[1] In recent years, Destination America has lost carriage with the growth of streaming alternatives including its parent company's Max, and has generally been depreciated by Warner Bros.

[2] The launch was delayed, and the channel made its debut in October 1996, originally known as Discovery Travel & Living Network and offering programming including do-it-yourself projects, cooking, interior design and landscaping, and party planning.

[8] Further programming details were announced in Discovery's April 2008 upfronts, including specials hosted by NBC News correspondent Tom Brokaw, the reality show Battleground Earth with Ludacris and Tommy Lee, Emeril Green, Hollywood Green with Maria Menounos, and the Bill Nye-hosted Stuff Happens, among other series.

Later that month, Planet Green ordered Focus Earth, a weekly environmental newsmagazine produced by ABC News and hosted by Bob Woodruff.

[11][12] Despite high expectations, the network's launch was unsuccessful;[13] writing for NPR, Mark Hemingway observed that besides Focus Earth and Stuff Happens (praising the former as being "informative and shockingly fair to business interests"), the majority of Planet Green's programs involved either home renovations or "self-righteous" celebrities, and demonstrated that environmentalism was "pretty much a luxury item".

Destination America underwent a rebranding in 2017, with on-air presentation carrying a darker and "uneasy" atmosphere (including a signature "glitch" effect) to reflect its change in programming direction.

[22] Since then, Destination America's schedule has largely shifted back towards its original format, drawing from Discovery and SNI's program libraries.

Planet Green programming included ecologically themed shows built around celebrities including Ed Begley Jr., Emeril Lagasse, Adrian Grenier, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ludacris, Tommy Lee, Tom Bergeron, SuChin Pak, Maria Menounos, Bob Woodruff, and Discovery Channel producer Tom Golden.

Lacking separate satellite feeds for the East and West coasts of the United States, prime-time programs ran from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. Eastern Time and were then repeated.