Current Station Group: Corus Entertainment Inc.Maclean-Hunter (60%) and Rawlco Communications (40%) received a licence from the CRTC in June 1994 for the operation of a country music network. Around this time, Rogers Communications acquired Maclean-Hunter.
The station launched on January 1, 1995 as the New Country Network.
CBS Cable acquired a 10% interest in the channel and it was relaunched as Country Music Television (CMT) on October 31, 1996, with programming reflecting the name – concerts, videos, series and specials all featuring country music in its various forms.
CBS Cable parent, CBS Corp., was spun-off from Viacom and the 10% foreign interest in Canada’s CMT came under the ownership of Viacom International Media Networks.
Majority interest in CMT was purchased by Shaw Communications.
In 2016, Shaw Media (division of Shaw Communications) was acquired by Corus Entertainment (also controlled by Shaw).
CMT eliminated all country music video programming on August 28, 2017. Corus stated it would continue to promote Canadian country music through its country music radio stations and Global television stations.
Ownership: Corus
Start Year: 1994