About
National Geographic Channel is a Pan-African version of the European broadcaster of the same name, hosted on the DStv satellite platforms, which offers non-fiction entertainment in the areas of wildlife, nature, science & technology, culture and history in a documentary format.
AVAILABILITY
DStv: Channel 181 (previously 66 and 260)
Bouquet: Premium, Compact Plus, Compact, Family (from January 2020)
PREVIOUSLY (discontinued on 30 September, 2019)
StarSat: Channel 220
Bouquet: Super Package
PICTURE FORMAT
720p (SDTV, 16:9) - StarSat, formerly DStv
1080i (HDTV, 16:9) - DStv (since 2010)
ABOUT
National Geographic Channel (NGC), a joint venture between the National Geographic Society and Fox Networks, launched in the United Kingdom, Australia and Europe in September, 1997.
It debuted in sub-Saharan Africa in March 1999 on the Multichoice-owned DStv satellite platform. The channel initially received the Benelux feed which meant it only aired for 18 hours a day, due to a conflicting European strategy.
This lasted for seven years, until it became a 24-hour channel and started receiving the Central European feed in August 2006. Later that year it was added to DStv's Compact package, making it available to more subscribers.
Sister channel Nat Geo Wild was added to the DStv package on 26 March, 2008, placing the emphasis on 'wild' and dedicated to wildlife programming, the power of mother nature and the future of our planet.
NGC went High-Definition (HD) in 2010; one of the first DStv channels to move to HD. The channel was added to the StarSat satellite platform on 17 October, 2016.
The documentaries on the channel are produced and/or commissioned by the National Geographic Society and Channel and revolve around adventure, exploration, eyewitness accounts and culture.
Shows to have aired on the channel include What Would Happen If, Bible Uncovered, $100 Taxi Ride, Street Monkeys, Sinking a Destroyer, Green Berets Under Fire, Air Crash Special, Stonehenge Decoded, America's Hardest Prisons, Shipwreck Graveyard, Monkey Thieves and Genius.
The channel was discontinued on StarSat on 30 September, 2019.
National Geographic Channel was added to the Family bouquet on DStv in late January, 2020.