In its upfront announcement yesterday, Discovery, Inc, provided some interesting data about some of its 19 networks: how many hours of original programming they’d air this year. Those shows are primarily reality TV and unscripted/nonfiction content; after all, the company says it is “the new global leader in real life entertainment.”
Its 19 networks together produce the equivalent of 333 days—more than 11 months—of nonstop television: “Discovery delivers over 8,000 hours of original programming each year,” according to its press release.
Discovery broke down the number of hours of new, original programming that would air on six networks:
- HGTV: 766 hours
- Food Network: 650 hours
- Investigation Discovery: 650 hours
- TLC: 567 hours*
- Discovery: 448 hours
- DIY: 250 hours
- Cooking Channel: 200 hours
* The press release breaks down TLC’s “premiere hours,” which may be a different calculation than “hours of original programming,” which is how the other networks’ hours are identified.
That’s a total of 3,531 hours of new content. If my math is right, that’s equivalent to 147 days, or almost five months of non-stop reality television. And that doesn’t include its other major networks such as OWN, Animal Planet, Travel Channel, and Science.
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