ANIMAL PLANET'S HILLBILLY HANDFISHIN' CONTINUES TO SNARE RECORD VIEWERS

-- Second Week Premiere Ranks Among Top 5 Ad-Supported Cable Telecasts With Men at 10 PM--

(Silver Spring, MD, August 16, 2011) - Following the record setting series debut last week, Animal Planet's HILLBILLY HANDFISHIN' continues to snare viewers with 1.345 Million P2+ viewers in its second week. The two premieres to-date have delivered more than 1.4 Million P2+ viewers.

The second installment, "Say Hello to My Little Friend," captured more men with a 25% increase in M25-54 ratings (1.0 vs. 0.8), ranking among the top 5 ad-supported cable telecasts in the 10 PM hour (tied).

Other highlights of note for the second episode include:

Person's 25-54 delivery was up +8% (750K vs 697K)

Men 25-54 delivery up +17% (490K vs. 419K)

HILLBILLY HANDFISHIN' is a 12-part series, where thrill-thirsty city slickers head to rural Oklahoma to submerge themselves in murky waters and catch catfish with their bare hands and feet. Led by experienced Oklahoma hand fishermen and self-proclaimed hillbillies Skipper Bivins and Trent Jackson, city folk get a taste of the good-ole' country lifestyle by going through the paces of noodling catfish without tackle or bait. The experience might be uncomfortable, completely foreign and downright terrifying, but it promises to alter the lives and positively affect each newly crowned noodler.

HILLBILLY HANDFISHIN' is produced by Half Yard Productions for Animal Planet. Sean Gallagher and Abby Greensfelder are executive producers for Half Yard Productions. Keith Hoffman is executive producer for Animal Planet.

Animal Planet Media (APM), a multi-media business unit of Discovery Communications, is the world's only entertainment brand that immerses viewers in the full range of life in the animal kingdom with rich, deep content via multiple platforms and offers animal lovers and pet owners access to a centralized online, television and mobile community for immersive, engaging, high-quality entertainment, information and enrichment. APM consists of the Animal Planet television network, available in more than 97 million homes in the US; online assets www.animalplanet.com, the ultimate online destination for all things animal; the 24/7 broadband channel, Animal Planet Beyond; Petfinder.com, the #1 pet-related Web property globally that facilitates pet adoption; and other media platforms including a robust Video-on-Demand (VOD) service; mobile content; and merchandising extensions.