As the humble owner of a post-graduate degree in History and a handful of additional credits earned by a love of the field, as a teacher of History for 29 years, I have bemoaned, regretted and been outraged by the abuse of the word History by a commercial television channel.
The task of the History Channel is to connect a group of viewers to a group of advertisers. This could be achieved by delivering a select audience of serious readers and ponderers of academic History to a narrowly aimed group of advertisers.
Or, it could be achieved by delivering a broader based audience of fans of the "drama of History" with biographical and incident based stories that are legitimately riveting.
Consider the 3rd Option!