Animal Planet Embarks on Three New Adventures that Immerse Viewers in Brand New Worlds

Animal Planet Embarks on Three New Adventures that Immerse Viewers in Brand New Worlds

- Production of GROOMER HAS IT Competition Show Begins in Los Angeles -

- Network Journeys to Icy Waters of the Antarctic with Sea Shepherd Society in WHALE WARS -

- Apex Predator Expert Dave Salmoni to spend A YEAR WITH LIONS in the Heart of Africa -

SILVER SPRING, Md., Jan. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Animal Planet president and general manager Marjorie Kaplan has announced three new series to debut over the next year as the network rebrands beginning on February 3, 2008. The new series -- GROOMER HAS IT, WHALE WARS and A YEAR WITH LIONS -- are all reflective of the network's new brand definition of entertaining and instinctually-charged storytelling that is emotionally tethered with the animal kingdom.

"I'm excited to share these new series with our audiences and deliver on Animal Planet's new brand promise," notes Kaplan. "GROOMER HAS IT is a smart and humorous series that opens our eyes to animal beauty while WHALE WARS will be an adrenaline adventure that looks at the consequences of taking a stand on an issue. Then there's A YEAR IN LIONS with signature personality Dave Salmoni. He'll be taking on an incredibly exciting project in a way no one else can."

GROOMER HAS IT is a new competition series that sniffs out 15 of America's most creative and hard-working groomers -- amateur and professional -- brings them to Los Angeles and puts their drive to the test against each other for the supreme grooming title as they transform some of the scruffiest-looking dogs to look their doggie best! Three regular judges and one guest judge will put the groomers through their paces each week to see whose knowledge and skill can turn the shaggiest, most unstylish pooch into the a fancy, prancing pup. While every dog has its day, at the end of the series, only one groomer has his or hers ... and is crowned America's top groomer! Production begins later this month in Los Angeles and is produced by 3 Ball Productions.

In WHALE WARS, Animal Planet is embedded with the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, an organization that uses unconventional and radical methods to eradicate alleged illegal whaling operations and founded by former Greenpeace member Paul Watson. This stunning and dangerous limited series will spotlight both the controversial whaling trade and the tactics that Sea Shepherd and its staff and volunteers use to cripple it. The group fights to enforce international laws on the high seas where law enforcement is minimal or non-existent, and their voyages use innovative techniques to enforce the law, including ramming, disabling and/or sinking whaling ships, disrupting whale carcass processing and dispersing fleets of whaling vessels. Animal Planet began production in December, and the series is produced by RIVR Media.

A YEAR WITH LIONS takes large predator expert Dave Salmoni to southern Africa to spend a year among these big cats. Having studied lions with unprecedented access for his previous series, INTO THE LION'S DEN, Salmoni returns to Africa to literally live with a new pride, hoping to get a keener understanding of how these cats live, react to human encounter and maintain their status as king of the jungle. A YEAR WITH LIONS will take viewers along with Dave on a first hand, moving and heart-stopping experience of the only social feline in the wild. Unlike other big cats such as the tiger, the jaguar and the leopard, lions uniquely live in social structures -- the pride -- and their lives are intricate, interwoven adventures. Told in his own voice, Salmoni will lead you into the heart of the pride to witness each defining moment of the lion's life -- from hunting to mating, to birthing to defending their territory.

Animal Planet Media (APM), a multimedia business unit of Discovery Communications, LLC, connects humans and animals with rich, deep content via multiple platforms and offers animal lovers and pet owners access to a centralized online, television and mobile community for entertainment, information and enrichment. APM consists of the Animal Planet television network, available in more than 94 million homes in the U.S.; online assets http://www.animalplanet.com/, the ultimate online destination for all things animal; the 24/7 broadband channel, Animal Planet Beyond; Petfinder.com, the #1 pet-related Web property globally that facilitates pet adoption; PetsIncredible, a major producer and distributor of pet-training videos that includes the Web service PetVideo.com; and other media platforms, including a robust Video-on-Demand (VOD) service, mobile content, and merchandising extensions.

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact:

Source: Animal Planet

CONTACT: Brian Eley for Animal Planet, +1-240-662-2957,
brian_eley@discovery.com

Web site:

http://www.animalplanet.com/

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