When Will Shark Week Come Back? 2020 Event Won’t Start In July

UPDATE: July 2 -- Discovery confirmed that Shark Week will premiere Aug. 9 and continue through Aug. 16.

Original story: Shark fans wait all year for Discovery Channel’s iconic Shark Week programming event, and they start looking for it as soon as beach season starts. However, this year, the event will not start in July.

For the last several years, Discovery has kicked off Shark Week sometime in July, but in 2020, they’re swimming over to August. The promo video for Shark Week released during April’s special programming week filled with classic Shark Week specials revealed that the network would wait until later in the summer.

Discovery hasn’t yet announced when exactly Shark Week will come back. The start date will be on a Sunday in August, which gives viewers five possible options. Sharkophile published a rumor in May that claimed Discovery will launch the new fin-tastic specials on Aug. 9. However, the network has not confirmed any premiere dates, so take that with a grain of salt. Fans will have to wait for Discovery to make an official announcement before they mark their calendars.

This will be Shark Week’s 32nd year. The week-long programming stint, which last had an August premiere date in 2014, focuses on the finned fish with new specials airing every night during primetime hours. Throughout the daytime, viewers can tune in to see rebroadcasts of older Shark Week specials.

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It seems like Shark Week 2020 is taking on a patriotic look with their marketing. The new social media profile pictures and the promo video embrace red, white and blue as well as stars and stripes. The profile photos seem to mimic an election pin.

Though Shark Week isn’t airing in July, National Geographic’s SharkFest is still swimming during the seventh month of the year. The Disney-owned network will kick off their programming on July 19, but the 8th annual event goes well beyond a week. SharkFest will air for three weeks on the National Geographic channel before starting moving to Nat Geo WILD on Aug. 9 for another two weeks.

This article will be updated when Discovery officially announces the Shark Week 2020 start date.