Discovery Channel has done well in recent years with such reality hits as 19 Kids and Counting, River Monsters, Gold Rush, Alaskan Bush People and Naked and Afraid. But with cord-cutting coming on strong, and some 17 percent of U.S. households dropping cable, Discovery is looking to switch gears, reports The Washington Post.

To showcase the shift, Discovery Channel acquired documentary series Racing Extinction, produced the by Oscar-winning producers of documentary film The Cove. The docu-series is a serious watch, filled with facts about animals facing extinction and a few black-market stings of poachers.

Discovery Networks also owns other networks, including TLC, Animal Planet and Investigation Discovery, and the latter is cable’s fastest-growing and most-watched network among women 25-54, with such ear-catching titles as Wives with Knives and Nightmare Next Door.

As part of this effort to return to its roots, but in an even more premium way, Discovery hired HBO veteran John Hoffman to run its documentary division. Hoffman’s mandate, according to the Post, is to “ignore ratings and shoot for big talkers with award potential and strong reviews.”

That’s the strategy that services such as HBO, AMC, FX and now Netflix have followed, and it’s worked. HBO routinely rules the Emmys, while AMC boasts cable’s biggest hits with shows such as The Walking Dead and Better Call Saul. FX is a critical darling with plenty of awards acclaim to its name as well. Netflix seems to survive on buzz alone, never feeling the need to reveal its metrics of success.

The goal for cable networks right now is to stay out of the “middle” — those cable networks that are seen as disposable by subscribers and thus left out of so-called skinny bundles. By adding more premium fare, Discovery hopes to remain a must-have network.

Like most cable networks, Discovery is also struggling with business changes. Discovery’s stock fell 24 percent in 2014, according to the Post.

“There’s a lot of what we do with this company that’s not about making money,” Zaslav, TV’s highest-paid executive, told the Post. “It’s not for us to be distinctive. It’s for us to do what we were meant to do. This is a purpose-driven company. We want to do well, but we also want to do good.”

Brief Take: It used to be enough to build a network and then grab a place on operators’ lineups. Today, cable networks have to prove their worth to consumers, and that’s forcing every network to up their games.

Read more: The Washington Post

[Cube image courtesy of Discovery]

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