• by Paul Gough , April 2, 2003

When The New York Times and Discovery Communications joined forces late last year to relaunch the Discovery Civilization Channel under the Discovery-Times banner, they couldn't have known how timely their March 25 deadline would be.

So when the Discovery Times Channel flipped the switch on its primetime slate of programming delving into terrorism and the Middle East, the programs that were planned long ago to get behind the headlines ended up wrapped around the headlines of a new Mideast war themselves. This time of war has spotlighted in a way that executives couldn't have predicted the timeliness of the channel while illuminating its mission of examining the events that have shaped today's world.

"It was certainly relevant with the war and certainly relevant without the war," said Vivian Schiller, SVP/general manager of the Discovery Times Channel and a former executive of CNN's Emmy-winning long-form programming division. A programming block on Saturday looked at the situation in Iraq through the perspective of New York Times reporters in the region, not on what's happening today but what's been happening to provide perspective. She said this kind of programming highlighted Discovery Times Channel's ability to bring a larger issue to light and how it shows the network occupies a space on the dial that hadn't been filled previously. "It's almost astounding there was no place [in the TV universe] where people could turn to get context, depth and historical perspective" on current events, she said.

"We're not a news network. We're not trying to be," Schiller said. What they are trying to do is to bring to the channel the best of both brands. "It's not about translating The New York Times into TV. We're representing the values of both companies," she said.

Discovery Times Channel launched in 30 million homes, up sharply from the 9 million homes Discovery Civilization was in at the end of 2001.It's one of 33 networks offered by Bethesda, MD.-based Discovery Communications Inc. Discovery Times Channel is projected to pick up another 10 million homes within the next year.

While the inaugural week was marked by a spate of programs on the Middle East, Schiller said Discovery Times is and will be much more than things you'd find in the A section of The New York Times.

"We're going to look at everything over the course of a year, from pop culture to the White House, the American auto, religion in schools, and kids," she said.

Premiering this past week have been some of the more noteworthy interviews done by British journalist David Frost, shows that have never appeared in the U.S. They include Robert F. Kennedy (shortly before his 1968 assassination), John Lennon, Jimmy Carter, Yasir Arafat and Billy Graham. A nightly three-minute program, Page One, looks at the next day's Times front page.

In April, Discovery Times Channel will look at America's fascination with the automobile with a series of specials called "Driving America." One of the hourlong programs, called Nowhere, Fast!, focuses on the nationwide problem of traffic. Another, The American Car, explores how Americans choose their vehicles. May programs include Casting Calls, a documentary about racial stereotyping and Hollywood, and The New Face of Late Night. The latter special, developed with New York Times TV reporter Bill Carter, follows the launch of Jimmy Kimmel Live and how it fits into the late-night television scene.

Upcoming are specials about presidential golf outings, how the White House has operated in times of war, a secret war the CIA fought in Laos during the Vietnam War, and how standardized tests are developed and marketed.