NGC Plans Conservation Push
National Geographic Channel to Launch Preserve Our Planet
By Christian Lewis -- Multichannel News, 3/11/2007 8:01:00 PM
With an eye on harnessing affiliate interest in environmental conservation, National Geographic Channel is rolling out a multiplatform education initiative called Preserve Our Planet.
“Preserve Our Planet is about helping people to understand what conservation means to them,” NGC senior vice president of marketing and media strategy Kiera Hynninen said. “It’s really about relevancy to the individuals. So many people hear about it through all walks of the media, but people don’t know what to do about it.”
The initiative -- which the network planned to discuss at the 2007 Cable Television Public Affairs Association Forum this week in Washington, D.C. -- will offer coverage of conservation-oriented events, a series featuring conservation tips, video-on-demand content and on-air public-service announcements, as well as a dedicated Web site with tips, tools, public forums, resources, blogs and related links.
In addition, the network will encourage operators to sponsor ads and events in local markets.
“We’re going to roll the program out next fall to the entire affiliate community, then focus on roughly 10 markets by bringing local events, keynote speakers and lecturers into those markets,” Fox Cable Networks senior VP of affiliate marketing and ad sales Todd Schoen said. “It’ll be partially based on affiliate interest and, where we know our key markets are that are important to us, from a distribution perspective.”
Schoen added the initiative was a natural extension of the network’s Everyday Explorer (http://www.everydayexplorer.com) program, which brings the resources of National Geographic and operators to schools in local markets in order to educate kids on local and global environmental issues.
That program is now in place in Cox Communications in Hampton Roads, Va.; Time Warner Cable in Kansas City, Mo., and Columbus, Ohio; Comcast in Bremerton, Wash., and Memphis, Tenn.; Bright House Networks in Tampa, Fla.; and Oceanic Time Warner in Honolulu.
Everyday Explorer is slated to expand this spring to Mediacom Communications in Des Moines, Iowa; Comcast in Manchester, N.H.; Time Warner in San Antonio; and Bresnan Communications in Montana.
Hynninen said NGC would incorporate aspects of Everyday Explorer into Preserve Our Planet, such as offering lectures by National Geographic Explorers and relevant on-demand content, but the new initiative would be much broader in scope.
“The difference is that Everyday Explorer is a program with which we are helping kids understand and explore the world around them,” she added. “Preserve Our Planet is not just a kids’ program … It’s a broader commitment that will be demonstrated through our programming, Web-site content, PSA messaging … It’s definitely a long-term commitment.”
She said conservation is already inherent in much of NGC’s programming. For example: ongoing predator-series Planet Carnivore, or the network’s upcoming Galapagos, a three-hour documentary on the biodiversity and habitat of the 13 Pacific islands. The latter film was shot in HD and debuts this Sunday, March 18.
Hynninen added that NGC’s commitment to environmental conservation stems from the drive of parent company National Geographic Society, saying, “It is in our DNA. This is what we do. This is what we expect.”
NGC launched in 2001 as a joint venture between National Geographic Television and Film and Fox Cable Networks.
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