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 ...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
01/04/2026
January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION
Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...
20/01/2026
SVG Sit-Down: BitFire's Jim Akimchuk on the Future of Cloud, Remote, Softwar...
20/01/2026
From architecture to reality: What CBC's Milano Cortina 2026 workflows tell ...
20/01/2026
Milano Cortina 2026: Making the Winter Olympics and Paralympics workflow work fo...
20/01/2026
Countdown to Milano Cortina 2026: SVG Launches SportsTechLive Blog in Lead-up to...
20/01/2026
Grand finale: Rally Saudi Arabia pushes WRC to make the most of cameras and dron...
20/01/2026
State of Change: What's Happening in the Remote-Production Business?NEP Group, Game Creek Video, Dome Productions, Mobile TV Group, Program Productions exec...
20/01/2026
CFP National Championship 2026: A Look Back at SVG's Complete CoverageGo behind the scenes with ESPN, Game Creek Video, Van Wagner, and the champion Indiana...
20/01/2026
The Gotham, Film Independent, and Creators Coalition on AI Join Alliance
by Michelle Satter, Founding Senior Director, Sundance Institute's Artist Programs...
20/01/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
20/01/2026
December, the first month of winter and the holiday season, has traditionally encouraged families to spend time together in front of the television. During this...
20/01/2026
During December, streaming's share of TV viewing in Mexico settled at 24.3%, an increase of 0.1 share points from the previous month.
Disclaimer: YUMI TV,...
20/01/2026
Christmas Day is Most-Streamed Day Ever with 55 Billion Viewing Minutes, led by...
20/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/01/2026
Disguise and ASB GlassFloor today announced a strategic partnership that turns the arena floor into a fully customizable interactive digital surface. This will ...
20/01/2026
Last summer, ITV celebrated the tenth anniversary of its popular reality dating show, Love Island. To ramp up the excitement of series 12 (launched in the UK on...
20/01/2026
Berklee's Mark Ethier Named One of SPIN's Most Influential People in Mus...
20/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/01/2026
Emergent, a provider of AI-powered media production solutions, today announced its presence at ISE 2026 in Barcelona, taking place February 3 6, where it will u...
20/01/2026
Back to All News
Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery Amend Agreement to All-Cash Transaction
Business
20 January 2026
Global
Link copied to clipboard
All-C...
20/01/2026
Back to All News
Now You Can Play a Role in Our Live Events With Real-Time Voting
Elmar Nubbemeyer
VP, Member Product
Product
20 January 2026
Global
Link...
19/01/2026
CFP National Championship 2026: Indiana Football's Digital Crew Generate Hyp...
19/01/2026
CFP National Championship 2026: Van Wagner Relies on Experience for Indiana-Miam...
19/01/2026
CFP National Championship 2026: Game Creek Video Fields Premiere IP Compound for...
19/01/2026
CFP National Championship 2026: For a Slew of Studio Shows, ESPN Turns Hard Rock...
19/01/2026
CFP National Championship 2026: ESPN's Sweeping Live Game Production Leverag...
19/01/2026
The new L3Harris NOVA binocular system is the every-soldier goggle' - and the beginning of a new era for night-vison capability....
19/01/2026
The Majority of Those Surveyed Prefer to Buy Brands Who Advertise in Content Tha...
19/01/2026
Back to All News
Straight to Hell' Sets April 27 Premiere: Teaser Trailer,...
19/01/2026
New Workflow Enhancements for All Broadcast Pix Systems, Plus 4-Channel ISO Recording for Hybrid and Roadie Tyngsboro, Mass. - January 2025 - Broadcast Pix ann...
19/01/2026
Monday 19 January 2026
Sky News reinvents News at Ten for the modern audience with The Wrap
Sky News today announces The Wrap, a bold evolution of its 10pm ou...
19/01/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Announces the Series Nights & Days, Directed by Kamila...
19/01/2026
DPA Microphones is striking a new chord in piano miking with the debut of its DPK2015 Piano Stereo Kit, an out-of-the-box, plug-and-play miking solution that ta...
19/01/2026
DPA Microphones will present its 4099 CORE Instrument Microphone and redesigned...
19/01/2026
Trianel relies on Arvato Systems for future-proof data center operations
Moving to the cloud: Arvato Systems implements extensive IT migration project
Migrat...
19/01/2026
Celebrating 21 Years of the RT Choice Music Prize
RT Choice Music Prize
In association with IMRO and IRMA
Irish Album of the Year 2025 - Shortlist Announce...
18/01/2026
January 18 2026, 21:30 (PST) Dolby Cinema Arrives in Bengaluru: Dolby Laborator...
17/01/2026
Lightware, an industry leader in signal management, is helping to elevate the Google Meet experience with the introduction of an integration with Taurus UCX. Th...
17/01/2026
Clear-Com announced a strategic partnership with NETGEAR AV to offer four high-performance networking switches as original equipment manufacturer (OEM) solutio...
17/01/2026
QuickLink, a leading provider of award-winning video production and remote guest contribution solutions, today announced a new U.S. distribution partnership wit...
17/01/2026
NUGEN Audio announces the latest evolution of MasterCheck, its industry-trusted optimization plug-in for cross-platform mastering and loudness verification. Des...
17/01/2026
BHV has announced that it will highlight its new SportsBox remote vision mixer and picture processor at ISE in Booth #4H900 marking its official introduction in...
17/01/2026
Clear-Com will return to ISE 2026 to demonstrate its latest intercom solutions for broadcast, live production, and AV professionals. Exhibiting at Stand #4P700...
17/01/2026
Grass Valley, a leading provider in live production solutions, will exhibit at ISE 2026 in Barcelona from February 3 6, presenting its vision for how modern Bro...
17/01/2026
Utelogy Corporation, the global leader in connected workplace management, monitoring, control, automation and analytics closes out a record-breaking 2025. The c...
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.
