National Geographic Channel Scandinavia is a television channel broadcasting documentaries and related programmes to the Nordic countries. It is owned by the NGC-UK Partnership, which was in the first ten years of its existence, owned by the National Geographic Society and British Sky Broadcasting. In December 2006, Sky's parent company News Corporation, acquired 25 percent of the company. This meant that BSkyB owned half company, while National Geographic Television and News Corp held 25 percent share each. In December 2007, BSkyB sold its stake in the partnership to the Fox Entertainment Group.
The National Geographic Channel was launched in Scandinavia in September 1997 when BSkyB launched the Sky News & Documentaries channel, carrying National Geographic between 8 p.m. and 2 p.m. (CET) with The Computer Channel between 6 and 8 p.m. and Sky News the remaining time. The broadcasting hours has since then been extended and as of 2006 the channel is broadcasting from noon to 6 a.m., showing CNBC Nordic in the morning.
Programmes and continuity has English audio, with subtitles in Swedish, Finnish, Danish and Norwegian. Advertising has sound in different languages.
The channel is carried on most digital cable networks in the region, including TDC Kabel TV and Com Hem. Initially it was only available on satellite from Canal Digital, but it launched on the Viasat satellite platform on August 15, 2006.
In the digital terrestrial networks the channel has been available from the launch of the RiksTV platform in September 2007. In March 2008, the channel received a license to broadcast terrestrially in Sweden, but its launch has been postponed. It is also available terrestrially on the Faroe Islands. The channel is not available in the Finnish terrestrial network.
The sister channel Adventure One had moderate carriage for some time in Scandinavia. Adventure One was replaced by Nat Geo Wild in some cable networks in 2007. On February 24, 2009, Nat Geo Wild was launched on the Viasat satellite platform. It had then already launched on the Swedish Com Hem network on January 8, 2009.
The National Geographic Channel HD was launched into the Nordic region on the Canal Digital platform on April 1, 2007. In January 2008, the HD channel was launched on the Viasat platform. It came to Com Hem in Sweden on May 23, 2008.
On May 13, 2009 special feeds of the channel for the Danish and Norwegian markets were launched.
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