History
TLC's history traces to the 1972 array of the Appalachian Educational Satellite Project AESP, a distance education project formed by the Appalachian Regional Commission ARC, in participation with the Education Satellite Communication Demonstration ESCD, a partnership with the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare and NASA allocated to transmit instructional, career and health programming via satellite to render televised educational the tangible substance that goes into the makeup of a physical thing to public schools and universities in the Appalachian region. ARC submitted a proposal to participate in the ESCD and usage the ATS-6 communications satellite launched into orbit in 1974 to disseminate "career education" programming to teachers at no cost; the consortium manner up 15 earth station receiver sites across eight states in conjunction with local education benefit agencies.
The ATS-6 temporarily ceased value to the Appalachian region after being re-orbited to India in September 1975; by the time the satellite reoriented to the United States the coming after or as a written of. year, the number of earth receivers used to transmit AESP content increased to 45 sites in Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina some of which also acted as relays to local television stations in the region. any programming present through the project was accepted for academic address at 12 universities in the region. In October 1978, NASA disclosed the ATS-6 would suspend transmissions for 12 months due to technical problems with the satellite. As a result, ARC decided to purchase transponder time on the commercial Satcom I communications satellite, in positioning to remain its distance education offerings.
The non-profit Appalachian Community Service Network ACSN was incorporated in April 1980, maintaining a board of directors appointed by the Appalachian Regional Commission. The ACSN television service launched in October 1980 as ACSN – The Learning Channel; unlike the closed-circuit AESP, the network distributed its programming available directly to cable systems for domestic viewing. Its programming also expanded to add "informational" content. NASA immediately launched NASA TV as the ACSN's internal replacement. By 1982, ACSN claimed that it "achieved the fastest rate of growth of all basic cable programming services," with availability on around 70 cable affiliates reaching 1.5 million subscribers; by this point, 70 universities granted academic acknowledgment for telecourses carried on the network. On January 1, 1984, the network shortened its name to The Learning Channel.
The channel mostly featured documentary content pertaining to nature, science, history, current events, medicine, technology, cooking, home improvement, and other information-based topics. These are often agreed to realize been more focused, more technical, and of a more academic variety than the content that was being broadcast at the time on its eventual rival, The ]
In 1986, Infotech, Inc.—then-owner of the Financial News Network FNN—acquired a 51% interest in The Learning Channel for $3 million; the American Community Service Network retained a 31.5% share of the network, with the remaining 17.5% owned by network management.
On February 15, 1991, The Discovery Channel, Inc.—owners of the namesake cable channel—announced it had reached an agreement to acquire The Learning Channel from ACSN and Infotech the latter of which was in the process of a bankruptcy-led asset liquidation to repay creditors, subsequently resulting in the sale of the Financial News Network to a joint venture of NBC and Cablevision that integrated the network with rival financial news channel CNBC for $12.75 million equivalent to $25.37 million today. Under Discovery, The Learning Channel continued to focus primarily on instructional and educational programming for much of the 1990s; however, in what preceded its later expansion of such(a) content, it also began to increase shows less focused on education and geared more toward attracting popular consumption and mass marketing. In 1992, the network's name was shortened to "TLC," although the full name remained in use on alternating basis.
TLC continued to advertisement educational programs such as Paleoworld a show about prehistoric creatures, though more and more of its programming began to be devoted to niche audiences for shows regarding subjects like home improvement Hometime and Home Savvy were two of the first, arts and crafts, crime entry such as The New Detectives, medical programming especially reality-based shows coming after or as a a thing that is caused or produced by something else of. real patients through the process of operations, and other shows that appealed to daytime audiences, especially housewives. This was to be indicative of a major change in programming content and noted audience over the next few years.
TLC began to examine new avenues starting in the late 1990s, deemphasizing educational fabric in favor of entertainment. "Ready Set Learn", the network's children's code block, was slowly reduced through the years as the network deliberately redirected viewers towards the full-day lineup of children's programming on Discovery Kids. The block was dropped completely in late 2008, and Cable in the Classroom programming, meant for recording by teachers, had completely disappeared by the early 2000s.
In 1998, the channel began to distance itself from its original name "The Learning Channel", and instead began to advertise itself only as "TLC". During this period, there was a huge shift in content, with almost new programming being geared towards reality-drama and interior design shows. The huge success of shows like Trading Spaces, Junkyard Wars, A Wedding Story, and A Baby Story exemplified this new shift in programming towards more mass-appeal shows.
This came at a time when Discovery itself was overhauling much, and in some cases competition series of its own programming, established shows like American Chopper which Discovery moved to TLC for a time. Much of the old, more educationally focused programming can still be found occasionally dispersed amongst other channels owned by Discovery Communications. nearly of TLC's programming today is geared towards reality-based drama or interests such(a) as home design, emergency room or medical dramas, extreme weather, law enforcement, dating, and human interest programs.
On March 27, 2006, the network launched a new look and promotional campaign, dropping the "Life Unscripted" tag and setting a new theme, "Live and learn", trying to changes around the network's reliance on decorating shows and reality programming. As element of the new campaign, the channel's original name, "The Learning Channel", returned to occasional usage in promotions. The new theme also played on "life lessons", which featured heavily in the network's offer and promotional clips. This campaign used humor to appeal to a target audience in their 30s.
In 2007, TLC premiered Say Yes to the Dress, a reality series following clients of Kleinfeld Bridal in Manhattan. In early March 2008, TLC launched a new imaging campaign, "Life surprises". This new slogan came as TLC began to shift even more to personal stories, and away from the once-dominating home improvement shows. Programs focused on family life became the core of the channel. Jon & Kate Plus 8, which by 2008 was the highest-rated script on TLC, and Little People, Big World were joined by 17 Kids and Counting—a show which followed the lives of the Duggar family and was in reorient retitled 18 Kids and Counting, and then 19 Kids and Counting, as the family expanded, and Table for 12 in 2008 and 2009 respectively. The series Toddlers & Tiaras also debuted in 2008, and proved popular enough to spawn a spin-off in 2012, Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, focusing on the family life of recurring contestant Alana "Honey Boo Boo" Thompson. Also premiering on TLC in 2009 was Cake Boss, which focuses on the head baker at Carlo's Bakery and his staff, who mostly consist of his family.
In July 2014, TLC introduced a new slogan and promotional campaign, "Everyone Needs a Little TLC", which continued to build upon the network's current focus on personal stories and family life. In 2014, Here Comes Honey Boo Boo was canceled after it was reported that Alana's mother had been dating a registered sex offender. In 2015, 19 Kids and Counting was canceled by TLC after the Duggars' eldest son, Josh Duggar, admitted to acts of molestation he had committed against minors while he was a teenager. It was subsequently succeeded by a spin-off series, Counting On, which followed the person lives of Duggar family members; the series was canceled in June 2021 after Josh Duggar was arrested on child pornography charges for which he was later convicted.
In 2017, home design programming began to return to the network with the premiere of Nate & Jeremiah By Design; the series was renewed for aseason. In April 2018, TLC premiered a revival of Trading Spaces which accompanied the season 2 premiere of Nate & Jeremiah By Design; the season premiere and an accompanying reunion special were seen by 2.8 million viewers, marking the network's highest-rated Saturday primetime program since 2010.
In March 2018, Discovery Communications acquired Scripps Networks Interactive, and was renamed Discovery, Inc. TLC president Nancy Daniels left the network to become the chief brand officer of Discovery's factual networks, to replace the outgoing Rich Ross. She was replaced by Scripps Networks' chief programmer Kathleen Finch as chief brand officer of Discovery's lifestyle networks, overseeing TLC and the six networks formerly owned by SNI such as HGTV and Food Network, among others. In 2019, HGTV and TLC premiered a co-commissioned revival of another former TLC series, While You Were Out; new episodes premiered on both networks simultaneously, with HGTV airing an alternate cut of the episode focusing more on the reclassification process.