Discovery plans to use new acquisition Treehugger to drive the direction of the US TV network's green efforts online, following the purchase of the eco-lifestyle website in a deal rumoured to be worth between USD10m and USD15m. Discovery will integrate Treehugger and its user-generated content site Hugg.com with the PlanetGreen network, which boasts a USD50m investment and plans to launch a 24-hour green TV channel in early 2008. Founded in 2004, the Brooklyn-based startup claims to attract 1.4m unique users a month and to have served more than 50m pages since launch. It offers a mix of text and video news, alongside blogs, opinion columns and a user-generated site, Wugg.com.

Treehugger co-founder Graham Hill says he always believed the company would reach a point where it needed to "attract significant investment or partner up with a large media organisation," and claims to have been approached by more than 15 major companies in the past year. Hill says there will an emphasis on the development of community tools following the acquisition and says it means Treehugger can "build a larger, deeper team, create new tools and help us reach a larger audience." Last year, Animal Planet, which is owned by Discovery, bought two online pet sites in the form of Petfinder.com and PetsIncredible. Forward to colleagues