Discovery to launch new channel on Freeview

Discovery Communications has confirmed that it will launch a second free-to-air channel in the UK later this year.

CEO David Zaslav revealed the plan during an earnings call with reporters, commenting: “While we never look forward to potential carriage standoff, the negotiation with Sky reaffirmed the strong value of our brand portfolio and the passion and engagement of our super fan communities. Our new agreement with Sky in the key UK and German markets includes new opportunities to launch new channels and services. So, we will be helped with more growth in the two biggest media markets in Europe in the years ahead. We will have more news to share in the coming weeks as we will be launching new services, including a second free-to-air channel in the UK, leveraging our strong existing IP to reach more viewers in the UK market, and the new

Currently, Discovery offers Quest on Freeview channel 37, which carries a selection of factual and sports programmes from across Discovery’s channel portfolio. But the broadcaster also has a second slot on the platform, currently used for Quest+1, which could be converted to carry another channel. Alternatively, additional capacity could be purchased to allow the timeshift version of Quest to continue. Over in Germany, Discovery offers standard definition versions of Eurosport 1, DMAX and TLC as free-to-air channels.