History is a pan-European television channel

Television channel

A television channel is a physical or virtual channel over which a television station or television network is distributed. For example, in North America, "channel 2" refers to the broadcast or cable band of 54 to 60 MHz, with carrier frequencies of 55.25 MHz for NTSC analog video and...

 broadcasting programmes related to historical events and persons, owned by a joint-venture between A&E Television Networks

A&E Television Networks

A&E Television Networks is a U.S. media company that owns a group of television channels available via cable & satellite in the US and abroad...

, owner of the American History, and British Sky Broadcasting

British Sky Broadcasting

British Sky Broadcasting Group plc is a satellite broadcasting, broadband and telephony services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom, with operations in the United Kingdom and the Ireland....

, the UK's largest pay-TV provider.

History

The channel was launched in November 1995 under the name The History Channel and was the first version of History to launch outside the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. It was first broadcast from the crowded transponder 47 on the Astra 1C

Astra 1C

Astra 1C was the third communications satellite launched by the Société Européenne des Satellites , now SES Astra. It is the oldest Astra satellite still in operation, although it currently carries few services...

 satellite, where it would broadcast for four hours between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. on weekdays. Among the channels it shared the transponder with were Sky Travel

Sky Travel

Sky Real Lives was an in-house channel from BSkyB that showed extensive programmes about travel, adverts for travel agencies and documentaries. The channels closed on 19 August 2010.-History:...

, Sky Soap

Sky Soap

Sky Soap was a British Sky Broadcasting channel that showed a mix of American and British soap operas, including Emmerdale and Take the High Road....

, Sky Sports 2 and Sci-Fi Channel.

In 1997, Sky Sports 2 became a full-day channel and the channels that time-shared with it had to move. The History Channel would now share transponder 24 with Sky Soap and Sci-Fi Channel.

The launch of Sky allowed the channel to increase it broadcast hours significantly.

On 26 October 2006, The History Channel HD launched in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

In November 2008, the channel got its current name. The high-definition channel became History HD in the process.

The company behind the channel was known as The History Channel ( UK ) Limited until July 2009, when it was renamed AETN UK to reflect the fact that the company now offers several channels. On 22 September 2011, AETN UK was rebranded as A+E Networks UK.

A+E Networks UK operations

Since the launch of History, the company has extended its line-up with:

• Bio. in October 2000
• Crime & Investigation Network on 10 July 2006
• History HD on 26 October 2006
• Military History on 28 July 2008
• The History Channel Africa since 1 December 2003
• The History Channel Greece since 5 September 2005
• The History Channel Scandinavia
  The History Channel Scandinavia
  The History Channel Scandinavia is a television channel showing history-related programmes broadcasting to Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark. The channel is operated by The History Channel UK, which is a joint venture between British Sky Broadcasting and A&E Television Networks, owner of the...
  
   since 1 February 2007
• Crime & Investigation Network Africa since 26 February 2007
• The History Channel Central Europe since April 2008.
• The History Channel Benelux since July 2009.