Discovery Communications wants to generate more profit from its international division by bolstering its existing businesses and launching new services. The factual broadcaster aims to generate half of its revenues from its international businesses by 2012, according to David Zaslav, the company's president and chief executive who joined from NBC in January. "At NBC we had a lot of content and were trying to figure how to get it out [internationally]," said Zaslav. "Discovery went out early and our content translates very well around the world, which gives us great leverage. My hope is that five years from now 50 per cent of revenues will come from outside the US and I think that's attainable." International now accounts for a third of total turnover at Discovery and much of the recent international growth has come from Europe, the Middle East and Africa. But Discovery's family of channels in the UK have struggled recently. Speaking about the UK market, Mark Hollinger, president of global business and operations, said: "It's the most complex market we have to deal with; we have a strong pay-TV player [BSkyB] and the most competition in terms of non-fiction content on free TV. It will be a cyclical business." Overall, Discovery revenues have increased; 2002 revenues of US$1.7 billion (￡822 million) had grown to US$2.4 billion by 2004 and US$3 billion by 2006. But having increased between 2001 and 2004, the profit margin slipped in 2005 and 2006. "We have had overall growth but not the growth in margins that we see as achievable," said Greg Ricca, president and chief executive of Discovery International.
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