With more than 60 stars of the shows on its networks on the Avery Fisher Hall stage at the conclusion of its upfront event Tuesday, Discovery made the case that after acquiring Scripps Networks it has become a major force in the TV business.
Discovery CEO David Zaslav, introduced on tape by Oprah Winfrey, the company's biggest star, called the event a coming out party for the new enterprise.
We're a different kind of media company. We don't have viewers. We have fans, Zaslav told the audience.
While most other TV companies are caught up in an expensive scripted programming arms race against both traditional competitors and new digital interlopers, Discovery churns out unscripted shows designed to entertain, educate and inspire, he said.
We pretty much don't have actors, Zaslav said. We have authentic talent. He called Discovery's programming Functional content, adding that it is brought to life by the greatest characters in cooking, food, science, animals, home designs, travel and crime.
Close
That programming is drawing viewers. Zaslav pointed to statistics putting Discovery at No. 3 (behinds NBCUniversal and Disney) in share of total U.S. viewers.
The event was originally supposed to be one of Scripps Networks' series of upfront presentations. But instead of the half dozen talent on hand, Zaslav pumped up the volume, having everyone from the Property Brothers to the Pioneer Woman brought to New York.
In a bit of a surprise, the traditional Scripps Networks ad sales message seemed appropriate for the new bigger company.
Jon Steinlauf, the Scripps exec named to run the combined company's advertising sales operation, noted that while the increase in scripted programming has made this the era of peak TV, it's certainly not the era of peak ad viewing.
Steinlauf noted that while TV remains the most powerful marketing and branding tool, it is hard for marketers to reach their audiences live because of the way the dramas and comedies that aren't on ad-free services are time shifted by viewers.
The new Discovery offers 8,000 of new TV a year so there's fresh content on virtually every channel every night, he said. The payoff for you is 97% of your ads are watched live and they're seen by the most important consumers in all of advertising: upscale adults.
As he has in the past at Scripps upfronts, Steinlauf noted that viewers embrace commercials on the company's channels, pointing to research that shows that Scripps networks were No. 1 in ad receptivity followed by Discovery's channels at No. 2.
The way Scripps matches advertiser message to show content and the willingness to build programs specifically for marketers will be a feature of the new company as well.
The biggest laugh during the presentation came when Discovery Channel head Nancy Daniels introduced a new Science Channel show called The Innovators that will look at historic figures who started industries years ago and people changing those fields today. The audience started chuckling when the face of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg appeared. Many in the audience had seen Zuckerberg's Senate testimony earlier in the day. Daniels said she'd been following the testimony on her phone, so when the laughter arose, she knew what people were reacting to and ad-libbed that some of the people in the show may have changed our lives for better or worse.
Some other programming highlight included:
Kate Plus Eight star Kate Gosselin returns to TLC in Kate Plus Date (working title) as the single mom returns to the dating world.
Drew Scott of HGTV's Property Brothers comes to TLC as he makes wedding plans with fianc e Linda Phan in Drew and Linda Say I Do.
TLC has also acquired never-before-seen video from the 1996 wedding of John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette. The two hour special is titled JFK Jr. & Carolyn, A Camelot Wedding.
Investigation Discovery is adding In Pursuit With John Walsh, the longtime host of America's Most Wanted.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Bitmovin, a leading provider of video streaming infrastructure, and Akamai, the cybersecurity and cloud computing company that powers and protects business onli...
04/06/2026
American Underground (AU), the Startup Hub of the South and a community of mor...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
NVIDIA and Microsoft Reinvent Windows PCs for the Age of Personal AI
Brie Clayton June 3, 2026
0 Comments
RTX Spark - a 1-Petaflop Superchip, the Full...
04/06/2026
Inside the Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man Grade
Brie Clayton June 3, 2026
0 Comments
Simone Grattarola discusses shaping the look in DaVinci Resolve...
04/06/2026
Cine Gear Expo Announces 2026 Awards of Excellence Recipients
Brie Clayton June 3, 2026
0 Comments
Ed Lachman ASC, Caleb Deschanel ASC, and M. David M...
04/06/2026
St. Vincents Live with Orchestra Tour to Feature Berklee Alum Ruby Plume Berklee alumni St. Vincent and Ruby Plume will appear on the same bill across seven d...
04/06/2026
BackStory follows four Irish young people as they travel back to their parents' homelands
Modern Irish identity is enriched by cultures and influences from...
04/06/2026
June's forecast with GeForce NOW: 100% chance of gaming.
GeForce NOW is lining up new adventures for the month, from big-name blockbusters to quirky indies...
03/06/2026
SES and Viva, Mexico's ultra low-cost airline, have launched multi-orbit satellite inflight connectivity on Viva's Airbus aircraft. A total of 60 A320s ...
03/06/2026
The College Football Playoff, ESPN, and TNT Sports have announced kick times and...
03/06/2026
RED Digital Cinema will exhibit at Cine Gear Expo 2026 (Booth 33, June 5-6, Universal Studios Lot), hosting three panels and hands-on product demonstrations.
P...
03/06/2026
Roku has announced the Soccer Zone, a dedicated hub for FIFA World Cup 2026 content available across the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Argent...
03/06/2026
Liverpool FC and Wasabi Technologies have announced a multi-year extension of their partnership, with Wasabi continuing as the club's official cloud storage...
03/06/2026
Grass Valley has announced that Australian News Channel (ANC), operator of Sky News Australia, has deployed Grass Valley AMPP as part of the relocation of its n...
03/06/2026
The Riedel Group has announced the appointment of Gudrun Scharler as CEO of Riedel Networks. She succeeds Michael Martens, who has led Riedel Networks since 201...
03/06/2026
Clear-Com has announced the deployment of its intercom solutions at Itaka Arena ...
03/06/2026
Scott Coker has announced six senior executive appointments for his new global MMA promotion, which launched earlier this year with $60 million in financing. Ad...
03/06/2026
Telemundo, the exclusive Spanish-language home of the FIFA World Cup 2026, has announced its digital and social media programming for the tournament, running Ju...
03/06/2026
The Bundesliga has announced the launch of Captain, an AI assistant built into t...
03/06/2026
Anthony James Partners (AJP) is serving as technology consultant for a moderniza...
03/06/2026
Audio-Technica has announced the recipients of its annual sales rep firm awards for the 2025-26 fiscal year. The awards were presented by Jim Schanz, Executive ...
03/06/2026
iodyne will exhibit at Cine Gear Expo 2026 alongside RED Digital Cinema and Adob...
03/06/2026
The broadcaster will deploy 39 cameras for game coverage, six cameras for studio...
03/06/2026
The 2026 FIFA World Cup is providing a great opportunity for not only Fox Sports...
03/06/2026
Sony Electronics is introducing the SRG-AS10, a 4K 60p compatible PTZ Auto Framing camera that uses Sony's proprietary AI to automatically recognize and tra...
03/06/2026
Game Creek Video's Flagship A, B, C, and D unit will wind up its first year ...
03/06/2026
According to Caretta Research, the sports-rights market may be hitting the brake...
03/06/2026
Retrieval still courtesy of Tribeca.
By Jessica Herndon
This year, the Tribeca...
03/06/2026
Step sequencer-style panning tool revealed
Alongside their flagship self-titled sound-design platform, Sound Particles offer an array of creative effects an...
03/06/2026
Now features full H90 algorithm library
Eventide have announced the upcoming launch of the H9 Harmonizer Gen 2, a new and improved version of their hugely p...
03/06/2026
Significant discount available until 1 October 2026
Aim Audio have just announced a promotion that sees a significant discount applied to their Essence micr...
03/06/2026
Clarification: SBS's position on definitions of antisemitism
3 June, 2026
Media releases
Statement by Mandi Wicks, SBS Director of News and Current Aff...
03/06/2026
Rohde & Schwarz to supply CERTIUM advanced communications system to Memmingen Ai...
03/06/2026
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({...
03/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
With more than 60 stars of the shows on its networks on the Avery Fisher Hall stage at the conclusion of its upfront event Tuesday, Discovery made the case that after acquiring Scripps Networks it has become a major force in the TV business.
