Discovery Times Channel's Critically Acclaimed Series OFF TO WAR Signed for a Full Season

Discovery Times Channel's Critically Acclaimed Series OFF TO WAR Signed for a Full Season

OFF TO WAR is the Only Documentary Series to Follow the Citizen Soldiers on the Frontlines While Capturing Their Families' Stories on the Homefront

SILVER SPRING, Md., March 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Discovery Times Channel announced today that it has commissioned a full season of the network's original limited series OFF TO WAR. Produced for Discovery Times Channel by renowned production company Downtown Community TV Center (DCTV), OFF TO WAR offers a unique window on the war in Iraq, focusing on the citizen soldiers of the Arkansas National Guard on both the frontlines and the homefront.

In April 2004, 57 men from Clarksville, Ark., left their jobs and their families for Iraq as members of the 39th Infantry Brigade with the Arkansas National Guard, showcasing the largest deployment of the National Guard since World War II. Over the course of the past year, the brother filmmaking team of Brent and Craig Renaud, born and raised in Little Rock, Ark., followed the unit through their call-up, deployment and service, while simultaneously capturing the lives of their loved ones back at home. The unit will soon return home from Iraq and the Renaud brothers will continue to film them, documenting their assimilation back into society over the next few months.

"The response we received from our viewers and the industry for this series has been both moving and overwhelming," said Vivian Schiller, senior vice president and general manager, Discovery Times Channel. "The topicality of the story, combined with the intimate and personal stories of the guardsmen and the families they left behind, has touched our viewers in a dramatic way."

The first three episodes of OFF TO WAR premiered on Discovery Times Channel in 2004. Discovery Times Channel has commissioned an additional seven episodes of the program. The Financial Times named OFF TO WAR among the top 10 programs of 2004, and it has also earned several honors, including the Golden Gate Award for Best Documentary at the San Francisco International Film Festival and the JVC Grand Prize at the Tokyo Video Festival.

OFF TO WAR is produced by DCTV for Discovery Times Channel. Brent and Craig Renaud are producers, Jon Alpert is executive producer and Mat Tombers is associate executive producer. For Discovery Times Channel, Bill Smee and Diana Sperrazza are executive producers, and Vivian Schiller is the executive in charge of production.

The Discovery Times Channel (http://www.discovery.com/times) combines the journalistic authority of The New York Times with the programming excellence of Discovery Communications to bring viewers provocative, engaging and relevant documentary series and specials about the events and ideas shaping our times. The network has won multiple industry honors for its breakthrough programming, including an Emmy, an Overseas Press Club Award, three National Headliner Awards, a BANFF Rockie Award, and has had a film selected for competition at the Sundance Film Festival. Available to more than 35 million subscribers in the United States, the Discovery Times Channel is a joint venture between The New York Times Company (NYSE:NYT) and Discovery Communications, Inc., the leading global real-world media and entertainment company.

Downtown Community TV Center is the largest, most honored community media center in the United States. DCTV has won 12 national Emmy Awards, three Columbia-DuPont Citations and every other major award in television. DCTV was in Baghdad during the first Gulf War and conducted an exclusive interview with Saddam Hussein after the war. DCTV has also made many reports about the lives of Iraqi civilians before, during, and after the second Gulf War. DCTV is housed in a landmarked firehouse in New York's Chinatown. Every year DCTV trains hundreds of at risk high school students (who won two national student Emmys) -- disabled producers (Connect TV) -- and other New Yorkers. Details at http://www.dctvny.org/ .

Source: Discovery Times Channel

CONTACT: Reenie Kuhlman, +1-240-662-2937, Reenie_Kuhlman@discovery.com, or Denise Arrigali, +1-678-580-1245, darrigali@comcast.net, both of Discovery Times Channel

Web site: http://www.discovery.com/ http://www.dctvny.org/

NOTE TO EDITORS: To download photos for OFF TO WAR, go to www.press.discovery.com. Log in or register and click on US; Discovery Times Channel; OFF TO WAR.

------- Profile: Ent