New channel will target 'bright green' viewers

Comedienne Annabelle Gurwitch is trying to show a bunch of fraternity brothers the virtues of saving water. So, while a TV camera rolls, she strips down to gym shorts and bra, and jumps into a low-flow shower with one of them.

Gurwitch's conservation-minded show is part of a two-year, $100 million push by Discovery Communications LLC to launch an around-the-clock TV network called Planet Green. If successful, its "eco-lifestyle" brand could prove lucrative, attracting advertiser-friendly viewers who are willing to pay extra for hybrid cars and organic food. But Discovery must avoid being snared in a potential backlash -- or, worse, found guilty of boring TV.

With Planet Green's launch set for June 4, when it will replace the Discovery Home channel in more than 50 million households, executives are busy preparing a programming slate aimed at a mainstream audience they refer to internally as "bright green." Celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse will host "Emeril Green," a cooking program set inside a Whole Foods Market Inc. store in Fairfax, Va. Other celebrities are likely to appear in short-form series depicting their efforts to live a greener lifestyle. A docu-soap, executive produced in part by Leonardo DiCaprio, will chronicle a Kansas town that was leveled by a tornado, only to rebuild using eco-friendly techniques.

"It's not going to be preachy," says David Zaslav, Discovery's chief executive.

Discovery's big investment is, in part, a wager that interest in combating global warming will continue to grow. Planet Green will join a marketplace already crowded with broadcast and cable outlets that are chasing advertisers' eco-friendly marketing budgets. The Weather Channel recently expanded its "Forecast Earth" series to an hour a week. Sundance Channel will soon premiere its second season of "The Green," its bloc of environmental programming.

In April, Discovery will unveil much of its programming lineup for the channel to advertisers. Already, though, several companies have signed deals to market on the new channel, including Clorox Co., Whirlpool Corp., S.C. Johnson & Son Inc., Waste Management Inc. and General Motors Corp.

The ad buys are a way for companies to make a statement that "we are actively going to support this network,' " says Jason Kanefsky, a national media buyer at Havas SA's MPG. But ratings must follow, he cautions: "If no one's watching it, there's no statement to make."

Meantime, corporations' rush to embrace environmentalism -- and the "green" moniker -- is raising concerns in some quarters. Environmentalists are increasingly vocal in decrying deceptive or misleading corporate environmental claims, known as "greenwashing." The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has stepped in, and has begun hearings to revise environmental-marketing rules.

The issue is a delicate one for Discovery, which is working to maintain authenticity. In part to illustrate its bona fides, Discovery has linked with environmental groups and retrofitted its Silver Spring, Md., headquarters with water- and power-saving modifications to achieve the U.S. Green Building Council's highest rating for existing buildings.

Initially, at least, Planet Green's programming will be mostly personality-driven fare with informational components, often online. The channel is shooting 40 hourlong episodes of "Renovation Nation," in which Steve Thomas, former host of "This Old House," takes viewers through green renovations, such as installing grass-covered roofs. "Supper Club" will feature luminaries dining and discussing environmental issues.

The show Gurwitch hosts, "Wasted," offers households -- from families to fraternities -- cash incentives to reduce their environmental "footprint" with simple tips, and equipment like energy-efficient light bulbs. On a recent shoot at a couple's Spanish colonial house in Oceanside, N.Y., Gurwitch consoled the garbage-composting machine that the couple had rejected as too smelly. "I keep trying to find out-of-the-box ways to convey information," says Gurwitch, a writer for NPR and The Nation. "If it's entertaining, that's the key, right?"

At times, however, at least one of the channel's producers has needed convincing on that point. Katie Carpenter, an environmental documentarian, was initially put off by the focus on lifestyle shows. "I was like, 'Don't talk to me about light green,"' she says, explaining she preferred the more serious tone of "dark green" programs.

But as she worked on lighter series for the channel, Carpenter says she was won over by the chance to package the content in a more entertaining format: "Not all of my world needs to be dark green. I can have a variety of shades."