? time. If Discovery exercised its option, TF1 would have the ability to exercise a put option over the remaining 49 per cent, which potentially would give Discovery full ownership.

Discovery would become a shareholder in the TV Breizh, Histoire, Ushua?a TV and Styl?a channels, with a 20 per cent interest in each for a cash consideration of approximately ?14 million ($18.2 million) with the ability to increase to 49 per cent in two years.

The alliance also would aim to enhance the output of documentary, magazine and current affairs channels in order to offer French distributors a flagship range of theme channels built around the content and brand portfolios of the two groups.

In the production field, the proposed alliance would pave the way for the production of magazine and documentary programs of international standing via TF1 Production.

An agreement is expected to be signed in the coming weeks, once the relevant employee representative bodies have been consulted.

?Individually, and taken together, the acquisition of SBS Nordic, our pending strategic partnership with TF1 through the acquisition of a minority stake in Eurosport, and the increase in our share repurchase program are all complementary to our long-term growth strategy of delivering sustained operating results, creating strong organic growth through investment in content, brands and talent, and returning capital to shareholders," Zaslav said.

MUMBAI: US infotainment channel Discovery Channel has announced its order to production of the network?s first-ever, scripted mini-series titled ?Klondike? (wt).

The mini-series, based on Charlotte Gray?s novel ?Gold Diggers: Striking It Rich in the Klondike?, brings to life the tale about six strangers and their collective fight for survival and wealth in a small, frontier town in the remote Klondike.

The show is a co-production between Discovery, Entertainment One Television (eOne) and Nomadic Pictures in association with Scott Free Television. Paul Scheuring is the primary writer and will serve as Executive Producer, along with Ridley Scott and David W. Zucker; as well as John Morayniss and Michael Rosenberg for eOne; Mike Frislev and Chad Oakes will serve as co-producers for Nomadic.

Josh Goldin and Rachel Abramowitz are also writing episodes as Consulting Producers. Eileen O?Neill and Dolores Gavin will serve as executive producers for Discovery.

Discovery, TLC Networks group president Eileen O?Neill said, "We?ve been developing scripted for some time, but wanted to find the perfect fit. When we read Gold Diggers, we knew we finally found it. Discovery created and owns the ?gold? narrative with several of our hit series and we?re elated to partner with Scott Free Television and eOne Television on a subject we know so well as our first, scripted project."

Filmmaker Ridley Scott said, "Klondike was the last great Gold Rush; one which triggered a flood of prospectors ill-equipped, emotionally or otherwise, for the extreme and grueling conditions of the remote Yukon wilderness. The personal adventures are as epic as the landscape, where ambition, greed, sex and murder, as well as their extraordinary efforts to literally strike it rich, are all chronicled by a young Jack London himself."

One Television CEO John Morayniss said, "eOne is delighted to be working with Discovery as they make their foray into scripted television as well as join forces for the first time ever with Scott Free and continue our relationship with Nomadic Pictures. We?re looking forward to sharing this innovative adaptation of a well-known era, and sharing this epic mini-series with audiences around the world."

?Klondike? follows the lives of two childhood best friends, Bill and Epstein, in the late 1890s as they undertake the next, Gold Rush capital in the untamed Yukon Territory. This man-versus-nature tale places our heroes in a land full of undiscovered wealth, but ravaged by harsh conditions, unpredictable weather and desperate, dangerous characters including greedy businessmen, seductive courtesans and native tribes witnessing the destruction of their people and land by opportunistic entrepreneurs.

Production begins in March 2013 on location in Alberta, Canada. The series will be produced with assistance of the Government of Alberta, Alberta Film Development Program. International distribution will be handled by eOne Television.