The Military Channel (now called the American Heroes Channel as of March, 20014), is a channel aimed at history and military history. Owned by Discovery Communications, the channel reaches approximately 62 million households in the US today.
The Military Channel was originally launched on September 13, 1999, under the name "Discovery Wings". At this time, the only programs offered were focused on aerospace and aircraft. When a small company in Kentucky abandoned their trademarked name "Military Channel", it was promptly filed by Discovery Wings and in 2005, the network was renamed to the Military Channel.
The majority of programs featured on the channel today are war documentaries or focus on military history such as World War. American Heroes tends to focus on US Military History rather than ancient military history such as Greece, Rome and European history. Similar channels such as H2, History and Military History offer shows focused on those.
American Heroes today offers over 50 programs including the popular "Surviving The Cut" which features military members auditioning for special operations units. Films that have a strong military connection are also shown on the network sparsely, such as "An Officer and a Movie" or movies like "We Were Soldiers".
