World View Multicultural
World View Multicultural was a Canadian regional premium television service based in British Columbia licensed by the CRTC in 1982.[1]
World View Multicultural was launched on February 1, 1983 like the rest of the Canadian pay-TV channels.[2]
In August 1985, World View Multicultural was acquired by Cathay International Television and subsequently the channels license was amended to provide 96% of programming in Chinese and 4% in English.[3]
Ownership
90% was owned by a company controlled by Frank Zimmer and George Spracklin.[4]
They held $15.8 million in equity at the time of license.
They promised to spend $46.3 million on Canadian content over 5 years (1983–88), and would make a $6.4 million profit by 1988.
Management
- Justine Bizzocchi, Programming Director
Programming
Besides movies, programming on AIM/World View included Italian soccer, sumo wrestling, and the Asian Games in New Delhi.
It broadcast a total of 90 hours per week in several languages: English, French, German, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Icelandic, Japanese, Chinese, Italian, Hindi, Punjabi, and Urdu.
Pricing
The wholesale price would be $7/month.
References
- Decision CRTC 82-240
- "Here Comes Pay-tv". TV Guide. January 15, 1983.
- "- Decision CRTC 85-628"
- Westell, Dan (September 26, 1981). "Pay-TV: Visions of riches lure big bidders". The Globe and Mail.