WET, also known as WET Design , is a water feature design firm based in Los Angeles , California . Founded in 1983 by former Disney Imagineers Mark Fuller , Melanie Simon, and Alan Robinson, the company has designed over two hundred fountains and water features using water, fire, ice, fog, and lights. It is known for creating The Dubai Fountain , the world's largest performing fountain, along with the 8-acre (3.2 ha) Fountains of Bellagio . It has designed features in over 20 countries around the world, in North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
83-447: WET holds more than 60 patents pertaining to lighting, water control, and specialty fountain devices that use air compression technology. The company is a frequently cited source for the role water plays in communities other than for purely utilitarian needs. WET was also featured in and co-produced the 2013 Discovery Channel reality television show The Big Brain Theory, Pure Genius , where
166-577: A Hydroport, for docking the hydroplanes that crossed the Atlantic to and from the US. When the modern jet planes rendered the hydroplanes obsolete, the place became an industrial park of containers, polluting industries and slaughterhouses which had seen a growing degradation over the decades. As a result, the Expo '98 was fully built from scratch. Every building was pre-sold for after-Expo repurposing thus ensuring that, after
249-484: A basin containing about 700,000 gallons of water, designed to reveal the five Olympic rings within performances. The feature is choreographed water displays set to a soundtrack of famous Russian composers including Tchaikovsky and Khachaturian . In late 2013, WET debuted Lycaste , an interactive children's fountain named and designed after the lycaste orchid for Dasada, a resort in Prachinburi , Thailand . Set upon
332-655: A controversial sculpture designed by Jacques Lipchitz . In 1988, WET introduced the first of its patented shooters, the MiniShooter, which utilizes compressed air to propel water in the air, for the Seto Ohashi Exhibition in Sakaide City, Japan. That same year, the company designed the Splatter Up baseball game manufactured by Worlds of Wonder . WET teamed with architects Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in 1991 for
415-560: A deck of teak wood, the feature is experienced via WET's LED lighting at day in bright white and night in vibrantly programmed color combinations. WET has pioneered many of the technologies that have since become common in fountains built around the world, by others as well as WET. These technologies include laminar flow fountains, fountains that arise from the open-jointed paving instead of from pools, fountains powered by compressed air instead of pumps, and fountains employing sophisticated underwater robots . Hallmarks of WET fountains are that
498-510: A new logo, maintaining a refreshed version of the previous globe and D monogram. The new branding is accompanied by another new imaging campaign, "The World is Ours", which features scenes of Discovery personalities singing the Blue Swede version of " Hooked on a Feeling ". The static version of the globe icon uses a non-standard projection that shows all continents, reflecting Discovery's presence as an international brand. Discovery en Español
581-406: A number of countries, Discovery's channels are available on digital satellite platforms with multiple language soundtracks or subtitles including Spanish, German, Russian, Czech , Hindi , Tamil , Telugu , Bengali , Dutch , Portuguese, Italian, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Finnish, Turkish , Greek, Polish , Hungarian, Romanian , Arabic, Slovene , Japanese, Korean and Serbian . In 2011,
664-480: A paper sheet linking two main buildings and opening a wide urban space. The total number of visitors of the Expo '98 reached 10,128,204, for a duration of 132 days. Admission prices (adult) were 5,000 escudos PTE (US$ 34 at then-exchange rates) for one day, 12,500 escudos ($ 84) for three non-consecutive days and 50,000 escudos ($ 334) for three months. The Oceans Pavilion, built to be the Lisbon Oceanarium after
747-698: A renovation of the Brooklyn Museum . (The first was the Museum of Modern Art 's garden fountain in 1987 and the second was Rockefeller Center 's Prometheus Fountain in 1988.) In 2005, WET completed two more projects in New York: the fountains at Columbus Circle and the United States Tennis Association feature. For Columbus Circle, the company worked in collaboration with the Olin Partnership. WET
830-467: A separate Tamil -language channel was launched. In Bulgaria , Discovery has, since 2000–2001, displayed Bulgarian subtitles by all cable providers and since 2010 – with Bulgarian dubbing for some shows. In Australia, the Discovery Channel is part of a six-channel package (not including timeshifts) on digital subscription television, available on Foxtel , Optus TV and AUSTAR . In New Zealand,
913-483: A voyage from the creation of the world to the present day. Combining traditional stage technology with highly innovative special effects and mechanical controls, gsmprjct intégration handled all of the logistics and technical direction of the project. Housed in a custom-built covered stadium with a seating capacity of 10,000, the show was performed over 500 times, making it the first World's Fair show to be seen by over 3 million people. The Oceania Virtual Reality Pavilion
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#1732851168568996-614: A water feature at the Gas Company Tower in Los Angeles, California. WET designed a series of transparent in-floor elements with water displays on the underside, on which the public can walk and which stretched from the elevator lobby to the building's exterior garden. From 1994 through 1997, WET completed many projects throughout Asia including the Singapore features of Millenia Walk , by Pritzker Architectural Prize Laureate Philip Johnson,
1079-544: Is also available on digital satellite platforms in Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia (sometimes requiring an additional fee). In Poland, nc+ broadcasts the programs dubbed in Polish and in original English. A few other channels from Discovery are also in offer, like Discovery Historia, launched in cooperation with Polish broadcaster TVN , which later ended. In Spain, the channel shares a schedule and programs with Portugal and
1162-574: Is also known for using multiple natural elements in its designs, like fog, fire, and ice; accompanying its sophisticated water forms, or alone. WET has completed more than 250 installations in countries throughout the world. Installations range from features so small that the water seen barely fills a cup, to the world's largest performing fountain, The Dubai Fountain, and the entire range in between. A partial list of its installations include: WET has received numerous awards and recognition for its work, including company founder Mark Fuller being named one of
1245-673: Is an American pay television channel that was launched as the Spanish-language version of the Discovery Channel. It is operated by the Latin American division of Warner Bros. Discovery International in Miami, Florida . As of February 2015, approximately 6,476,000 American households (5.6% of households with television) receive Discovery en Español. Discovery Channel reaches 431 million homes in 170 countries. Discovery Communications currently offers 29 network brands in 33 languages. In
1328-546: Is available on most satellite and cable platforms, making it possible to broadcast both in Spanish and Portuguese. In Spain, all programs are dubbed; whereas in Portugal, most of them are subtitled. In addition, Portugal has three Discovery-branded channels: Discovery Turbo (focusing on motorsports), Discovery Science (focusing on science and technology) and Discovery Civilization (focusing on historical events). These channels follow
1411-703: Is now manufacturing virtually all of its invented devices in house. The company's feature incorporate a network of pipes with more than 1,200 individually programmed nozzles that make it possible to stage fountain displays coordinated with more than 4,500 lights. It is estimated that the Fountains cost $ 40 million to build. The nozzles are synchronized to music and shoot water up to 240 feet in the air. Charles Fishman's, Big Thirst features how people have emotional bonds to water and highlights WET's Fountains of Bellagio project. WET completed its first major project in Europe in 1998 with
1494-547: Is the policy of all Dutch television stations. Some programs and most promotions and program announcements have a Dutch voice-over. In Flanders, the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium, a Flemish Discovery Channel launched (previously the Dutch version was available for IPTV, DVB-C and DVB-S) on cable (and digital) television on October 1, 2009. In Italy, the Discovery Channel (and HD) is distributed via satellite by Sky Italia as part of
1577-408: The 100 Most Creative People In Business by Fast Company . A partial list of its awards include: Discovery Channel Discovery Channel , known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery , is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery , a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav . As of June 2012 , Discovery Channel
1660-485: The ABC newsmagazine Nightline were joining Discovery Channel. The network was nominated for seven Primetime Emmy Awards that year for shows including The Flight that Fought Back (a documentary about the hijacking of United Airlines Flight 93 during the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001) and Deadliest Catch (a reality series about a group of seafood fishermen). In 2007, Discovery Channel's top series included
1743-455: The BBC , Allen & Company , and Venture America) raised $ 5 million in start-up capital to launch the network. The Discovery Channel began broadcasting on June 17, 1985. It was initially available to 156,000 households and broadcast for 12 hours each day between 3 p.m. and 3 a.m. About 75 percent of its program content had never been broadcast on U.S. television before. In its early years,
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#17328511685681826-651: The Chicago Mercantile Exchange on a 15-minute delay), and Datavizion (offering trivia, strange news stories, games and a satellite TV guide); both services originated from WHA-TV in Madison, Wisconsin , and were run by the University of Wisconsin-Madison . The channel began to shift its focus in the early 2000s to attract a broader audience, by incorporating more reality-based series focusing on automotive, occupations, and speculative investigation series; though
1909-554: The Republic of Ireland , the UK version of Discovery Channel is available on most cable providers in that country, but with local advertisements. In Germany, Austria and Switzerland, Discovery Channel is part of the Premiere digital network and supplies specific programs to other networks like ZDF and kabel eins . Discovery Communications is also owner of the documentary-channel XXP. The channel
1992-517: The Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Cauldron Park . In 2005, WET was contracted to design a water themed set for the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards , marking one of the company's first commissioned temporary features. The final design included 7,000 gallons of water that flowed under the stage, 2,000 feet of piping, and 8,000 feet of electrical wire. WET developed its third water feature in New York in 2004 as part of
2075-558: The Uyghurs in Xinjiang . They called on Discovery to "suspend this partnership with CGTN immediately and to abstain from entering into any similar partnership with any other agent of CCP influence." Expo %2798 Expo '98 ( 1998 Lisbon Specialised Expo ) was an official specialised World's Fair held in Lisbon , Portugal from Friday, 22 May to Wednesday, 30 September 1998. The theme of
2158-735: The 19-meter mosaic of light, lines, and color to morph throughout the day. For the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi , Russia , WET created The Waters of the Olympic Park , a colorful choreographed fountain located in the Sochi Medals Plaza . The feature was prominently featured during the Olympic Games’ opening and closing ceremonies. This second Olympic feature for WET (first being the 2002 Winter Olympics Cauldron in Salt Lake City ), houses
2241-461: The 2010s had expanded into reality television and pseudo-scientific entertainment. As of November 2023 , Discovery Channel is available to approximately 71,000,000 pay television households in the United States-down from its peak of 99,000,000 in 2011. John Hendricks founded the channel and its parent company, Cable Educational Network Inc., in 1982. Several investors (including
2324-580: The Australian version of Discovery is broadcast on SKY Network Television . The Canadian version of Discovery was established in 1995, and is currently owned by a joint venture between Bell Media (via the subsidiary CTV Specialty Television; ESPN Inc. is a minority partner in this subsidiary due its ties to sports channel TSN ) and Discovery Inc. The channel airs similar programming to its U.S. counterpart, but also airs domestically produced programs to comply with local broadcasting regulations (which, in
2407-619: The City Creek Center shopping mall in Salt Lake City, Utah in 2012. The fountains included dancing water, light, fire and music. The company was also commissioned to create the fountain show for the Expo 2012 Yeosu Korea for the expo's signature Big-O Water Feature. The same year, WET created one of the largest water shows in the world with the completion of Aquanura in the Efteling theme park, in
2490-574: The Discovery Channel Airport Stores, and the website remains in operation. Discovery Channel funded the construction of the Lowell Discovery Telescope , in partnership with Lowell Observatory . Discovery.com is the Discovery Channel's official website, which primarily provides information on the channel's programming and additional content, including articles, tied to those shows. The Discovery Channel's first logo
2573-590: The Emmy Award– and Peabody Award–winning Planet Earth , Dirty Jobs , MythBusters , and Deadliest Catch . Discovery Channel's 2008 lineup included Fight Quest and Smash Lab . On September 1, 2010, 43-year-old James Jay Lee entered the Discovery Communications headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland , armed with a handgun. Lee fired at least one shot and held several employees hostage; he
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2656-612: The Expo closed, had the longest lines. Other popular pavilions, with lines of up to five hours on busier days, included Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Germany, and Virtual Reality. The Expo logo symbolizes the Sea and the Sun. It was conceived by Portuguese Augusto Tavares Dias , creative director in an advertising agency, and selected from 1,288 entries. The Expo mascot was conceived by the Portuguese duo of painter António Modesto and sculptor Artur Moreira. It
2739-544: The Expo's emplacement. The first Commissioner of Expo '98 (and Parque Expo's CEO) was António Cardoso e Cunha . He was replaced in 1997 by José de Melo Torres Campos, after a general election resulted in a change in government. The area chosen for the Expo '98 was a 5-kilometre-wide (3.1 mi) strip that covered 50 hectares (0.2 sq mi) in Lisbon's east-end alongside the Tagus river. The area had been landscaped in 1942 as
2822-731: The Expo's theme "The Oceans: A Heritage for the Future" . There were additional themed pavilions dedicated to Water, Sea Knowledge, Virtual Reality (paid), The Future, Oceans and Oceanophilia; as well as exhibitions: " Leonardo da Vinci @expo98 – La Dinamica dell'Acqua" , "Roads of the Porcelain" and "Shells and Man" . Additional attractions included a 15,000-seater Utopia Pavilion with a resident theatrical show, Camões Theatre, nautical exhibition, Garcia de Orta tropical gardens, Swatch Pavilion, "World of Coca-Cola" exhibition, Expo Adrenalin, 120-metre-tall observation tower (paid), funicular (paid) and
2905-516: The Fountain's shows, including renowned composer Gerard Schurmann and the American choreographer, producer and director Kenny Ortega . Contrary to urban myth, the lake is not filled with treated greywater from the hotel. The lake is serviced by a freshwater well that was drilled decades prior to irrigate a golf course that previously existed on the site. The Fountains actually use less water than irrigating
2988-521: The Global Trade Center premiered the company's WaterBells; manipulating laminar flow fountains to create dome-shaped sheets of water. In 2012, WET enhanced the original 2006 design for the Wynn Macau, doubling the density of the design and debuting the world's brightest (280) watt) underwater LED lights that were engineered and manufactured by WET. WET completed the installation of three fountains at
3071-534: The Middle East and Turkey. Discovery Channel and sibling channels Discovery World , TLC , Investigation Discovery and Animal Planet are available on the DStv/Multichoice platform. In August 2008, it was reported by The Consumerist that Discovery Channel had preempted an episode of MythBusters examining RFID security in regard to its implementation in credit cards before its original broadcast because
3154-542: The Netherlands. WET created Luminous , a water wall spanning over 3 stories tall for the W Hotels Guangzhou ’s entrance, debuting with the hotel’s opening in April 2013. The WET-designed wall of water and light is composed of a thinly-woven metal screen over which water runs upon at different programmed rates to vary in appearance. In addition to choreographing the wall's surging water, WET used 5,000 color changing LEDs to allow
3237-1023: The Ritz Carlton Hotel, and Bugis Junction. Additional projects included the Jewelry Trade Center in Bangkok , Pattaya Festival Center in the city of Pattaya , and again with the firm of I.M. Pei , the Anggana Danamon Bank in Jakarta. One of the company's most notable designs came in 1998 when it collaborated with Steve Wynn to design the Fountains of Bellagio , for the Bellagio Hotel and Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Fountains are set in an 8-acre (3.2 ha) manmade lake. Under Bellagio, WET collaborated with an array of composers and choreographers to create
3320-750: The United Kingdom, Discovery Channel UK airs some common programs as the U.S. version, including MythBusters , American Chopper , How It's Made and Deadliest Catch . The channel is carried as a basic subscription channel on the SKYdigital satellite service and digital cable provider Virgin Media . Discovery UK also operates Discovery HD, Discovery Knowledge, Discovery Turbo, Discovery Science, Animal Planet, DMAX, Discovery Real Time, Discovery Home & Health, Discovery Travel & Leisure and Discovery Shed. Many of these channels also have timeshifted versions. In
3403-535: The campaign was intended to "showcase our earned place in the greater pop culture landscape". In August 2013 (coinciding with Shark Week ), the aforementioned monogram became the main on-air logo as part of a new imaging campaign, "Grab Life By the Globe", which was designed to emphasize the channel's current focus on personality-driven programming. The logo was portrayed in promos with visual effects relevant to their respective program. On April 1, 2019, Discovery unveiled
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3486-438: The channel is Shark Week , which airs on Discovery during the summer months. Discovery has also featured documentaries specifically aimed at families and younger audiences. Other popular programs have included How It's Made , Cash Cab , and Man vs. Wild . Shortly before the 2004 Tour de France , Discovery Channel announced it would become the primary sponsor of a professional bicycling team starting in 2005, featuring
3569-534: The channel's focus centered on educational programming in the form of cultural and wildlife documentaries, and science and historical specials . It also broadcast some Soviet programming during this time, including the news program Vremya . The channel also carried two teletext services over its VBI during this time, Infotext (offering news from the Associated Press , as well as information about agribusiness and agriculture, including commodity prices from
3652-620: The closing fireworks show, the largest ever presented in Portugal. The site remained closed until 15 October 1998, when it reopened as Parque das Nações (Park of the Nations), a free-access park, keeping the gardens, Oceanarium (Europe's then-largest aquarium), observation tower, funicular, and the Virtual Reality pavilion. Other buildings were re-purposed for the opening, including: Within Parque das Nações, every other building or vacant parcel lot
3735-632: The commemoration of the 500th anniversary of Vasco da Gama 's arrival in India in 1498. Once government support was obtained, Ferreira led the bid at the Bureau International des Expositions , which in 1992 declared Lisbon the winner, against the other contender Toronto, Canada. The state-owned company Parque Expo was formed to make the Fair a self-sustaining event, with revenue coming from admission tickets and, especially, sales of real estate and parcel lots at
3818-526: The cultural heritages of Malaysia , mistakenly featured Balinese Pendet dancers . This prompted outrage from Balinese dancers, who posted messages demanding that Malaysia apologize over the misinformation, which then sparked a series of street protests. Further demands were made from the local governments, cultural historians and the tourism ministry in Indonesia for Malaysia to clarify the situation. The Malaysian government reportedly offered an apology, which
3901-441: The documentary pack. In addition, Italy has four Discovery-branded channels: Discovery Science, Discovery Real Time, Discovery Animal Planet and Discovery Travel and Living. In Bulgaria , Czech Republic , Croatia , Hungary , Poland , Romania , Slovakia , Serbia and Slovenia , Discovery Channel is carried by most cable television and IPTV providers with all the content subtitled in the respective languages. Additionally, it
3984-454: The episode would upset credit card companies, who are major advertisers on Discovery Channel. It was later determined that the decision not to investigate the issue was made by Beyond Productions , the MythBusters production company, and was not made by Discovery Channel or their advertising department. An ad promoting Enigmatic Malaysia , a special series on the network meant to highlight
4067-473: The expo closed, the site would not be left semi-abandoned, as had happened with previous expos, particularly Seville Expo '92 . As a reminder of the site's industrial past, only a refinery tower was kept and repurposed. To support the expected influx of visitors, an extensive access program was devised, including: Expo '98 opened on 22 May 1998 with 143 countries and 14 international organizations featured in individual pavilions: almost every exhibitor respected
4150-424: The fair was "The Oceans, a Heritage for the Future", chosen in part to commemorate 500 years of Portuguese discoveries . The Expo received over 10 million visitors in 132 days, while 143 countries and many organizations were represented. The idea to organize a World's Fair in Portugal originated in 1989 between two Portuguese, António Taurino Mega Ferreira and Vasco Graça Moura , who were in charge of organizing
4233-691: The fountains for the 1998 Lisboa Expo in Lisbon, Portugal. The same year WET was recognized by the American Institute of Architects by receiving the Allied Professions Honor Award and was also featured in the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum exhibit "Fountains: Splash and Spectacle." In 1999 it completed a project for the Barcelona World Trade Center which featured water banners that emerged from
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#17328511685684316-417: The glass and metal cooled and clean and give the effect of melting ice. WET also released a book titled Creating the Cauldron that detailed the behind the scenes of the project and revealed how the company beat out others to win the competition, and how WET only had 18 months to create the Cauldron. Upon the completion of the games, the Cauldron was installed at Rice Eccles Stadium at the University of Utah, in
4399-430: The golf course did. In the event of an emergency, the Fountain's reservoir can be pumped into firefighting equipment to assist any neighboring casino without drawing from the city system. The Fountains of Bellagio introduced WET's motion controlled robotic water nozzles, built for WET by the robotics company Sarcos, for the first time in the industry. After this project, WET expanded its manufacturing capabilities to where it
4482-450: The internal market, interrupted its carriage of Discovery Communications channels, including Discovery Channel. The CEO of Discovery Communications Mark Hollinger sent an open letter in his attempt to counteract the action of RCS&RDS, attracting the attention to the negation of the alleged right of the viewer to choose the viewed channels. In turn, RCS&RDS issued a press statement accusing of hypocrisy Hollinger's discourse attentive at
4565-406: The main Discovery Channel, including Discovery Turbo, Discovery Science, Discovery Home & Health and Discovery Travel & Living . The Philippines has its own semifeed derived from the Southeast Asian channel, in which offers regional variations with local advertisements during the commercial breaks. In South Africa, Discovery Channel shares a schedule and programming with all of Africa,
4648-450: The needs of viewers and attracted attention to the fact that, during negotiations, the main preoccupations of the Discovery representatives was maintaining as high as possible tariffs and monetary gains". After four years of absence, on December 30, 2016, the Discovery Channel and its sister channel TLC returned to the RCS&RDS CATV, IPTV and DTH networks. Eaten Alive was a television program in which wildlife filmmaker Paul Rosolie
4731-422: The nightly water-show "Acqua Matrix" . Out of the five major themed pavilions at Lisbon's Expo '98, the Utopia Pavilion was among the most popular. Reflecting the Expo's overall theme of "The Oceans: a Heritage for the Future" and designed by the renowned François Confino and Philippe Genty, the pavilion featured a large-scale multimedia show that presented the oceans as stimulators of imagery, taking visitors on
4814-495: The only pavilion at Expo '98 that required an additional admission fee, visitors spent hours waiting in line for this breathtaking 30-minute thrill ride that made use of seamlessly integrated simulators, virtual reality visors and interactive projections. gsmprjct° was commissioned to design and produce "Oceania" , planning the look and feel of the overall experience, in addition to acting as project manager, architectural coordinator, and general contractor. Divided into several rooms,
4897-458: The past, included the daily science newsmagazine Daily Planet cancelled in 2018). Some of its original series (such as, most prominently, How It's Made ) have been picked up in the U.S. by Discovery's sister networks (such as Science Channel ), but others have not necessarily aired on Discovery's networks. Since 2018, the channel has increasingly aired blocks of fiction programming with science- or technology-oriented themes. Discovery Channel
4980-404: The pavilion featured a 45-person simulated submarine ride and 70 mm film, a 3D stereoscopic viewing system with custom content, and custom-designed motion simulators with audio-visual content. The pavilion of Portugal hosted the Portuguese national representation during the event. It was designed by Álvaro Siza Vieira . The entrance to the building was covered by a large concrete veil, mimicking
5063-406: The plaza in the central atrium of the project. WET became part of the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, Utah by winning the competition for the design of the Cauldron that lights the Olympic flame. The design included a 120-foot tower of reflective glass panels and incorporated water and fire. Marrying both with function, tiny jets sent water down the glass sides of the Cauldron, to keep
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#17328511685685146-609: The refocused programming strategy proved popular, Discovery Channel's ratings began to decline by the middle of the decade. Some critics said such shows strayed from Discovery's intention of providing more educationally based shows aimed at helping viewers learn about the world around them. In 2005, Discovery changed its programming focus to include more popular science and historical themes. The network's ratings eventually recovered in 2006. On January 4, 2006, Discovery Communications announced that anchor Ted Koppel , executive producer Tom Bettag, and eight other former staff members from
5229-526: The same model as the original Discovery Channel, except for the absence of advertising. Spanish advertisements are broadcast on the Portuguese feed, non-subtitled or dubbed. In South East Asia , Discovery Channel is available on digital subscription television. Discovery Channel Asia still shows crime programs (such as Most Evil and The FBI Files ). Many programs feature development and society in Asian countries, especially in India and China. Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore have other channels branched from
5312-489: The same year, the company also collaborated with Steve Wynn a second time to create the Performance Lake at Wynn Macau. It continued with casino designs in 2008 when the company was commissioned to transform the volcano feature at the Mirage Hotel and Casino. WET was credited in 2009 with creating the world's largest performing fountain, with its creation of The Dubai Fountain . The Fountain contains 6,600 underwater lights which can be seen from space more than 200 miles away. It
5395-441: The slogan was changed in the early 2000s to "Entertain Your Brain". In 1995, the channel's name was simplified to "Discovery Channel", dropping "The" from its name. A globe became a permanent part of the logo, and an underline was added to the bottom of the logo On March 31, 2008, Discovery unveiled a new logo, which took effect on-air on April 15, 2008 (coinciding with the fourth season premiere of Deadliest Catch ). The new logo
5478-451: The subject of his senior college thesis project at the University of Utah. The company was renamed WET Design in 1985, the same year that Claire Kahn joined the company as Director of Design. Later, its name became simply WET from WET Design. The company also named WET Labs. The company's first major project came in 1986 when it collaborated with the firm of I. M. Pei as well as landscape architects Dan Kiley and Peter Ker Walker to create
5561-790: The then-seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong , whose wins were voided after he was proven to have cheated via doping. After the 2007 victory with the Spaniard Alberto Contador , Discovery Channel discontinued the cycling sponsorship. The Discovery Channel stores first opened in 1995. By 1997, the chain had 17 US and 1 UK stores. At that time, the chain was building a flagship store in Washington, DC, with three levels themed to various environments—sea and underground, land and outer space, aviation and science—to be opened in February 1998, with another flagship store in San Francisco to be opened in November 1998. On May 17, 2007, Discovery Communications announced it would close its standalone and mall-based stores. Hudson Group will continue to operate
5644-418: The water itself is the element of interest (no statuary covered by water); there are few if any boundaries between the fountain and viewers; the fountains display novel and surprising water forms not seen in traditional fountains; and many WET fountains take choreographic movement of the individual water elements to a level of precision and variable motion that approaches those of human performers. The company
5727-402: The waterscape of Fountain Place (at Allied Bank Tower) in Dallas , Texas . The project showed the first use of WET's patented open-jointed paving in a fountain where shots of water appear from the openings in the plaza's surface. WET's first municipal project came in 1987 when it was commissioned to create a work for the Los Angeles Music Center. The work was designed around Peace On Earth ,
5810-428: The winner of the show was given $ 50,000 and a one-year contract to work at WET. WET was founded as WET Enterprises, Inc., which at the time stood for W ater E ntertainment T echnologies, by Mark Fuller, Melanie Simon, and Alan Robinson in 1983. All three had worked together as Imagineers at Disney. During his time at Disney, Fuller created the “Leapfrog” fountain at Epcot , using laminar technology, which evolved from
5893-524: Was a television screen picturing a map of the world. For two decades, starting in 1987, the channel's logo incorporated the Discovery wordmark rendered in the Aurora Bold Condensed font with a circular shape in front of it. The circle usually took the form of a rising sun, or an animated version of the Vitruvian Man . Discovery Channel's previous slogans had been "Explore Your World" and "There's No Thrill Like Discovery." Keeping with its changing focus away from strictly educational programming toward reality TV,
5976-566: Was also in 2009 that the company was commissioned to create five fountains for the Las Vegas City Center . One fountain was the world's first choreographed ice feature with another being the world's widest programmable water wall. WET completed additional Dubai projects beginning in 2010. These include five fountains at Burj Khalifa Tower Park in Dubai. That same year in Beijing, WET's feature at
6059-463: Was bought in the spring of 2006 from its former shareholders Spiegel TV and "dctp". All programs are dubbed into German. The channel is now known as " DMAX ", presumably to associate the channel with Discovery. In the Netherlands, the Discovery Channel is included on most cable, IPTV and DVB-T providers. Nearly all of the programs are broadcast in their original language, but they are subtitled in Dutch as
6142-571: Was commissioned in 2006 to redesign the Revson Fountain , originally opened in 1964 at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts , in New York. The company was engaged to redesign the fountain at the recommendation of the firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro who were the lead designers on the overall renovation of the Lincoln Center . WET moved from Universal City to Sun Valley, CA in 2006. In
6225-494: Was designed by Viewpoint Creative, and integrated Discovery's long-time globe iconography into the "D" lettering of the wordmark, creating a monogram that was usable as a standalone icon. The launch was accompanied by a new advertising campaign, "The World is Just Awesome", which featured scenes of Discovery personalities singing an adapted version of the song "I Love the Mountains". Discovery Channel president John Ford explained that
6308-644: Was later shot dead by police. Lee had published criticisms of the network at Savetheplanetprotest.com. In December 2015, Discovery Communications launched its TV Everywhere service, Discovery Go, which features live and video-on-demand content from Discovery Channel and eight of its sister networks. Programming on the flagship Discovery Channel in the U.S. is primarily focused on reality television series, such as speculative investigation (with shows such as MythBusters , Unsolved History , and Best Evidence ), automobiles, and occupations (such as Dirty Jobs and Deadliest Catch ). A popular annual feature on
6391-657: Was launched in 1995 in India broadcasting originally in English and Hindi. In June 2010, a Bengali audio track was added to the channel as well as a Telugu track in October 21 of that same year. On August 15, 2011, a separate Tamil-language channel was launched with an estimate audience of 10 million households. Discovery recently launched Discovery Plus, a new streaming service for India priced at ₹300 per year, offering content in eight languages— English , Hindi , Tamil , Telugu , Malayalam , Kannada , Bengali and Marathi . In
6474-578: Was purportedly going to be "eaten alive" by an anaconda . It aired on December 7, 2014. When the special aired, the anaconda attacked Rosolie but did not swallow him, as its title had implied, prompting numerous complaints of a bait and switch . In February 2024, a group of US congressmen sent a letter to the CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery criticizing World's Ultimate Frontier , a joint production between Discovery and Chinese state media outlet China Global Television Network (CGTN), for "whitewashing genocide" of
6557-526: Was rejected by the Indonesian tourism minister, since the apology was given informally by phone, the Indonesian tourism minister demanded a written apology to make it more accountable. Shark Week , Discovery's annual shark-themed programming block, has been criticized for sensationalism and the promotion of junk science . In November 2012, the Romanian RCS&;RDS , the largest company of its kind on
6640-586: Was selected from 309 entries. It is named Gil, after Portuguese navigator Gil Eanes . The name was chosen by high school student José Luís Coelho, from 765 entries. Gil turned the RTP mascot and can be see on the station main events. The official music theme for the Expo '98 was called " Pangaea " and was written by Nuno Rebelo. It combined chants and instruments from the five continents over an epic full orchestral score. Expo '98 closed on 30 September 1998. The last day saw more than 300 thousand visitors enter, there to see
6723-553: Was sold for office or living space, to offset the Expo's costs. The Virtual Reality Pavilion was closed on 31 August 2002 and later demolished. The area today is thriving, modern, stylish, and safe, attracting 18 million tourists a year to its gardens, museums, commercial areas and modern buildings. It has also become permanent residency for up to 25,000 people and one of Lisbon's premier business centers, with many multinational corporations basing their headquarters in its main avenue. Parque Expo had lived beyond Expo '98, not just managing
6806-452: Was the biggest hit of Lisbon's Expo '98, attracting over half a million visitors in a four-month period. Even so, the average waiting time for admission was about four hours. It consisted of a virtual submarine voyage to an underwater base where visitors discovered the ruins of a lost civilization and encountered a sea monster before escaping back to the surface in Teleport capsules. Despite being
6889-492: Was the third most widely distributed subscription channel in the United States, behind now-sibling channel TBS and The Weather Channel ; it is available in 409 million households worldwide, through its U.S. flagship channel and its various owned or licensed television channels internationally. It initially provided documentary television programming focused primarily on popular science , technology, and history, but by
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