The History Of Former StarSat Channel, Zone Club (Also Known As Fine Living)

Zone Club was a European based channel owned by Chello Zone which was eventually folded under AMC International by 2013. The brand was incepted by 1998 as Club, Chello Zone's distributor of lifestyle and general entertainment.

Expanding onto the lineup, it featured a lineup of home, travel, food and relationship based content. It also broadcast dramas and documentaries. Some notable titles include The Divine Design, Maxed Out and Saturday Cooks!

In September 2009, it was revealed that Chello Zone (now Chellomedia) struck a deal with AMC International to launch CBS Drama alongside two other channels provided to DStv, CBS Action (now CBS Justice) and CBS Reality. Of course, these brands were added to replace most of the Zone channels.

Chellomedia offered a variety of linear channels including Zone Europa, Zone Fantasy, Zone Reality, Zone Thriller, Zone Horror, Zone Romantica. As it is only 5 channels were inserted were inserted to replace this batch while others were filled with timeshift channels.

Zone Club's replacement was divided by 3 channels. In Poland, audiences got CBS Drama, Hungary got a kids channel Minimax and EMEA was the only region to have a replacement that wasn't owned by AMC International to some extent, Fine Living Network.

Fine Living Network was conceived in a joint venture with Scripps Networks which was eventually acquired by Warner Bros. Discovery (known as Discovery Inc. at the time in 2018).

Of course, after the brand was acquired there wasn't much mention of Chellomedia (or AMC International) so it was believed that Warner Bros. Discovery bought both company's share of Fine Living but take one factor to account.

Fine Living was just a random channel sure it had reality shows but not that of Zone Club. As the lineup consisted of mainly content from Warner Bros. Discovery like Beachfront Bargain Hunt, Candice Tells All, Extreme Homes, Fixer Upper and Million Dollar Rooms.

To top it off Fine Living hadn't seen much success internationally as it closed in Netherlands and Africa by 2019 and a year later dissolved after filing for bankruptcy with a debt of €30 million. It was eventually survived by the European version of HGTV and Real Time.

Of course, HGTV was exclusive to MultiChoice's DStv meaning consumers on StarSat would have to get another platform and pay extra so there comes Real Time a catch-up channel which was subsequently scrapped after the pay-tv platform failed to resolve their contractual agreement with the owners.

It also led to the cutback of other channels such as Discovery Science and Investigation Discovery and this comes after the loss of Discovery Family and as mentioned already Fine Living with the pay-tv company still sourcing replacements for over a year.

Discovery Communications Completes Acquisition Of Scripps Networks Interactive

Discovery Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq: DISCA, DISCB, DISCK) announced today that the company has successfully completed its acquisition of Scripps Networks Interactive, Inc. (Nasdaq: SNI).Moving forward, the combined company will be officially known as simply: Discovery, Inc.

“Today marks another critical milestone for Discovery, as we become a differentiated kind of media company with the most trusted portfolio of family-friendly brands around the globe,” said David Zaslav, President and Chief Executive Officer for Discovery. “As a new global leader in real life entertainment, Discovery will serve loyal and passionate audiences around the world with content that inspires, informs and entertains across every screen; deliver new ways for advertisers and distributors to reach highly targeted audiences at scale; and leverage our leadership position to create new value and growth opportunities for all of our stakeholders.”

The name change to Discovery, Inc. demonstrates a new focus on growth in the areas at which Discovery excels, telling stories across deeply loved genres and empowering superfans to explore their world wherever and whenever they choose.

In Africa, the acquisition sees Food Network and the Travel Channel join Discovery’s popular stable of networks currently available in the market; Discovery Channel, TLC, Discovery Family, Investigation Discovery (ID), Animal Planet, DTX and Discovery Science.

The acquisition is expected to be accretive to adjusted earnings per share and to free cash flow in the first year after closing, including significant cost synergies. The combination is expected to create a strong economic model with capacity for rapid debt repayment and a clear runway for growth and value creation.

Kenneth W. Lowe, former Chairman, President & CEO of Scripps Networks Interactive, will join Discovery’s board of directors, effective immediately.

Scripps shareholders will receive approximately $90 per share, consisting of $65.82 per share in cash and 1.0584 per share in Series C Common shares of Discovery stock valued based on a volume weighted average price (subject to elections and proration), in each case in accordance with the terms of the merger agreement. This includes a cash payment of $2.82 per share in connection with Discovery’s previously announced decision to exercise in full the cash top-up option under the merger agreement.