• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, April 7, 2006

At an upfront presentation otherwise dominated by food, wild animals and babies, Discovery Communications executives Billy Campbell and Joe Abruzzese revealed two new initiatives they hope will make the Discovery networks truly multi-platform: Discovery Mobile, which will show special programs designed specifically for mobile viewing, and two new broadband channels featuring documentaries submitted by viewers, Discovery Channel Beyond and Travel Channel Beyond.

Discovery Mobile will not be a feed of Discovery's linear TV channels, but will instead feature 30- to-240-second clips spanning Discovery's "core program genres"--science, technology, health, animals, nature, and travel. The clips will be served up in 20-minute blocks, sorted by topic. The mobile TV channel, due to launch some time in the third quarter of 2006, will target the 15-39 age demo, and is actually the eighth mobile channel launched by Discovery internationally.

Eventually, some content shown on Discovery's mobile network will overlap with the second initiative, Discovery's new broadband channels, which will feature user-generated content and are set to launch April 15th. The two channels--bringing the Discovery Channel and the Travel Channel to the Web--will be followed in the near future by similar broadband channels for Discovery Health Channel, TLC, and Animal Planet.

Among the chief attractions of the new broadband channels is a content area called "MyDocs," which will allow Discovery Channel viewers to create their own documentaries and upload them for mass viewing; the broadband channels are also scheduled to play host to pilot TV show competitions, in which viewers attempt to craft marketable new shows. This embrace of user participation in content creation represents an attempt to inject a high degree of "engagement" in Discovery brands in 2006, according to Campbell.

Finally, Campbell and Abruzzese also announced a partnership with Google Earth, which will display clickable icons--the Discovery Channel's "D"--over various points of interest on the globe. When viewers click the icons, a short feature produced by Discovery will roll informing them about the landmark or area in question.