Investigation Discovery
television station
Investigation Discovery (ID) is an American cable television network. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, ID primarily broadcasts true crime programming, including documentaries and anthology series.
The channel was established in 1996 as Discovery Civilization Network (later Discovery Civilization Channel), which focused on world history. In 2002, the channel was relaunched as Discovery Times as a joint venture with The New York Times Company, with a focus on programming related to the culture of the United States. The Times divested their stake to Discovery in 2006, and the channel took its current name and format two years later.
As of November 2023, ID is available to approximately 69 million pay television households in the United States-down from its 2015 peak of 86 million households.
History
20th century
The channel launched in 1996 under the name Discovery Civilization Network: The World History and Geography Channel. It was one of four digital cable companion networks; Discovery Travel & Living Network (now Destination America), Discovery Science Network (now Science Channel) and Discovery Kids (now Discovery Family, which has been a joint venture with Hasbro since 2010) were rolled out by Discovery Communications simultaneously in October 1996. Plans for the channel had surfaced in November 1994, when its working name was Time Traveler.
“Investigation Discovery” enters the record as television station. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Investigation, Discovery and television can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Investigation Discovery” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Investigation, Discovery and television provides the most credible route into that argument.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 2, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q668203. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1996, 2002, 2006 and 2023.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Investigation Discovery”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Investigation Discovery primary sources, Investigation Discovery archive and Investigation research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Investigation Discovery”?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Investigation Discovery” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.