Discovery Communications Inc. is buying two pet-related businesses for about $35 million and folding them into its Animal Planet cable channel, forming a new business unit focused on pets and animals.

Maureen Smith, the head of the Animal Planet channel, will oversee the new group which will now include Petfinder.com, a leading Web site for facilitating pet adoptions, and PetsIncredible, a business that creates videos to help new owners train pets.

Smith said the deal will allow Animal Planet to add more features to the Web sites and enhance the online experience for animal owners, providing them with forums, more information on pets and animals as well as features from the Animal Planet cable channel.

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