The Travel Channel was launched on February 1, 1987; it was founded by TWA Marketing Services (a subsidiary of Trans World Airlines), most likely to boost airline sales.
The Discovery Channel (Discovery Communications) acquired a 70% ownership stake in the channel in 1997 and subsequently acquired the remaining 30% interest in 1999.
Available data shows that viewership peaked in Spring 2008 at 27.78 million views per 7 days, and has been in decline ever since. As of Spring 2017, the channel got 17.25 million views.
On October 1, 2018, Travel Channel revealed a new logo stylized as Trvl Channel and shifted a majority of its programming to “the paranormal, the unsolved, the creepy and terrifying”, akin to its counterpart Destination America when they drifted to paranormal programming themselves full-time in mid-2017.
Programming includes Vampires in America and Alien Abduction.
The Travel Channel remains a part of the Discovery Channel family. It maintains a corporate office in Chevy Chase, Maryland.
