John Hendricks, founder of Discovery Channel, is launching Curiosity-Stream, a subscription video-on demand service that will offer reports about nature.

He believes Curiosity will appeal to casual TV viewers, which Hendricks believes represents about 17M households. Watchers of PBS are a key target.

The success of Netflix, according to Hendricks, demonstrates the huge demand for programming available when people want to watch it.

He envisions charging $2.99 to $9.99 per-month for non-fiction shows depending on the resolution of the picture.

Curiosity launches with about 800 short-form programs of about eight minutes in length.

It's in the market to buy more programming.