Discovery Health Channel's warm-and-fuzzy baby programming is getting up close and
personal: a 10-hour marathon of live births, with camera crews set up in
delivery rooms in at least three different hospitals waiting to take baby's
first picture.
Showing births live on TV is not new (although a live maternity marathon
probably is) -- America's Health Network has been there back in 1998, and Good
Morning America has done that, as well.
Discovery Health has been working with obstetricians, patients and hospitals
for months to manage the process. Mary Alice Williams will anchor the Feb. 17, 4
p.m. to 2 a.m. EST show.
Senior vice president Bob Reid said "Birth Day" was not a
programming stunt. "Anything that educates women more about pregnancy and the
health of their babies is valuable," Reid said.
