Discovery Health Channel

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This article is about the US television channel. For the Canadian version, see Discovery Health (Canada). For the United Kingdom version, see Home & Health (UK & Ireland).
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Discovery Health Channel
Launched August 2, 1999
Owned by Discovery Communications, Inc.
Headquarters Silver Spring, Maryland
Sister channel(s) Discovery Networks
Website Discovery Health Channel (US)
Availability
Satellite
DirecTV Channel 279
Channel 1279 (VOD)
Dish Network Channel 189
C-Band AMC 11-Channel 613 (4DTV Digital)
Cable
Available on most cable systems Check Local Listings for channels

Discovery Health Channel (or DHC), launched on August 2, 1999, is a soon to be defunct U.S. cable television network dedicated to programming that highlights various aspects of health and wellness (and unwellness as well). The network is a media property of Discovery Communications Inc., the parent company of other popular cable TV networks such as Discovery Channel, TLC, and Animal Planet.

A version of DHC has been set up in Canada as well; Discovery Health Canada is a joint venture between Canadian media giant CW Media and Discovery Communications Inc. Another version of the channel in the United Kingdom has since been renamed Discovery Home & Health.

In the beginning, DHC started out rerunning material from other Discovery Communications entities, most notably the medical-based reality show programming from TLC. As the network matured, it began producing its own programming in the reality show genre, mostly dealing with babies (Babies: Special Delivery, Birth Day), bodies (Plastic Surgery: Before and After, National Body Challenge), and blood (The Critical Hour, Dr. G: Medical Examiner). DHC also shows episodes of the CBS medical drama series Chicago Hope on a semi-regular basis.

DHC won its first Daytime Emmy in 2004 for its original series about adoptive families, Adoption Stories. Most of DHC's fitness-related programming has since been spun off to its sister network FitTV, though some of it remains, such as the annual National Body Challenge series.