ABSTRACT
Discovery and other pan-European and global television and media outlets consciously incorporate different forms of localization-although to a varying degree-in their effort to expand throughout the world. Media content and brands are produced, shaped, and adjusted to increase their proximity to national and local conditions, and to thereby strengthen the overall appeal of the cross-national and global media outlets. Despite the implementation of localization initiatives, aspects of the ‘global’ and ‘universal’ have a signifi cant presence in Discovery’s televisual culture, and within television program genres that are distributed cross-nationally. The ideal program has a national appeal, while at the same time appeals to segments of the European or global television audience. This chapter explores the characteristics of ‘global programing’ and the global television market, and shows how Discovery connects to these characteristics as the enterprise attempts to create content with ‘global resonance’.
