• Associated Press, Friday, March 21, 2008 11:30 AM

The History Channel has dropped the beginning and end of its long held moniker and now wants to be known as "History." Says Nancy Dubuc, the network's executive vice president, "Our brand is, in the media landscape, synonymous with the genre of history, so I don't think it's presumptuous of us to call ourselves History."

She adds that many viewers already refer to it that way and that using "Channel" drags down its efforts to establish the brand in other media like the Internet. The net has also changed its "H" logo to make it look bolder and supposedly less ancient as it switches to a more "immersive" style, Dubuc, says, one that shows rather than tells.

Besides, between adventure job shows like "Ice Road Truckers" and the series "MonsterQuest," history ain't what it used to be. "It's not exactly history, is it?" says Sean Wilentz, a professor at Princeton University. "Anybody who thinks that there's only one place to go for history is badly mistaken."

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