The History of Canadian BroadcastingLaunched in 2003 and owned by Telelatino, SKY TG24 was a 24-hour news channel in Italian, with significant amounts of its programming output originating with the Italian SKY news channel. The balance of the programming was produced in Canada. Written by Pip Wedge – June, 2007 Ownership: Telelatino Network Inc Start Year: 2003
In September 2003, Channel Zero Inc, already licensees of the short film channel Movieola, was given a licence to operate a new cable specialty channel to be called Silver Screen Classics, whose schedule would include “Golden Oldies feature films and B Movies spanning all genres”. The channel was launched in 2004. Channel Zero also operated […]
Showcase Television, a basic cable channel company owned by Alliance Atlantis, was in November 2000 granted a licence for the Action Channel, to be devoted to “action movies and series primarily driven by a fast-paced fictional plot featuring car chases, explosions, special effects or martial arts,” with a restriction that no more than 25% of […]
Subtitling itself as Television Without Borders, Showcase was licensed in 1994 to Alliance and began broadcasting in 1995. Notable for the frequency with which its predominantly fictional programming required viewer discretion advisories, the channel originally had the CBC as minor shareholders, and providing programming in lieu of their financial obligations, but the channel later became […]
Originally licensed to CHUM Limited in 2001 as a specialty channel to be titled Relationships, the service eventually launched as Sex TV; The Channel, and by the time it was acquired by CTVglobemedia in 2007 as part of the acquisition of the assets of CHUM Limited (see below), Sex TV was describing itself as “…a […]
On April 12th, 2000, Astral Networks and Alliance Atlantis Broadcasting acquired 50%-50% ownership and control of the assets of the French-language specialty channels Series+ (formerly Canal Fiction) and Historia (formerly Canal Histoire). The original licences for these channels had been granted to Alliance and its then-partner Premier Choix on May 21st, 1999. Canal Fiction was […]
Salter Street Films were licensed in November 2000 to operate a cable specialty channel to be called Scream, to be dedicated to the horror genre, with a mix of movies, horror series “….and magazine shows that explore the horror phenomenon.” Corus Entertainment became major shareholders before Scream was launched on September 2001, by which time […]
In September 2003, Ethnic Channels Group Limited received approval to launch a cable specialty channel to be known as Vietnamese TV, to provide programming targeted at the Vietnamese community in Canada. It launched in June 2004 as SBTN, the letters standing for Saigon Broadcasting Television Network, the prime source of the channel’s programming, which offered a […]
In 1991, the CRTC granted a licence to the Saskatchewan government to operate the Saskatchewan Communications Network (SCN), a non-profit satellite-to-cable channel to deliver cultural and educational programming in Saskatchewan. It would later be available via direct-to-home satellite services. On March 24th 2010 the Saskatchewan government announced that it intended to close down SCN because […]
Salt & Light In 2001, the CRTC approved an application for a new cable specialty channel to be called the Inner Peace Television Network, and the channel was launched in July 2002. In November 2003 the CRTC approved the acquisition of Inner Peace’s assets by St. Joseph Corporation, on behalf of a not-for-profit corporation to be known […]