The Southern Ontario/WNY Radio-TV Forum / More cable/linear channels rebranding

**Posted by andysradio** October 18, 2024 11:03 am

The shake out between Bell, Rogers and Corus over cable channels continues. Bell announces new names to several of its cable/linear channels
Bell Media to launch USA Network in Canada in wider programming license shuffle

**Posted by TheWiz** October 18, 2024 12:15 pm

Wait a minute. It sounds like Bell will no longer be carrying The Discovery Channel, Food Network, Animal Planet etc... established brands that viewers know very well. Instead replacing them with their own knockoff versions of these channels?

Am I reading the article correctly?

**Posted by RadioAaron** October 18, 2024 12:22 pm

TheWiz wrote:
Wait a minute. It sounds like Bell will no longer be carrying The Discovery Channel, Food Network, Animal Planet etc... established brands that viewers know very well. Instead replacing them with their own knockoff versions of these channels?

Am I reading the article correctly?

Rogers got the rights to most of those brands at Bell and Corus' expense, and will be launching their own versions

Last edited by RadioAaron (October 18, 2024 12:22 pm)

**Posted by TheWiz** October 18, 2024 12:32 pm

RadioAaron wrote:
TheWiz wrote:
Wait a minute. It sounds like Bell will no longer be carrying The Discovery Channel, Food Network, Animal Planet etc... established brands that viewers know very well. Instead replacing them with their own knockoff versions of these channels?

Am I reading the article correctly?
Rogers got the rights to most of those brands at Bell and Corus' expense, and will be launching their own versions

I understand the rights issue. But this shouldn't hypothetically prevent Bell from offering these channels on their cable TV services. These channels have been available through all cable providers up to this point regardless of who owns the actual content.

It sounds like we are entering a point soon, where cable providers will only be offering content that they themselves have the rights to. Audio streaming has been moving this way for a while (i.e. Rogers "Seeker" app only contains their content), and now it's happening with Television. All because the financial arms of these companies have lost touch with what is best for the end user.

**Posted by Dial Twister** October 18, 2024 12:50 pm

The Wiz wrote:
All because the financial arms of these companies have lost touch with what is best for the end user.

When was that ever not the reality? 😉

**Posted by RadioAaron** October 18, 2024 12:52 pm

TheWiz wrote:
RadioAaron wrote:
TheWiz wrote:
Wait a minute. It sounds like Bell will no longer be carrying The Discovery Channel, Food Network, Animal Planet etc... established brands that viewers know very well. Instead replacing them with their own knockoff versions of these channels?

Am I reading the article correctly?
Rogers got the rights to most of those brands at Bell and Corus' expense, and will be launching their own versions
I understand the rights issue. But this shouldn't hypothetically prevent Bell from offering these channels on their cable TV services. These channels have been available through all cable providers up to this point regardless of who owns the actual content.

The Rogers versions don't exist yet

**Posted by andysradio** October 18, 2024 1:02 pm

RadioAaron wrote:
Rogers got the rights to most of those brands at Bell and Corus' expense, and will be launching their own versions

Just what Canada needs - more English TV channels

**Posted by torontostan** October 18, 2024 2:05 pm

It will be interesting to see if Bell adds the new Rogers channels to their channel lineup, and if Rogers removes the revised Bell channels from theirs.

**Posted by Radiowiz** October 18, 2024 2:27 pm

torontostan wrote:
It will be interesting to see if Bell adds the new Rogers channels to their channel lineup, and if Rogers removes the revised Bell channels from theirs.

Interesting indeed. I'm thinking both companies will shake hands and carry each other's channels...but both companies might get nasty about pricing, putting their own channels first, in a specially priced bundle, with those other channels being add ons at a set price... (or something like that...)

**Posted by RadioAaron** October 18, 2024 2:39 pm

Yeah, I'm sure they both will. Having a complete lineup is more important than the channels themselves. CRTC might wag a finger otherwise, too.

**Posted by markow202** October 18, 2024 4:22 pm

Speaking of USA Network, back in the 90s CKVR Barrie had USA Network made tv shows being aired.

Silk Stalkings
Renegade
Pacific Blue
Monday Night Raw

How would they obtain these shows back then and no other channel here?

**Posted by Radiowiz** October 18, 2024 8:35 pm

markow202 wrote:
Speaking of USA Network, back in the 90s CKVR Barrie had USA Network made tv shows being aired.

Silk Stalkings
Renegade
Pacific Blue
Monday Night Raw

How would they obtain these shows back then and no other channel here?

Back then, CKVR was a Chum group station.
They may have been paying for the rights, and possibly for more than just one station.
Content that may have aired on other CHUM group stations, but only in markets where CKVR is not available.

**Posted by Glen Warren** October 18, 2024 9:56 pm

Barry Diller's USA Network was changing their schedule, and modelling it to some degree after City TV so, this is why there was access to some of the USA Networks programming.

from Wikipedia...

Diller planned to remove shopping shows and infomercials from most of the stations' broadcast days and replace them with local and syndicated programs, including a few produced by sister production unit Studios USA Television that also aired nationally on USA Network. He wanted to tie each of the stations very closely to the communities they served, and to open up opportunities for locally produced programs. This format was dubbed "CityVision", and took heavy influence from the format used by CITY-TV in Toronto (and more prominently, that station's sister broadcast television properties that became charter stations of Citytv, when CHUM Limited expanded the format to other Canadian markets as a television system in 2002, and similar to USA's sale of its stations to Univision, suffered a similar fate when CHUM agreed to merge with CTVglobemedia (now Bell Media), owner of the CTV Television Network).

In the 80's, USA Networks also produced or co-produced programs at both CFTO and Global. Check it Out... Jack Pot, and Chain Reaction amongst others.... The low Canadian dollar exchange rate was attractive to US producers..

Last edited by Glen Warren (October 18, 2024 10:28 pm)

**Posted by mace** October 19, 2024 10:48 am

These days, USA Network seems to run SVU to the same extent CTV airs Big Bang Theory.