• The New York Times, Monday, March 8, 2010 11:57 PM

This month, the News Corporation will import a foreign channel the focuses on natural history: Nat Geo Wild. The channel, Nat Geo Wild, will replace the Fox Reality Channel on some cable lineups on March 29. Like its bigger brother, the National Geographic Channel, it will be operated as a joint venture between the News Corporation and National Geographic Ventures. Wild started three years ago in Hong Kong and has since made inroads in more than 50 countries, the two companies say.

Its big rival is Discovery's Animal Planet. Fox Reality is available in about 50 million homes, and the News Corp. expects many will be moved to Wild, although distributors have the option not to switch. "We anticipate this being one of the largest cable launches ever," said Rich Goldfarb, the channel's senior vice president for advertising sales.

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