Discovery walks tightrope

Discovery Channel in the US will air a live tightrope walk across the Grand Canyon by Nik Wallenda, aka ‘The King of the High Wire’, this summer.

Wallenda will perform the death-defying stunt, performed at a height greater than the Empire State Building, live on June 23 on Discovery Channel, with Peacock Productions set to produce.

“Discovery Channel continues to bring some of television’s most talked about and historic live events of the year,” said Eileen O’Neill, group president Discovery and TLC Networks.

Wallenda said the stunt would be a chance to honour his great-grandfather, the legendary Karl Wallenda, who died after falling from a tightrope in Puerto Rico in 1978.

Gretchen Eisele, Knute Walker and Benjamin Ringe will exec produce, while Howard Swartz serves as exec producer for Discovery. Last year Discovery Channel aired Felix Baumgartner’s world record skydive from the edge of space.