Country | Canada |
---|---|
Broadcast area | Nationwide |
Headquarters | Toronto, Ontario |
Programming | |
Language(s) | English |
Picture format | 1080i HDTV (downscaled to letterboxed 480i for the SDTV feed) |
Ownership | |
Owner | Corus Entertainment (80.2%) Warner Bros. Discovery (19.8%) |
Sister channels | ABC Spark Adult Swim CMT DTour Food Network (soon to be Flavour Network) HGTV (soon to be Home Network) Lifetime Magnolia Network OWN (2016-2024) Slice W Network |
History | |
Launched | September 7, 2001 |
Former names | SexTV: The Channel (2001–2010) W Movies (2010–2016) |
Links | |
Website | cookingchannel |
Cooking Channel is a soon-to-be-defunct Canadian English language discretionary specialty channel majority-owned by Corus Entertainment. Dedicated to programming related to food and cooking, it serves as a spin-off of Food Network.
The channel was launched in 2001 as SexTV: The Channel under the ownership of CHUM Limited named after the program of the same name aired on Citytv. The channel was acquired in 2006 when Bell Globemedia acquired the assets of CHUM which was completed in 2007 while the Citytv stations were sold to Rogers Media. Corus acquired the channel in 2010 and relaunched it as W Movies, a spin-off of W Network focused on films targeting women. On December 12, 2016, the channel relaunched under its final name; following the relaunch, Scripps Networks Interactive took a minority interest in the channel.
The channel will be discontinued on all TV providers nationwide at 12:00 a.m. Eastern time on January 1, 2025, due to Rogers Sports & Media taking over the Canadian rights to all Warner Bros. Discovery lifestyle and factual networks beginning that same day.
In June 2001, CHUM Limited received approval by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to launch a national Category 2 specialty channel known as Relationship Television, a channel described as being "devoted exclusively to programming related to love, romance, marriage, relationship-themed game shows, sexuality and gender issues, family planning, relationship breakdown and magazine style programming featuring romantic vacation resorts." [1]
The channel was launched three months later on September 7, 2001 as SexTV: The Channel, [2] a channel modeled after and its name derived from SexTV , a now-former program on Citytv (which was a CHUM-owned property at the time). SexTV aired programming on sex and human sexuality, including issues on love, dating, romance and related subjects.
In July 2006, Bell Globemedia (later CTVglobemedia) announced that it would purchase CHUM for an estimated CAD$1.7 billion. [3] Due to CTV planning to retain the Citytv network, SexTV: The Channel was among the channels along with A-Channel, Access, CKX-TV Brandon and CLT to be sold to Rogers Communications on April 9, 2007, awaiting the final approval. The sale was approved by the CRTC on June 8, 2007, on the condition that CTV must divest the Citytv stations, effectively cancelling the sale of SexTV: The Channel to Rogers and the transaction was completed on June 22, 2007 while the Citytv stations were sold to Rogers later that year. [4]
On July 14, 2009, CTVglobemedia announced that it would sell Sex TV, along with Drive-In Classics (then Sundance Channel, now defunct), to Corus Entertainment for a combined CAD$40 million. [5] In late September, Corus announced that the channel would be rebranded as W Movies, a spin-off of W Network with a focus on films targeting women. [6] The sale was approved by the CRTC on November 19, [7] with the transaction being completed by December. The on-air relaunch as W Movies took place on March 1, 2010.
On December 2, 2011, W Movies launched a high definition feed. It is currently available through all major television providers in the country.
After the CRTC relaxed genre protection rules in 2015, Corus announced on October 19, 2016 that W Movies would be relaunched as a Canadian version of Cooking Channel on December 12, 2016. The network served as a spin-off of Corus's Canadian version of Food Network, and came shortly after Bell Media's re-launch of Gusto, which competes directly against Food Network. [8] Scripps Networks Interactive subsequently acquired a 19.8% interest in the channel. [9]
In June 2024, Rogers announced it had acquired the rights to all Warner Bros. Discovery factual and lifestyle television brands beginning January 1, 2025, including Food Network and Cooking Channel. [10] Rogers stated that the Cooking Channel brand will operate as a digital platform on Citytv+, rather than being relaunched as a new discretionary service. [11] While Corus announced plans to relaunch Food Network as Flavour Network on December 30, 2024, [12] [13] several television providers have stated that Cooking Channel will shut down on January 1, 2025. [14] [15] This change was directly confirmed by Corus via the channel's website on December 8, stating that Corus will no longer offer the channel and would focus more on Flavour Network and Home Network. [16] The channel's license will be surrendered to the CRTC for revocation sometime after the shutdown.
Cooking Channel primarily airs programming similar to Food Network, albeit with a larger emphasis on instruction- and personality-based programming over reality and competition-style series.
As SexTV: The Channel, the network aired programming devoted to human sexuality including issues on love, dating, romance and related subjects. Past programs on the network included Sex Wars: Gender in the Age of Representation, Beyond Carnival: Sex in Brazil, and Sexploration.
Citytv is a Canadian television network owned by the Rogers Sports & Media subsidiary of Rogers Communications. The network consists of six owned-and-operated (O&O) television stations located in the metropolitan areas of Toronto, Montreal, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, and Vancouver, a cable-only service that serves the province of Saskatchewan, and three independently owned affiliates serving smaller cities in Alberta and British Columbia. There is also one station using the brand name serving Bogotá, Colombia.
CHUM Limited was a Canadian media company based in Toronto, Ontario in operation from 1945 to 2007. The company was founded in 1945 as York Broadcasters Limited when it launched CHUM-AM 1050 but was acquired by salesman Allan Waters in 1954. CHUM had expanded to and owned 33 radio stations across Canada under its CHUM Radio Network division and also owned other radio stations.
Bell Media Inc. is a Canadian media conglomerate that is the mass media subsidiary of BCE Inc.. Its operations include national television broadcasting and production, radio broadcasting, digital media and Internet properties.
CTV 2 is a Canadian English-language television system owned by the Bell Media subsidiary of BCE Inc. The system consists of four terrestrial owned-and-operated television stations (O&Os) in Ontario, one in British Columbia and two regional cable television channels, one in Atlantic Canada and the other in Alberta.
W Network is a Canadian English language discretionary specialty channel owned by Corus Entertainment. The channel primarily broadcasts general entertainment programming oriented towards a female audience.
Discovery Channel is a Canadian discretionary specialty television channel majority-owned by CTV Specialty Television, Inc., a joint venture of Bell Media and ESPN Inc. It is headquartered at 9 Channel Nine Court in the Agincourt neighbourhood of Scarborough in Toronto, Ontario.
Animal Planet is a Canadian English language discretionary specialty television channel. Animal Planet broadcasts a variety of programming featuring animals.
CTV Drama Channel is a Canadian English language discretionary specialty channel owned by Bell Media. The channel primarily broadcasts drama series and films.
Investigation Discovery is a Canadian discretionary service owned by Bell Media. Based of the U.S. cable network of the same name, the channel focuses on true crime programming, including original productions and imports from its U.S. counterpart.
Comedy Gold, formerly known as TV Land Canada was a Canadian English language specialty channel that was owned by Bell Media 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 that aired various films.
Fashion Television, also known as Fashion Television Channel, was a Canadian English language specialty channel owned by Bell Media.
Oprah Winfrey Network, more commonly shortened to OWN, was a Canadian English language discretionary service channel owned by Corus Entertainment. The network's owner, Corus Entertainment, licensed the OWN brand and its American programming from Warner Bros. Discovery.
Stingray Retro is a Canadian English language discretionary specialty channel owned by the Stingray Group. The channel mainly broadcasts music videos from the 1980s to the early 2010s, with some occasional pre-1980s music videos played at times.
Rogers Media Inc., operating as Rogers Sports & Media, is a Canadian subsidiary of Rogers Communications that owns the company's mass media and sports properties.
MTV2 was a Canadian English language discretionary specialty channel focused on lifestyle and general entertainment programming aimed at youth and teen audiences. The channel was owned by Bell Media subsidiary of BCE, Inc., with the MTV2 name and branding used under an agreement with the Paramount Networks Americas division of Paramount Global.
Stingray Juicebox is a Canadian discretionary music specialty channel owned by Stingray Group. It is a commercial-free channel that broadcasts music and music videos aimed towards children and teens.
CTV 2 Alberta is a Canadian English language entertainment and former educational television channel in the province of Alberta. Owned by the Bell Media subsidiary of BCE Inc., it 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 private English-language 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.
In June 2024, Rogers Communications announced a licensing agreement with Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), under which it will hold the rights to the channel brands and programming of WBD's factual and lifestyle television networks. The agreement will trigger a major re-alignment of Canadian specialty television, ending the long-term associations between the brands of WBD predecessors Discovery Communications and Scripps Networks Interactive with Bell Media and Corus Entertainment respectively.
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: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)On December 12, 2016, the Company sold a 19.8% interest in 7202377 Canada Inc. (the "Cooking Channel"), a subsidiary, to Scripps Network LLC for $7,500, the fair value at the date of the sale. Cash proceeds of $5,250 were received upon closing. Control of this subsidiary did not change, therefore a business combination did not occur