 Several investors (including the BBC, Allen & Company and Venture America) raised $5 million in start-up capital to launch the network.The Discovery Channel began broadcasting on June 17, 1985.It was initially available to 156,000 households and broadcast for 12 hours each day between 3 p.m. and 3 a.m. About 75 percent of its program content had never been broadcast on U.S. television before.