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.
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.
In late 2009 Discovery Communications will cease the broadcasting of the Discovery Health Channel and replace it with OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network.1 According to Discovery, DHC was selected to be dropped due to its low viewer ratings.2
