Ted Koppel Joins Discovery Channel

Ted Koppel Joins Discovery Channel

Will Host and Produce Long Form Journalism on Major Global Topics Exclusively for Network

SILVER SPRING, Md., Jan. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Discovery Communications announced today that Ted Koppel will host and produce long form programming examining major global topics and events exclusively for the Discovery Channel. A 42-year veteran of network broadcasting, Koppel will be Managing Editor at the Discovery Channel, and is joined at Discovery Communications by longtime Executive Producer Tom Bettag and eight former Nightline staff members. Billy Campbell, President, Discovery Networks US, to whom Koppel and Bettag will report, made the announcement.

"Discovery has always represented the highest quality television in the world. With Ted Koppel and his team, Discovery is making a long-term commitment to produce high quality programming that gives our global audience insight, perspective and analysis beyond just the headlines," said Campbell. "Our objective is to create a more substantial approach to in-depth journalism. We want audiences to know that when there is a major world event or topic that affects our lives, and they are looking for more context, more depth and more information, Discovery Channel is where they will find it."

"The ten of us are enormously excited to be at a place that wants nothing more than to produce the kind of television journalism that focuses on issues that matter to the largest number of people," Koppel said. "We look forward to creating quality programming that provides the in-depth information for which Discovery Channel is known."

Koppel and Bettag will begin working with the company's top programming executives to develop a slate of long-form programming, including town hall meetings that will examine some of the most important issues in the world today. In a multi-year deal, Koppel and Bettag will join Discovery Communications immediately with the first program scheduled to air in fall 2006 on the Discovery Channel, headed by General Manager Jane Root.

The Discovery Channel has a long tradition of groundbreaking documentaries over its 20-year history including: Yugoslavia: Death of a Nation; Behind the Hatred; Thomas L. Friedman Reporting: The World Ate My Job, that formed the basis for the best selling book, "The World is Flat"; Iraq Under Fire with Tom Brokaw; Bio-terror: The Invisible Enemy with Tom Brokaw; The Flight That Fought Back; and most recently America's Tsunami: Are We Next? Today's announcement builds on Discovery's longstanding position as one of the most trusted media sources anywhere in the world and promises to offer viewers more depth, more information and a greater understanding of the world around them.

Ted Koppel is a 42-year veteran of ABC News. Since 1980, he was the anchor and managing editor of ABC News Nightline, one of the most honored broadcasts in television history. As the nation's longest running network daily news anchor, his interviews and reporting touched every major news story over the past 25 years.

Koppel has won every major broadcasting award including 40 Emmy Awards, six George Foster Peabody Awards, 10 duPont-Columbia Awards, and two George Polk Awards. His 10 Overseas Press Club Awards make him the most honored journalist in the Club's history. He is an inductee in the Broadcasting Hall of Fame. He has received honorary doctorates from numerous universities in the United States.

Before becoming Nightline anchor, Koppel worked as an anchor, foreign and domestic correspondent and bureau chief of ABC News.

From 1971 to 1980 he was ABC News' chief diplomatic correspondent, and for a two-year period beginning in 1975 he anchored the ABC Saturday Night News. His diplomatic assignment took him more than a quarter of a million miles during former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger's "shuttle diplomacy."

Before being named diplomatic correspondent Koppel was ABC News' Hong Kong bureau chief from 1969 to 1971, covering stories from Vietnam to Australia. In 1968 he became Miami bureau chief for ABC News which included covering Latin America. On the political beat he has had a major reporting role in every presidential campaign since 1964.

Koppel joined ABC News New York in 1963 as a full-time general assignment correspondent, at the age of 23. Prior to joining ABC News he worked at WMCA Radio in New York City, where he was a desk assistant and an occasional off- air reporter.

A native of Lancashire, England, Koppel moved to the United States with his parents when he was 13 years old. He holds a Bachelor of Science from Syracuse University and an M.A. in mass communications research and political science from Stanford.

He is married to the former Grace Anne Dorney of New York City. They reside in Maryland and have four children.

Tom Bettag has been executive producer of daily network news broadcasts for the past 19 years. For the past 14 years, he was executive producer of ABC News Nightline. Between 2000 and 2004, as senior executive producer of Nightline, he did stints as the executive producer of the ABC News broadcasts This Week with George Stephanopoulos and Nightline UpClose.

Mr. Bettag is the recipient of six duPont-Columbia University Silver Batons, three Overseas Press Club Awards and 30 Emmys, among many other accolades. Nightline was recognized in 2002 with a Peabody Award for Broadcast Journalism, citing over 20 years of excellence in long-form presentations.

Prior to joining ABC News in May 1991, Mr. Bettag spent 22 years at CBS News, serving as executive producer of CBS Evening News With Dan Rather from 1986 to 1991. During his tenure as Evening News executive producer, Mr. Bettag spearheaded the network's critically acclaimed coverage of the Chinese student uprising in May, 1989 and along with Mr. Rather, gained the first television interview with Saddam Hussein after the invasion of Kuwait.

From 1984 to 1986 Mr. Bettag served as senior broadcast producer of the CBS Evening News. Previously he was senior political producer for CBS News' coverage of "Campaign '84," and senior producer of CBS Evening News from 1982 to 1983. He served as producer for 60 Minutes from 1981 to 1982, and as an associate producer for CBS Evening News from 1977 to 1981. Prior to joining the CBS Evening News he was broadcast producer of CBS Morning News. Mr. Bettag joined CBS News as an assignment editor based in Washington in 1969.

A native of Rockford, Michigan, Mr. Bettag received a BA degree in history from the University of Notre Dame in 1966, and an MS degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 1967. He resides in Washington, DC. He and his wife, Claire, have two sons, Carl and Andrew.

Discovery Communications, Inc. is the leading global real-world media and entertainment company. Discovery has grown from its core property, the Discovery Channel, first launched in the United States in 1985, to current global operations in more than 160 countries and territories with 1.3 billion cumulative subscribers. DCI's over 90 networks of distinctive programming represent 25 network entertainment brands including TLC, Animal Planet, Travel Channel, Discovery Health Channel, Discovery Kids, Discovery Times Channel, The Science Channel, Military Channel, Discovery Home Channel, Discovery en Espanol, Discovery Kids En Espanol, Discovery HD Theater, FitTV, Discovery Travel & Living (Viajar y Vivir), Discovery Home & Health and Discovery Real Time. DCI's other properties consist of Discovery Education and Discovery Commerce, which operates 120 Discovery Channel Stores. DCI also distributes BBC America in the United States. DCI's ownership consists of four shareholders: Discovery Holding Company (NASDAQ:DISCA)(NASDAQ:DISCB), Cox Communications, Inc., Advance/Newhouse Communications and John S. Hendricks, the Company's Founder and Chairman.

Source: Discovery Communications, Inc.

CONTACT: Elizabeth Hillman of Discovery Communications, +1-240-662-2664

Web site: http://www.discovery.com/

NOTE TO EDITORS: There will be a media conference call discussing the announcement today at 1:30pm EST with Koppel, Bettag and DCI executives. To participate in the conference call and Q&A please dial 1-800-857-2751; passcode: DISCOVERY.

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