MUMBAI: US non fiction media company Discovery Communications has announced that its COO Peter Liguori has decided to depart the company at the end of the year.

Liguori was responsible for launching numerous creative and brand marketing initiatives around the world, including overseeing the successful launches of Discovery‘s joint ventures in The Hub, Own and 3net. 

Discovery president, CEO David Zaslav said, "Pete‘s leadership, enthusiasm and creative vision have brought a fresh and important perspective to Discovery. Around the world, our programming, marketing and promotional efforts have greatly benefited from his energy, experience and creative eye. I am particularly grateful to Pete for tackling some pretty challenging special assignments, including the launches of our joint venture networks - The Hub, Own and 3net. Pete is just a terrific guy and talented executive, and I want to thank him for the many significant contributions he has made at all levels of Discovery Communications."

MUMBAI: What makes high heels a cultural icon? Why does the little black dress resonate in our culture? And what are the little known facts behind the evolution of the bikini?

Love/Lust takes everyday items of desire, and deconstructs them to unpack the historical, social and pop culture events that made these the icons they are today. The show kicks off on 7 November and will air every Monday at 8 pm on lifestyle channel TLC.

Each one-hour episode will unravel the origin and evolution of various fashion items that we love and lust. Blending visual elements with the perspectives of professional commentators and public personalities, the show will aim to deliver an account of how life?s cultural innovations progressed from novelty to ubiquity.

Discovery India VP marketing Rajiv Bakshi said, "Presenting an entire gamut of lifestyle programming from travel, cuisine to fashion, TLC is India?s ultimate lifestyle destination. Love/Lust is an in-depth analysis of iconic elements of fashion with in a fascinating narrative."

The show stitches up the story of the little black dress, revealing how a series of events helped transform an emblem of rebellion into a wardrobe warhorse. The story punctuated with the commentary of numerous fashion insiders, including designer Vera Wang; author and Barneys New York creative ambassador Simon Doonan; and fashion historian Valerie Steele, the director and chief curator of the Museum of the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT).

Subsequent episodes of Love/Lust will continue the inquiry with episodes devoted to the bikini, high heels and make-up.

MUMBAI: US non fiction media company Discovery has reported an 18 per cent jump in the revenues for its third quarter, ended 30 September, 2011.

The company?s revenues surged to $1.09 billion while adjusted Operating income before depreciation and amortization (OIBDA) increased by 15 per cent to $479 million.

Net income from continuing operations increased to $238 million. Discovery also repurchased 9.8 million shares at an average price of $36.30 per share for an aggregate purchase price of $355 million.

Discovery president and CEO David Zaslav said, "The strength of Discovery?s brands and the value of our content to consumers, distributors and advertisers alike were further demonstrated in our third quarter financial results. The appeal of our programming allowed us to continue to take advantage of the sustained health of the global ad market and further leverage existing and emerging distribution platforms worldwide.

"The breadth of our global distribution enables us to capitalise on the increasing penetration of traditional distribution models, while the diversity and appeal of our content allows us to strategically leverage evolving delivery methods. We remain focused on generating sustained financial results while thoughtfully investing in our brands and platforms so that we can take advantage of new and existing distribution opportunities around the globe."

Third jump in revenues by $169 million was led by 19 per cent growth at US Networks and 19 per cent growth at international networks. OIBDA growth was driven by a nine per cent increase at US Networks and a 20 per cent increase at international networks. The domestic results benefitted from significant additional licensing revenues under an extended and expanded licensing agreement.

Third quarter net income from continuing operations, available to Discovery stockholders of $238 million, increased by $77 million compared to $161 million in the year ago period. The current quarter results reflect the strong operating performance partially offset by higher taxes, the company clarified.

Free cash flow was $314 million for the third quarter, a decrease of $32 million from the third quarter of 2010, as the increased operating performance was more than offset by higher long-term incentive compensation and tax payments, as well as lower working capital.

MUMBAI: After years of mastering the subsistence tactics by being dropped off in remote locales around the globe, the survival expert and extreme adventurer Bear Grylls returns with a new season of Man Vs. Wild on infotainment broadcaster Discovery every night at 9 pm from 1 November.

The new episodes will see Grylls tackling the terrain and braving the elements, from raging waters and the biting cold to mudslides and deserts, to make it out alive. Grylls will search for new extreme destinations and challenges and shares invaluable survival strategies along the way.

Discovery South Asia senior VP, GM Rahul Johri said, "Man Vs. Wild is one of the most popular programmes on Indian television. It attracts millions of viewers from across India. It also demonstrates the entertainment quotient in Discovery Channel?s unmatched programming."

Grylls has served with the British Special Forces, explored the Arctic and was the youngest British climber to complete a summit and descent on Mount Everest. In the show using his specialist survival skills, he attempts to navigate his way through these environments. Drawing upon years of experience as a soldier, mountaineer and seasoned adventurer, viewers can watch as Grylls claws his way back to civilization, armed only with a few supplies and the clothes on his back.

In this season viewers can follow Grylls as he faces obstacles that push him to his limits in the wilderness and endures the most intense journeys with some of the harshest conditions possible. Some things Grylls does are scaling towering escarpments in the Malaysian archipelago, traversing a mountain range in New Zealand?s South Island, tackling vertical drops in Arizona?s arid desert and facing blinding blizzards in Iceland.

Tagging along Grylls in an episode is the Hollywood actor Jake Gyllenhaal. For two days Grylls and Gyllenhaal embark on a survival experience to an Icelandic landscape dominated by mountains, huge glaciers and some of Europe?s most active volcanoes.

Also part of the series is a Global Survival Guide episode, which features never-before-seen footage from Bear?s challenges from around the planet.

MUMBAI: History, the factual entertainment channel from the JV between AETN and TV18, will be launched in India on 9 October.

Also planned are two more channel launches next year - Bio and Crime And Investigation.

In order to have a broader appeal, History channel will be available in six languages ? English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali and Marathi - at the outset. This is the first time that any channel in this genre will have a dubbed feed in Marathi.

It is worth noting that the other channels in this genre like NGC and Discovery took years before going into local languages outside Hindi.

History is looking at one more language feed a couple of months down the road. "We want to double the viewership of this genre. We feel that it is not just for the elite or for people who are well traveled or who like wildlife. We want to go beyond the six Metro game. That is why we have gone into several languages which will help us cut across SECs and age groups," History GM marketing Sangeeta Aiyer told Indiantelevision.com.

Viewership for fiction entertainment content abroad tends to be cyclical. "People get fed up of it and look for something new. This is where factual entertainment comes in. This trend will come to India as well in the next couple of years. Factual entertainment will become more mass," explained Aiyer.

History will be a high definition channel catering to the TG of SEC A,B audiences of 15 + age group.

The channel expects to have 80 per cent connectivity within three weeks of launch, said Aiyer. The marketing spend is in the region of Rs 150-170 million.

The channel has already roped in Salman Khan as the brand ambassador.

"Khan personifies what History channel is all about ? thrills, action, adventure etc. He is also not known for being associated with this genre which lends the tie up a novelty value," said Aiyer.

The tagline of the campaign is ?Kuch Naya dekho history banthe Dekho? (Watch something new see history in the making). The aim of the campaign is to get viewers to watch something new by going beyond the familiar.

History has conceptualised three TVCs and they have gone viral through facebook which will go on-air next week.

In the TVCs, Khan is a ?sutradhaar? of sorts. The TVCs have been conceptualised by McCann Erickson and directed by Prashant Issar of Tubelight Films.

"Generally history has a perception of belonging to the past and being about black and white images. We want to break this. History is being created everyday; it is contemporary. History is not about something that happened 50 years ago or about dead people," Aiyer said.

History will be conveyed in shows in an entertaining manner.

Ice Road Truckers, for instance, is about US and Canadian truckers navigating deadly roads. "While that is exciting to watch, one gets to know facts about how the Alaskan pipeline was laid out and how long it takes for an ice glacier to melt. It has also been shot in the Himalayas," Aiyer averred.

Another show called Swamp People tells you about a 300-year-old community that hunts alligators; it is about their eco-system, food habits and occupation.

"People don?t want something shown in an educational manner. They don?t want something that sounds preachy. Our treatment of shows is unique," Aiyer claimed, offering the example of Top Shot.

Top Shot, a show about weapons from different ages, is in a reality format. "16 American shooters shoot with weapons of different eras. The winner gets a prize. Viewers learn about different weapons like a bow and arrow," Aiyer elaborated.

History approaches a show on gadgets in a different manner through Sliced. Here the host takes a chainsaw and slices an object like a Volvo truck in half. He then shows viewers how the object functions. "This is far more impactful than just having a map of an object and then getting the host to show with a ruler how the object functions," Aiyer added.

On localisation of content, Aiyer said the aim is to have at least one local show within the first quarter of the channel?s launch. "But we cannot do a local show for the sake of it. That does not work. It has to have the same scale and value of international shows. We are talking to various producers," said Aiyer.

NEW DELHI: Discovery will air Curiosity from 17 October every Monday at 8 pm.

Produced with a budget of $1 million per episode, Curiosity looks to leave no stone unturned in the quest for answers.

Curiosity will look to uncover the truths behind life?s most challenging questions. Questions like why sex is so enjoyable, if one could live forever, what would happen if aliens attacked, whether there is a parallel universe, or how the world will end have perplexed mankind always.

This series has been conceived by Discovery?s founder John Hendricks and aims to capture the fundamental sense of wonder and presents an engaging visualisation of the human mind?s search for answers.

The series is designed to tackle the fundamental questions and underlying mysteries of time in fields such as space, biology, geology, medicine, physics, technology, nature, archaeology, history and the human mind.

Discovery India senior VP, GM Rahul Johri said, "Discovery Channel through its programmes empowers viewers to explore their world. Embarking on a fascinating voyage of discovery, the channel brings a new landmark series ?Curiosity? that goes to extreme lengths to seek surprising answers to underlying mysteries of our lives. From the micro to the macro, ?Curiosity? delves into most enduring and insightful subjects."

?Curiosity? dives into a world of questions posed by well-known personalities including physicist Stephen Hawking tackling the mysteries surrounding the origins of the universe, Oscar winner Morgan Freeman investigating the possibility of a parallel universe, MythBusters? Adam Savage testing if we can really live forever, award-winning filmmaker Morgan Spurlock seeing if living as a primitive caveman would actually improve our health and ?Dirty Jobs?? Mike Rowe revealing the hidden live organisms that call our bodies home.

Intel, the sponsor of the series, will use it as a global marketing platform in more than 40 countries, with key partnership elements including four ?Curiosity? premiere episodes and broad exposure in all episodes of the first season.