In September 1996, the CRTC granted a licence to Peter Maniatakos for a cable specialty channel to be called Odyssey, to serve the Greek community in the province of Ontario only. In January 1997, the company, now known as Odyssey Television Network Inc., applied for and eventually received permission to expand its coverage to all of Canada. The channel used programming from two Greek television broadcasters, Antenna and ERT sat. In the year 2000, Odyssey was licensed to launch Odyssey II, using programming from Mega in Greece. When this material later became unavailable, Odyssey was able to procure alternative programming from its Odyssey One suppliers, and the two channels became known as OTN 1 and OTN2. The programming on both channels was 90% in Greek, with the balance in either English or French.
Written by Pip Wedge – June, 2007
Ownership: Odyssey Television Network Inc
Start Year: 2000