Bravo (Canadian TV channel)

Last updated
Bravo
Bravo Canada 2012 logo.svg
LaunchedJanuary 1, 1995 (1995-01-01)
Owned by Bell Media
Picture format 1080i HDTV
(downscaled to letterboxed 480i for the SDTV feed)
SloganVery Bravo
Country Canada
Language English
Broadcast areaNationwide
Headquarters Toronto, Ontario
Formerly calledBravo! (1995–2012)
Sister channel(s) CTV
The Comedy Network
Space
Gusto
Website bravo.ca
Availability
Satellite
Bell TV Channel 620 (SD)
Channel 1734 (HD)
Shaw Direct Channel 523 (SD)
Channels 82 and 582 (HD)
Cable
Available on most Canadian cable systemsConsult your local cable provider for channel availability
IPTV
Bell Aliant Fibe TV Channel 203 (SD)
Channel 420 (HD)
Bell Fibe TV Channel 620 (SD)
Channel 1620 (HD)
Bell MTS Channel 123 (SD)
Channel 1123 (HD)
Optik TV Channel 9302 (SD)
Channel 302 (HD)
SaskTel Channel 73 (SD)
Channel 373 (HD)
VMedia Channel 40 (HD)
Zazeen Channel 121 (HD)

Bravo (various styled bravo and Bravo! in different logos) is a Canadian English-language discretionary service channel that is owned by Bell Media.

Television in Canada officially began with the sign-on of the nation's first television stations in Montreal and Toronto in 1952. As with most media in Canada, the television industry, and the television programming available in that country, are strongly influenced by media in the United States, perhaps to an extent not seen in any other major industrialized nation. As a result, the government institutes quotas for "Canadian content". Nonetheless, new content is often aimed at a broader North American audience, although the similarities may be less pronounced in the predominantly French-language province of Quebec.

English language West Germanic language

English is a West Germanic language that was first spoken in early medieval England and eventually became a global lingua franca. It is named after the Angles, one of the Germanic tribes that migrated to the area of Great Britain that later took their name, as England. Both names derive from Anglia, a peninsula in the Baltic Sea. The language is closely related to Frisian and Low Saxon, and its vocabulary has been significantly influenced by other Germanic languages, particularly Norse, and to a greater extent by Latin and French.

A discretionary service is a Canadian specialty channel which, as defined by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, may be carried optionally by all subscription television providers. It replaces the previous category A, category B, category C, and premium classifications.

Contents

The channel was founded as a Canadian version of the U.S. channel Bravo (which is now owned by NBCUniversal), and originally focused on performing arts, drama, and independent film. As with its U.S. counterpart, the channel has dropped its arts programming but unlike its U.S. counterpart, which shifted to female-targeting reality and lifestyle-oriented series, the Canadian channel adopted a general entertainment format with a focus on drama.

NBCUniversal American media and entertainment company

NBCUniversal Media, LLC, d/b/a NBCUniversal, is an American worldwide mass media conglomerate owned by Comcast and headquartered at Rockefeller Plaza's Comcast Building in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is one of two successor companies to MCA Inc., the other being Vivendi through its subsidiary Universal Music Group.

In film and television, drama is a genre of narrative fiction intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular subgenre, such as "police crime drama", "political drama", "legal drama", "historical period drama", "domestic drama", "teen drama", or "comedy-drama". These terms tend to indicate a particular setting or subject-matter, or else they qualify the otherwise serious tone of a drama with elements that encourage a broader range of moods.

On September 12, 2019, Bravo will relaunch as CTV Drama Channel.

CTV is a Canadian English-language terrestrial television network launched in 1961. Since 2000, it is owned by the CTV Inc. subdivision of the Bell Media division of BCE, Inc. It is Canada's largest privately or commercially owned network, and has consistently been placed as Canada's top-rated network in total viewers and in key demographics since 2002, after several years trailing the rival Global Television Network in key markets.

History

In the 1980s, a precursor to Bravo existed called C Channel. The service was a national commercial-free pay television channel that focused on arts programming. C Channel launched on February 1, 1983, before it went bankrupt and ceased operations five months later on June 30 of that year due to its inability to attract a sufficient number of subscribers at a price of $16 per month.

C Channel Failed Canadian pay-TV channel

C Channel was a Canadian premium television channel specialising in arts programming. It was one of Canada's first licensed "pay TV" channels when it began in 1983 but it ended in failure within months.

Pay television, also known as subscription television or premium television, are subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichannel television providers, but also increasingly via digital terrestrial, and streaming television. Subscription television began in the multi-channel transition and transitioned into the post-network era. Some parts of the world, notably in France, Latin America and the United States, have also offered encrypted analog terrestrial signals available for subscription.

Bravo logo used from 1995 to 2012 Bravo logo.svg
Bravo logo used from 1995 to 2012

Over 10 years later, another attempt at an arts-based channel was proposed when CHUM Limited applied to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) for a license to operate Bravo. In June 1994, CHUM's application for Bravo was approved, citing its nature of service as focusing on "performance and drama programming, as well as documentary and discussion". [1]

CHUM Limited was a Canadian media company based in Toronto, Ontario in operation from 1945 to 2007. It held full or joint control of two Canadian television systems—Citytv and A-Channel —comprising 11 local stations, one CBC Television affiliate, one provincial educational channel, and 20 branded specialty television channels, most notably MuchMusic and its various spinoffs. In addition, CHUM owned 33 radio stations across Canada under its CHUM Radio Network division. At various points in its history, CHUM also owned other radio stations as well as ATV and the Atlantic Satellite Network in Atlantic Canada.

Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission is a public organization in Canada with mandate as a regulatory agency for broadcasting and telecommunications. It was created in 1976 when it took over responsibility for regulating telecommunication carriers. Prior to 1976, it was known as the Canadian Radio and Television Commission, which was established in 1968 by the Parliament of Canada to replace the Board of Broadcast Governors. Its headquarters is located in the Central Building of Les Terrasses de la Chaudière in Gatineau, Quebec.

Bravo was launched on January 1, 1995, at 3pm, with an introductory slide of a letter from Moses Znaimer explaining how Bravo was intended to help show that TV was not "a monumental waste of time", as he claimed most people thought of it, followed by their first program, the BBC documentary TV Is King. It focused on arts programming, including music, ballet, literature, television and film drama, visual arts, modern dance, opera and architecture. Facilities for the network, including a small studio constructed especially for acoustic performances, were housed in an addition to the CHUMCity Building at 299 Queen Street West in Toronto, and much like Citytv and MuchMusic, utilized unconventional branding and programming (hence the original slogan for the network, NewStyleArtsChannel), and the network had 3 branded vehicles to be used in covering news about the arts. As a condition of licence, Bravo was to contribute a predetermined amount or percentage of its revenues to ArtsFACT (now called Bravo!FACT), a fund established to provide grants for the production of Canadian short films covering a wide range of arts-related disciplines. Films funded by Bravo!FACT have regularly aired on the channel.

Moses Znaimer, is a co-founder and former head of Citytv, the first independent television station in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and the current head of ZoomerMedia.

Music form of art using sound and silence

Music is an art form and cultural activity whose medium is sound organized in time. General definitions of music include common elements such as pitch, rhythm, dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture. Different styles or types of music may emphasize, de-emphasize or omit some of these elements. Music is performed with a vast range of instruments and vocal techniques ranging from singing to rapping; there are solely instrumental pieces, solely vocal pieces and pieces that combine singing and instruments. The word derives from Greek μουσική . See glossary of musical terminology.

Ballet form of performance dance

Ballet is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread, highly technical form of dance with its own vocabulary based on French terminology. It has been globally influential and has defined the foundational techniques used in many other dance genres and cultures. Ballet has been taught in various schools around the world, which have historically incorporated their own cultures and as a result, the art has evolved in a number of distinct ways. See glossary of ballet.


Sale to CTVglobemedia/Bell Media

In July 2006, Bell Globemedia (later called CTVglobemedia) announced that it would purchase CHUM for an estimated CAD$1.7 billion, included in the sale was Bravo [2] The sale was approved by the CRTC on June 8, 2007, [3] and the transaction was completed on June 22, 2007. After CTVglobemedia's purchase of Bravo, the channel increasingly shifted its focus toward more television and film dramas (such as Criminal Minds ), and lessened its focus on arts programming.

On September 10, 2010, BCE Inc. (a minority shareholder in CTVglobemedia) announced that it planned to acquire 100% interest in CTVglobemedia for a total debt and equity transaction cost of $3.2 billion. [4] The deal was approved by the CRTC on March 7, 2011, [5] and was finalized on April 1 of that year, on which CTVglobemedia was rebranded Bell Media. [6]

While under Bell Media ownership, the shift toward television and film dramas and general entertainment programming was expanded upon, although it still carries some arts-related programming as a condition of its licence. This format shift was further emphasized on May 14, 2012, when Bravo unveiled a new on-air logo and new on-air presentation as part of an extensive rebranding of the network. The new logo dropped the original "square" logo that Bravo had maintained since its launch (which resembled the 1993 to 2003 logo used by the U.S. channel), in favour of a design no longer resembling any logo used by its American counterpart.

On June 6, 2013, Bell announced that Bravo would become the company's first network to implement a TV Everywhere service, which would allow subscribers of participating television service providers that carry Bravo to stream video on demand content as well as a live feed of the Bravo channel via the Bravo Go app. [7]

On June 7, 2018, during the CTV upfronts, it was announced that Bravo would be re-branded as "CTV Drama", as part of a re-branding of several Bell Media specialty channels under the CTV name. [8] The following year, it was revealed the channel will rebrand as CTV Drama Channel on September 12, 2019. Bell also announced a commitment to order 20 made-for-TV film adaptations of Harlequin novels from Harlequin Studios, which will air on CTV Drama Channel and Vrak. [9]

Programming

In its early years, Bravo often aired short films by Canadian artists between programs, funded by its foundation Bravo!FACT, which ranged from comedy to drama to opera to jazz to animation. Many of these also aired on Bravo's weekly series Bravo!FACT Presents . Bravo has also produced a limited amount of scripted and non-scripted series and has broadcast many notable specials, including a telecast of Canadian rock band Spirit of the West's Open Heart Symphony concert with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, and three early television films within the Murdoch Mysteries franchise: Except the Dying , Poor Tom Is Cold and Under the Dragon's Tail .

Original series

Bravo HD

Bravo HD logo used from 2011 to 2012. Bravo Canada HD.PNG
Bravo HD logo used from 2011 to 2012.

Bravo HD is a high definition simulcast feed of Bravo, which broadcasts in the 1080i resolution format; the feed was launched on October 6, 2011. It is available through all major TV providers.

Related Research Articles

Bell Media Inc. is the mass media subsidiary of BCE Inc.. Its operations include television broadcasting and production, radio broadcasting, digital media and Internet properties including Sympatico.ca.

CTV 2 is a Canadian English language television system that is owned by the Bell Media subsidiary of Bell Canada. The system consists of four terrestrial owned-and-operated television stations (O&Os) in Ontario and three in British Columbia, and two regional cable-only channels, one in Atlantic Canada and the other in Alberta.

CKNX-TV was a television station owned by CTVglobemedia which served mid-western Ontario, Canada. It was part of the A television network. The station's offices, studios, and transmission facilities were located in Wingham. A bureau in Owen Sound closed down in late 2004.

CHRO-TV, VHF analogue channel 5, is a CTV 2 owned-and-operated television station licensed to Pembroke, Ontario, Canada. The station is owned by Bell Media, as part of a twinstick with CTV O&O CJOH-DT. The two stations share studios – alongside Bell's Ottawa radio properties – located at the Market Media Mall building on 87 George Street in Downtown Ottawa's ByWard Market, and its transmitter is located on TV Tower Road near Pembroke; the station operates a digital-only rebroadcaster on UHF channel 43 in Ottawa. This station can also be seen on Rogers Cable channel 6 and in high definition on digital channel 595.

Animal Planet (Canadian TV channel)

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The Comedy Network is a Canadian English-language specialty channel owned by Bell Media, which focuses primarily on comedy programming. The channel operates two time-shifted feeds, running on Eastern and Pacific Time Zone schedules.

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Comedy Gold (TV channel) Canadian specialty television channel

Comedy Gold was a Canadian English language discretionary service channel that was owned by Bell Media. Originally a Canadian version of the American channel TV Land, it later became a sister network to The Comedy Network previously focused on sitcoms and sketch comedy programs from the 1970s to 1990s.

Sundance Channel was a Canadian English language Category B specialty channel owned by Corus Entertainment. Sundance Channel airs programming focused on independent films, documentaries, music series, dramas and more.

Fashion Television (TV channel)

Fashion Television is a Canadian pay television network owned by Bell Media. The channel originally broadcast programming related to fashion, modelling, photography, art, architecture and design, and was fashioned after the CHUM Television original program, FashionTelevision.

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OWN is a Canadian English language discretionary service channel that is owned by Corus Entertainment. It is targeted to women, offering a blend of lifestyle, information and entertainment programming.

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Stingray Retro is a Canadian pay television channel owned by the Stingray Group. The channel broadcasts music videos from the late 1970s to the mid-2000s.

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Stingray Juicebox is a Canadian music channel owned by Stingray Digital. It is a commercial-free service that broadcasts music videos aimed at kids aged 8 to 14.

Stingray Loud

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CTV 2 Alberta is a Canadian English language entertainment and former educational television channel in the province of Alberta. It is owned by Bell Media, and operates as a de facto owned-and-operated station of its secondary CTV 2 television system.

In 2007, significant ownership changes occurred in Canada's broadcast television industry, involving nearly every network and television system. In addition to the shuffling of network affiliations and mergers involving various networks, several new television stations and rebroadcast transmitters also signed on the air.

References

  1. ↑ CRTC Decision 1994-281
  2. ↑ Bell Globemedia acquires CHUM Archived 2011-09-27 at the Wayback Machine ; Fasken Martineau; 2006-07-12
  3. ↑ Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2007-165; CRTC; 2007-06-08
  4. ↑ Bell Canada (2010-09-10). "Bell to acquire 100% of Canada's No.1 media company CTV". CNW Group. Retrieved 2010-09-10.
  5. ↑ CRTC approves BCE's purchase of CTVglobemedia Archived June 29, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  6. ↑ Bell completes acquisition of CTV, launches Bell Media business unit CNW 2011-04-01
  7. ↑ "Bell Media to give subscribers full online access to Bravo". The Globe and Mail . Retrieved 6 June 2013.
  8. ↑ "Magnum P.I. reboot, new Jann Arden comedy on CTV's fall lineup". Toronto Star . Retrieved 2018-06-07.
  9. ↑ "CTV, Harlequin agree telemovie pact". C21media. Retrieved 2019-09-07.
  10. ↑ "Bravo! Celebrates Canada's Famous Faces with New Original Series STAR PORTRAITS, Premiering Sept. 12".
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