Discovery Velocity has arrived in Canada, bringing with it a wide array of automotive-oriented programming.

Rebranded from Discovery World, Discovery Velocity fills an empty space in the Canadian television market with a channel geared towards the car enthusiast.

“We’re looking to provide a really high-adrenaline, really exciting schedule and be somewhere that people can watch things they can’t see anywhere else in Canada,” said Director of Programming, Discovery Networks Lindsay Cowan Dotchison.

The new channel takes its name from Discovery Communications’ U.S. channel, Velocity, which was launched in 2011 and has a similar focus on automobiles.

"One of the reasons we launched Velocity in Canada is the huge success we saw with Velocity in the U.S." said Dotchison.

"We looked to Canada and we could see that our viewers were watching a lot of that big turbo factual content on Discovery.

"We saw really strong audiences with shows like Vegas Rat Rods, Fast N’ Loud and Overhaulin' and we realized that we really wanted to create an exclusive home for factual, entertaining turbo content in Canada."

The country has been without an automotive-geared channel since Speed shut down in 2013.

"There was pretty much empty space there and we wanted to fill that space with Discovery Velocity," said Dotchison.

Programming features hundreds of hours of exclusive-in-Canada live broadcasts of Barrett-Jackson collector car auctions, premieres of all-new seasons of Canadian productions such as MegaSpeed and Vegas Rat Rods along with favourites from south of the border like Wheeler Dealers, Chasing Classic Cars and AmericCARna as well as other shows like Patrick Dempsey: Racing Le Mans and Inside West Coast Customs.

And while the focus will be on Automotive content, particularly during prime time hours, Discovery Velocity will also maintain some of the best travel, survival, and cultural world content viewers had come to expect from Discovery World.

Discovery Velocity is letting Canadians test drive the new channel with a seven-week free preview from Feb. 12 - March 31. Viewers can contact their local service providers for details on channel information in their area.

To help celebrate the launch and give viewers a first-hand experience of the channel, Discovery Velocity also has a booth set up at the Canadian International AutoShow which features a stunning, heavily-customized low-riding 1930 Ford Model A Rat Rod.

For more information and other original content, fans of the channel can also experience Velocity on its new website at www.discoveryvelocity.ca.