Science Channel is celebrating its 20th anniversary by enjoying its strongest ratings year among its core adult 25-54 audience in its history. With science-themed programming in the entertainment zeitgeist with such hit shows as CBS’s Big Bang Theory and HBO’s Westworld, Science is feeding its core viewers with creative and informative, star-powered shows like Through the Wormhole With Morgan Freeman, as well as longtime network favorites like Punkin Chunkin, which will make its return to the network this Thanksgiving.

Science Channel general manager Marc Etkind recently spoke to Multichannel News programming editor R. Thomas Umstead about the network’s anniversary as well as the network’s future programming and distribution endeavors.

MCN:So, at the 20-year mark, how would you define the Science Channel brand?

Marc Etkind: I think the brand is to be firmly about science, but also to be broad and popular. We are the place where you can get the latest information on space, technology, engineering and for mind-blowing science questions. We do it with tremendous talent, whether it’s people like Morgan Freeman, who hosts Through the Wormhole on our on our network. One of the things that we’re really proud of is that we’re very timely. We have science news on every night and we cover the latest NASA missions, like the recent mission to Jupiter and Comet mission. We have live cut-ins of launches … It’s a timely and relevant network.

MCN:How has the network’s programming evolved over the past 20 years?

ME: I think what’s been the same over the 20 years is this commitment to quality and to depth of information; that you can come to the Science Channel and you can be entertained, but you can learn something as well. And I think that’s something that we’ve been doing from the very beginning.

This is the No. 1 network for space information, and it’s something that this network has been doing with Through The Wormhole series and other series like Wonders of The Solar System, How The Universe Works, Space’s Deepest Secrets and Punkin Chunkin, which remains the highest-rated show in the network’s history — it’s coming back this year, and we’re super- excited to have that on over Thanksgiving weekend.

And then we have a brand new miniseries that we’re launching on Mars coming up this month. I know other networks are doing some space programming and then they do a pretty decent job of it, but if you want space on a regular basis, we are the network for that.

MCN:You mentioned other networks moving into the science genre. Once upon a time, science-themed programming was considered geeky and boring, but now science content is very prevalent on a number of entertainment-based networks. Why has science now become mainstream programming?

ME: I think what’s happening is that we are living in the midst of a science and technology revolution, and things like artificial intelligence are here in some form or another, and driverless cars are going to be here any day. You carry in your pocket a cellphone that’s more powerful than computers 20 years ago. So we are surrounded by science and technology, and so I think there’s a craving to understand it, to know how it works and also to know what’s coming next. And I think we as a network have been able to satisfy that curiosity and that need for more information. So I think we’ve just been growing along with the scientific achievements that have been happening around [us] and establishing ourselves as the place to learn more about that.

MCN:Given that, how does the Science Channel stay competitive in a very crowded and competitive marketplace?

ME: We’ve had a fantastic year so far because we’ve been able to engage and entertain and educate our audience by giving them mind-blowing information on the latest in space.

On the digital side, we’re offering content in VR and our SciGo TV Everywhere app allows people who subscribe to Science to watch their favorite shows whenever they want.

We’re always looking at ways of expanding the brand to make sure that that brand continues on whatever platform the viewers want it to be on. We have a tremendous engagement on Facebook with our superfans, and they come for additional information and the latest science news. So we’re going to continue to engage with our fans across the various platforms.

MCN:How do you see the network evolving over the next 20 years?

ME: When you look at the next 20 years of TV, there’s going to be a huge number of changes that we can’t predict.

It’s like science — it’s a revolution that we can’t predict, but we know when you have a strong brand like Science Channel we’re going to be out there giving our fans the kind of relevant information that they want.

Arnold Palmer, the golf legend and, with an assist from IMG founder Mark McCormack, sports marketing icon, includes “co-founder of Golf Channel” on his extensive resume. The winner of seven major tournaments became friends with cable entrepreneur Joe Gibbs in 1990 and five years later they launched the Golf Channel. Multichannel.com news editor Mike Reynolds spoke with The King via phone at his home in Palm Springs, Calif., about the network’s early days, its current lineup and the state of some key players’ games.

MCN: Mr. Palmer, how are you feeling? Still getting out and hitting that ball?

Arnold Palmer: I’m not playing right now. I fell, and did a 360 and dislocated my right shoulder. It’s giving me a fit.

MCN: Are you OK?

AP: It’s been slow, but it’s getting better. I have been going to therapy three days a week. I’m like a caged lion. I want to get back out there and swing the golf clubs.

MCN: Going back to the early days, what were your thoughts when you first heard about the idea of a 24/7 channel dedicated to golf from Joe Gibbs?

AP: I had some questions that I wanted answered. But Joe and I spent a lot of time together and we talked and got things worked out. It’s been a great success.

MCN: Has it helped grow the game?

AP: Absolutely. It’s been very popular. I’m very proud of all the work that has been done by Comcast and now working together with NBC. Golf Channel has made a tremendous impact on the sport.

MCN: How much do you watch Golf Channel? Are you aMorning DriveandGolf Centralguy?

AP: Yes sir. I try to stay in touch with the game, especially through Golf Channel. I watch the interviews with the players and the [shows] you mentioned. I watch the players here, and on the Asian Tour, the European Tour and the African [Sunshine] Tour. I try to watch at odd times to see what’s going on at different times during the day.

MCN: So, you’re watching early morning, in the afternoon and late at night.

AP: Yes, sir. There are a lot of different kinds of stuff, beyond the tournaments. There is a lot of original programming around the game that you wouldn’t see on TV otherwise.

MCN: What did you think of the documentary about you?Arniewas acclaimed and did very well with viewers.

AP: The reaction has been great. People come up to me all the time even now, and they say they’ve watched three or four times. They show it to guests when they come visit. It’s very flattering.

MCN: What do you think of the young players on tour? What about Rory McIlroy?

AP: Rory is one of the finest younger golfers I’ve ever seen. He could be golf’s shining light over the next few years.

MCN: What are your thoughts about [Comcast CEO] Brian Roberts and [Golf Channel] president Mike McCarley?

AP: I know them both very well. Mike has been doing a great job since he came to the Golf Channel. Brian and Comcast have always supported Golf and are 100% involved. He has a real commitment to it.

MCN: How are their games?

AP: Brian plays quite well. He’s a member at Augusta. Mike’s a good golfer. I’ve played with him quite frequently, and he’s going to keep at it and do very well.

MCN: What else would you like to see on the network going forward?

AP: We’ve done quite a bit already, and we’re going to continue to build because the audience wants to see new and innovative things.

There were many doubters. A 24-hour service devoted to one sport? Golf?

But Joe Gibbs (not the former Washington Redskins coach) and golfing great Arnold Palmer had vision, passion and perseverance that overcame naysayers, funding and carriage concerns.

“Twenty years ago I was working at Turner Sports and heard that Joe Gibbs and Arnold Palmer were working on the Golf Channel,” NBC Sports chairman Mark Lazarus recalled. “I scoffed at the idea, I thought it had no chance. I’m very happy to say I was proven wrong.

“Golf Channel is one of the key pillars of the NBC Sports portfolio, along with the Olympics, Sunday Night Football, the [English] Premier League, the National Hockey League, the Triple Crown and now NASCAR.”

Gibbs, whose career included executive stints at Crowley Cellular Telecommunications and at Birmingham, Ala-headquartered Masada Corp. (which he said built and operated cable systems in many states under a variety of names), began his friendship with Palmer in 1990 when “The King” stayed at Gibbs’s Shoal Creek home during the PGA Championship event.

The pair — Gibbs with his business and cable background and Palmer with his ties to the sports business community and golf industry — declared their intentions to tee off the Golf Channel at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic in February of 1993.

POWER PLAYERS

They began raising capital through a cadre of investors, including six of the nation’s top cable operators.

“Investing in Golf Channel was a big step for Comcast. We were an original investor and my dad and I firmly believed in what Arnold Palmer and Joe Gibbs started,” Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts said. “I’m thankful to my friend Tim Neher, who was vice chairman of Continental Cablevision at the time, for encouraging us to join him. It was our first entrance into sports programming and 20 years later, it has proved to be a great decision.”

With 180 employees in Orlando, Fla., Golf Channel, sporting the first full digital production facility in the United States, teed off as a pay service via four affiliate deals reaching 10,000 subscribers on Jan. 17, 1995.

During its first year, the network televised 23 domestic tournaments and 41 European and Australian events. The first televised tourney was the Dubai Desert Classic in 1995. GolfChannel.com launched on April Fool’s Day 1996, a year that saw the network’s initial international launch (in Japan) and the milestone of 10 million subscribers as a traditional cable network.

Today, the network, of which Comcast secured equity control in 2000 and outright ownership via a swap for its position in Speed Channel with Fox in 2003, still operates out from the same building. But the operation has grown to 160,000 square feet, the facility it is in delivers high-definition images and Golf employs 700 workers around the globe.

Mike McCarley, who became the network’s fourth president in February 2011, said programming is available in more than 120 million homes in 83 countries and in 12 languages through cable, satellite and wireless companies.

Golf Channel offers more tournament coverage than all other networks combined.

“The foundation is built on live events,” McCarley said. “But news and instructional programming are also key components. Golf Channel is committed to producing more high-quality original shows.”

McCarley said the network has augmented its audience ties with such lifestyle businesses as GolfAdvisor.com, a review website by golfers for golfers that launched earlier this year; Golf Now, a tee-time booking venture, and the instructional Golf Channel Academy, GolfLive Extra streaming and Golf Channel apps (see sidebar).

Still, live coverage remains the primary connectivity for fans and players alike.

All told, Golf Channel, through longterm deals with the PGA, LPGA, European, Asian, Web.com and Champions tours, and other properties, presents more than 4,200 hours of tournaments annually — more than all other networks combined.

Led by Golf Central and Morning Drive, the network offers 2,400 new hours, plus instructional fare. And originals. Big Break, a competition show in which participants strive to gain entry to PGA and LPGA tour events, is about to premiere its 23rd season, while links funnyman David Feherty delights audiences with his interview show, Feherty. Documentary fare like Arnie, the three-part special about the legendary Palmer on and off the course, debuted after the 2014 Masters, is also resonating with viewers.

Under a 15-year deal signed in 2007, Golf Channel is the exclusive cable partner of the PGA Tour, which in 2014, counting live telecasts, replays and ancillary programming, accounted for nearly one-third of Golf Channel’s overall schedule and more than half of the network’s total audience.

This current season, Golf Channel has full four-round coverage of a dozen PGA Tour tournaments and early-round coverage of 30 events, plus The Presidents Cup.

“Golf Channel has been an incredible asset to our sport and certainly, the PGA Tour, since its launch in 1995,” PGA Tour commissioner Tim Fenchem said. “It has grown to be a key touchstone of the sporting landscape and we are proud to be an integral part of that success.”

CBS Sports president Sean McManus said the broadcaster is on course with Golf Channel throughout the season, as the cable channel airs the Thursday and Friday action and weekend lead-in to CBS’s network coverage.

“We share production and broadcast facilities and, in some cases, talent. We are truly one team of professionals and it really works in a very seamless operation,” McManus said. “As an independent, Golf Channel could never really reach its full potential. Working so closely and seamlessly with NBC has really helped lift ratings and awareness of the sport.”

That was especially evident during the days leading up to Super Bowl XLIX in Glendale, Ariz., for which NBC scored a U.S. record 114.4 million viewers. NBCUniversal fare, including Today, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Meet the Press, Access Hollywood, Morning Joe, NHL Live, Premier League Live, Pro Football Talk and NBC Sports Digital all set up shop in the Phoenix area ahead of the NFL title game.

With the PGA Tour in town Jan. 29-Feb. 1, Golf Channel aired 11 live hours of the Waste Management Phoenix Open from the Stadium Course at TPC Scottsdale. Golf Central for the first time originated from the famous par-3 16th hole — “The Coliseum” — which was surrounded by 25,000 rowdy fans.

Feherty filmed a pair of installments of his show from Phoenix’s Orpheum Theater.

“The rebrand of ‘Golf Channel on NBC’ has become universally accepted,” McCarley noted.

During 2014, NBC Sports Group reached an unmatched 79 million viewers via “Golf Channel on NBC” broadcasts and Golf Channel.

Since becoming part of the NBC Sports Group via the Comcast merger in 2011, Golf Channel has recorded its best four years with the Nielsens, upping its ratings 57% and total-day audience 40% over that span.

Measured against a baseline level from 2010, Golf Channel saw its tournament coverage ratings grow 22% and its audience expand 16% through 2014. News program Golf Central scored 83% and 76% growth, while Morning Drive, which expanded to a seven-day schedule last year, leaped 229% and 227%, respectively. Instructional fare jumped 50% in the ratings and 37% in audience over the four-year span, as other original programming increased 17% and 9%.

RATINGS ON THE RISE

“We matched 2013 on a ratings basis, even though the sport’s biggest star, Tiger Woods, was sidelined for the bulk of the year,” McCarley pointed out. He said the ratings gains on the network and with the combined reach on NBC have enabled “us to develop new relationships with clients.”

Golf Channel’s advertising lineup includes equipment and endemic advertisers, as well as luxury goods and autos such as Rolex and Mercedes- Benz, plus financial companies and telecommunications firms, reflecting its active and upscale audience.

Last year, Golf Channel stood as the most-affluent ad-supported network for median household income and percentage of $100,000-plus household income audience delivery, as 38% earned $75,000 or more, ranking ahead of Fox Business Network. In primetime, Golf was first for median household income and percentage of $100,000 household income delivery — with 44% earning $81,600 or more — topping sister service NBC Sports Network.

The network received the most Emmy nominations in its history in 2014. McCarley said Golf will invest in more high-quality originals that will keep its well-to-do viewers returning.

McCarley also said golf’s return to the Olympics at the 2016 Rio de Janiero Games figured to open up new programming opportunities, while enhancing the sport’s popularity.

“I don’t have a crystal ball, but leading up to the Olympics in Rio, there is going to be continued growth for golf globally,” he said.

Roberts is also keeping his eyes on the game, which he plays quite well, and the Games: “We are so proud of how the Channel has grown and evolved. With golf returning to the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, I think the best is yet to come for the sport and the channel.”

Golf Channel Links With Audience on Screens, Greens

While networks aspire to have programming that connects with viewers’ genre affinities, Golf Channel’s ties extend beyond TV, tablet, phone and computer screens to courses around the world.

“It’s not like the traditional relationship a network has with viewers,” Golf Channel president Mike McCarley said. “We have so many more touch points. Golf Channel has a very strong, entwined relationship with the most loyal viewers in television.”

GolfNow Solutions is assisting some 8,100 golf courses in running their business through a custom software suite guiding online booking engines, tee-sheet management, point-of-sale accounting and comprehensive golf course marketing and operations applications.

Bowing last year, GolfAdvisor.com is now home to more than 325,000 reviews by golfers, providing real player insights about 9,000 courses in 29 countries around the globe.

GolfNow, the world’s leading online tee time platform, aided golfers in booking more than 13.4 million rounds in 2014 at some 6,000 courses worldwide.

The premium version of the GolfNow mobile app, which launched last October, features on-course GPS range-finding, in-round scoring and performance tracking.

This spring, Golf Channel Academy will hang its shingle at more than 30 premier golf locations across North America, enlisting top teachers to offer hands-on instruction.