NBC and National Geographic Television (NGT), partners in the global development of National Geographic Channels Worldwide, are furthering their joint business endeavors in the new millennium by moving NGT’s award-winning magazine series, EXPLORER, from its current home on TBS Superstation to CNBC, beginning September 1999.
The most popular and longest-running documentary series on cable, EXPLORER has won more than 400 awards, including 34 Emmys and 12 CableACE awards. Consistently the most awarded natural history series on television, EXPLORER received more Emmy nominations than any other basic cable series for the second year in a row. Hosted by Boyd Matson, each two-hour program features a mix of adventure, science, natural history, and human interest films.
NGT will produce 48 new episodes a year of the EXPLORER series for CNBC in a long-term agreement. The announcement, made jointly by NBC and NGT, expands the companies’ joint business venture, which already includes the development of the National Geographic Channel throughout Europe, Asia, Australia and the Middle East.
Andrew Lack, President of NBC News, stated, “NBC’s joint venture with National Geographic has been tremendously successful, and we’re thrilled to have the opportunity to expand our relationship with National Geographic Television. Now with EXPLORER we have an opportunity to bring one of National Geographic’s successful franchises to CNBC. We think it’s a great fit with our primetime audience and our brand.”
“1999 marks a year of explosive growth for National Geographic Television,” indicated Rick Allen, President of National Geographic Ventures (NGT’s parent). “We’ll be producing much more of the best-of-breed programming we’ve been known for - and airing it outside of the U.S. on the National Geographic Channel we’ve formed with NBC.”
“TBS Superstation has been a great home for EXPLORER,” said Tim Kelly, President of NGT, “and we’ll be looking forward to continuing to work with the Turner Networks and Time-Warner on other projects. Our strategic alliance with NBC and the easy fit of our EXPLORER show with the increasingly popular nonfiction programming on CNBC made this shift a natural evolution.”
Building on its reputation for remarkably visual and compelling stories, National Geographic Television (NGT) augments its award-winning documentary production with new children’s programming, primetime drama, large-format and feature film programming, as well as international broadcast and video distribution. NGT’s business enterprise with NBC has resulted in the development of National Geographic Channels Worldwide, which launches the National Geographic Channel with local partners throughout the global marketplace. More than 28 million households in 45 countries now can view the National Geographic Channel, with full worldwide coverage expected in the next 18 months. At present, NGT’s programming can be seen in the United States on the NBC, TBS and PBS networks as well as through syndication and home video, while more than 100 different outlets in some 90 territories currently license NGT programming.
National Geographic Television is a subsidiary of National Geographic Ventures, a wholly owned, taxable subsidiary of the National Geographic Society. As the world’s largest nonprofit scientific and educational organization, the Society has a 109-year tradition of support for the world’s great explorations and discoveries. Today’s foremost adventures are brought to a worldwide audience via magazines - the flagship NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC magazine, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELER, WORLD, and ADVENTURE (launching Spring 1999) - books, television programs, films, and new media ventures, including the award-winning Web site www.nationalgeographic.com.
NBC is a global media company with diverse holdings, including CNBC, which is the world leader in live business news and is available in more than 160 million homes worldwide, 67 million in the United States alone. In the U.S. CNBC offers business news programming during the day as a joint service of NBC and Dow Jones. In primetime the network offers broad-based news, talk, and entertainment programming. Weekends on the network feature talk and entertainment programming.
Media Contacts:
Melissa Montefiore, NGT
Tel: +1 202 857 7627
Alex Constantinople, NBC
Tel: +1 212 664 6151
George Jamison, CNBC
Tel: +1 201 346 2100
