E! (Canadian TV channel)

E!
Launched	September 10, 1999
Owned by	Bell Media; (branding licensed from NBCUniversal)
Picture format	1080i HDTV; (downscaled to letterboxed 480i for the SDTV feed)
Slogan	Pop of culture
Country	Canada
Broadcast area	Canada
Headquarters	Toronto, Ontario
Formerly called	Star! (1999–2010)
Website	eonline.com/ca
Availability
Satellite
Bell Satellite TV	Channel 621 (SD); Channel 1736 (HD)
Shaw Direct	Channel 527 (SD); Channel 088 (HD)
Cable
Available on most cable systems	Channel slots vary on each provider
IPTV
Bell Aliant Fibe TV	Channel 212 (SD); Channel 455 (HD)
Bell Fibe TV	Channel 621 (SD); Channel 1621 (HD)
Bell MTS	Channel 113 (SD); Channel 1113 (HD)
Optik TV	Channel 9333 (SD); Channel 333 (HD)
SaskTel	Channel 76 (SD); Channel 376 (HD)
VMedia	Channel 71 (HD)
Zazeen	Channel 111 (HD)

E! is a Canadian English language specialty channel owned by Bell Media. Based on the American cable network of the same name, E! is devoted to entertainment programming including news, film, television, celebrities and fashion. NBCUniversal licenses the name and programming for the channel under a brand licensing agreement, but it doesn't hold an ownership interest.

The network was originally launched in 1999 as the similarly-formatted Star!, under the ownership of CHUM Limited. In 2010, the channel reached a deal to license the name and branding of the U.S. E! network (following a short-lived incarnation as a television system formerly known as CH).

History

Original logo as Star!, used from 1999 to 2004.

Second logo as Star!, used from 2004 to 2010.

First logo as E!, used from 2010 to 2012.

The channel was licensed in 1996 by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission and was launched on September 10, 1999 as Star!, which was originally owned by CHUM Limited. On June 22, 2007, CTVglobemedia gained full control of Star! as a result of a takeover of CHUM Limited. That fall, Star!'s daily entertainment news program Star! Daily was cancelled and replaced with its CTV-produced competitor, etalk. As a result of the changes, the Citytv stations were sold to Rogers Media that same year.

The channel broadcast programming from the equivalent American cable channel E! until 2007 (thus the likely nod to that agreement with the exclamation mark as part of its name), when that channel licensed its name to Global's secondary television system CH and transferred its programming to that service, which became known as E!. Although the broadcast version of E! Canada ceased operations in 2009, Canwest is believed to have retained Canadian rights to E! (U.S.) programming (despite not airing it on any of its channels), preventing these series from returning to Star! Instead, the channel's schedule in these years consisted mostly of second-run talk shows and entertainment news shows repeated from CTV and its secondary A system (formerly A-Channel, now CTV Two), including FashionTelevision, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Ellen DeGeneres Show and TMZ.

On November 1, 2010, CTVglobemedia announced it had signed a multi-year and multi-platform deal with Comcast, to return the E! brand back to Canada. Under the agreement, Star! was relaunched as E!: Entertainment Television on November 29, 2010.[1] Ownership changed hands again, when on April 1, 2011, Bell Canada gained full control of E! as a result of a takeover of CTVglobemedia, with the latter company becoming known as Bell Media.

At E! U.S's upfronts presentation on April 30, 2012, the network unveiled a new logo and slogan, "Pop of Culture", to debut on July 9, 2012. On the same day, Bell announced that the Canadian version of the channel would adopt E!'s new branding on the same day as its debut in the U.S.[2] On July 12, 2012, E! Canada launched a high definition simulcast feed. It is currently available on Bell Satellite TV, MTS, SaskTel, Telus Optik TV, Bell Aliant Fibe and Eastlink.

Programs

While E! is very similar to its American counterpart, it also incorporates reruns of shows that have aired on other Bell Media services including, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Reign, Being Human, and Supernatural.

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References

CTV and Comcast International Media Group Partner to Bring E!, World's Top Entertainment Brand, Back To Canada Archived 2011-03-22 at the Wayback Machine CTVglobemedia press release, November 1, 2010.
"E! Canada Unveils The Network's Next Brand Evolution, Day-and-Date with E! U.S." Press release. Archived from the original on 15 January 2013. Retrieved 10 July 2012.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[1] CTV and Comcast International Media Group Partner to Bring E!, World's Top Entertainment Brand, Back To Canada Archived 2011-03-22 at the Wayback Machine CTVglobemedia press release, November 1, 2010.

[2] "E! Canada Unveils The Network's Next Brand Evolution, Day-and-Date with E! U.S." Press release. Archived from the original on 15 January 2013. Retrieved 10 July 2012.