Climb a mountain range, investigate the authenticity of mummies and examine the snakes that roam the Earth - all without leaving the couch.

Into the digital-channel race enters the National Geographic Channel, TV for the armchair adventurer.

The channel has good reason to be confident - more than 500,000 Canadians subscribe to National Geographic magazine, making it the third-best-selling magazine in the country.

The yellow frame that circles every magazine is familiar to Canadians, said Sydney Suissa, senior vice-president of factual programming for Alliance Atlantis, the company partnering with NBC to produce National Geographic. People know the name, and they know what to expect from the channel.

"I'm in the very fortunate position of not having to explain what this channel is about," Mr. Suissa said. "Canadians see this channel as a passport to the world. The branding is not just a type of programming, it's a level of quality."

At the same time, Mr. Suissa said, the channel will surprise viewers expecting to see loafing lions and cheetahs running down gazelles in the African safari.

Canadian-produced O'Shea's Big Adventure follows Mark O'Shea, a reptile hunter and scientist on an expedition around the world in search of the big, the bad, and the most beautiful among Earth's rarest and most dangerous snakes.

Viewers can hit the road with university professors Ron Beckett and Gerry Conlogue in the Mummy Road Show, as the two pioneers in the field of "bioanthropology" travel the world to wherever mummy mysteries remain untold, searching the remains for clues of the mummies' life stories.

"It's basically like Antiques Road Show for mummies," Mr. Suissa said. "If they can establish the mummy's authenticity, they try to create a history. ... There's a lot at stake for the people owning the mummy."

Programming is separated into strands of subject matter to make each show easier to find. "And let's face it," Mr. Suissa said, "not everybody likes wildlife programs, and not everybody like science shows."

The channel's "Living Wild" strand includes a variety of programs about the natural world - a wildlife anthology, he said. Program highlights include King Cobra, Island of the Giant Bears and Dolphins: the wild side.

But this is not just a nature channel, he added.

Shows in National Geographic's "Horizons" strand deal with the stories of life on the planet, including lots of programs about adventurers and photographers on some of National Geographic's 500 expeditions a year and their quest to uncover the mysteries of Earth.

Alan Alda hosts Scientific American Frontiers. The program, which originally appeared on PBS in the United States, looks at the science behind anything from what makes us fat to space travel.

While a large proportion of the programming is from National Geographic International, 80 to 90 hours a year will be commissioned independently, Mr. Suissa said. As the viewership grows, so will the ability to hire more Canadian documentary makers, he added.

One series already set to be aired is Sea Hunters. Produced by a Canadian team, the series is about a Canadian group of divers who investigate shipwrecks, and about the science behind their investigations.

Another series set to air in October, Magnificent Journey, follows the natural history of Canada from coast to coast.

National Geographic's resources will make the channel great, Mr. Suissa said. As an example, he points to the group's fact-checking system. Once a program is completely edited, it is fact-checked. It takes approximately 30 hours to fact-check one hour to be broadcast, he noted.

"You have the weight of the magazine behind your programs, the entire organization is behind you," Mr. Suissa said, so that viewers know that what they are watching is absolute fact.

"This is an organization that makes scientific news. It lets viewers know that something is coming."