Rahul Sharma (Editor)

Category B services

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A Category B service (formerly Category 2 prior to September 1, 2011) is a Canadian specialty television channel which, as defined by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, may be carried, optionally, by all digital cable television and direct broadcast satellite providers.

Contents

Unlike Category A services, Category B services are not protected as to format. They are licensed to broadcast within defined formats which are not provided by or overly close to an existing protected channel, but their formats are not protected themselves and need not protect other Category B services. Also unlike Category A services, a Category B service does not have guaranteed cable carriage rights, but must directly negotiate carriage with cable distributors. Category B services encompass both pay television and specialty channels.

In December 2012, the CRTC exempted from formal licensing services with less than 200,000 subscribers that would otherwise meet the definition of a Category B service, and services which air 90% of their programming in a language other than English, French, or languages of aboriginal peoples in Canada.

Henceforth, most Canadian specialty channels (except for national news & mainstream sports channels, which are classified as Category C services) will be licensed as Category B services.

The following is a list of currently launched and officially licensed Category B services in Canada:

French

  • Avis de Recherche
  • Casa
  • Ici Explora
  • Investigation
  • MOI&cie
  • Prise 2
  • Télémagino
  • Vivid TV Canada
  • Yoopa
  • Zeste
  • Multicultural

  • Aaj Tak
  • All TV
  • ATN Food Food
  • ATN SAB TV
  • ATN Sony TV
  • ATN Times Now
  • ATN Zoom
  • Bollywood Times
  • Fairchild TV 2 HD
  • FPTV
  • Filmy
  • Mediaset Italia
  • Mediaset TGCOM 24
  • MEGA Cosmos
  • Mehndi TV
  • New Rogers-run Sky TG24 Channel (Launch TBA)
  • New Tang Dynasty Television
  • SSTV
  • Telebimbi
  • TeleNiños
  • Travelxp
  • Univision Canada
  • ZEE Bollywood
  • Zee Cinema
  • Zee TV Canada
  • Zing
  • French

  • Cinépop
  • English

  • AOV Adult Movie Channel
  • beIN Sports Canada
  • Disney Channel
  • Disney Junior
  • Disney XD
  • Exxxtasy TV
  • FEVA TV
  • Maleflixxx Television
  • MAVTV Canada
  • Stingray Juicebox
  • Stingray Loud
  • Stingray Retro
  • Stingray Vibe
  • The Cult Movie Network
  • Vertical TV
  • Vintage TV
  • XXX Action Clips Channel
  • Defunct Category B services

  • bpm:tv
  • CityNews Channel
  • CoolTV
  • Discovery Kids
  • Dusk
  • The Ecology Channel
  • Edge TV
  • Fine Living
  • Fox Sports World Canada
  • Global Reality Channel
  • GolTV
  • Gusto TV (Knight Enterprises)
  • HSTN
  • Leonardo World
  • MEGA Cosmos (Ethnic Channels Group)
  • MSNBC Canada
  • NHL Network
  • Niagara News TV
  • Nuevo Mundo Television
  • Persian Vision
  • The Pet Network
  • RTVi+
  • Talentvision 2 HD
  • Teletoon Retro
  • Télétoon Rétro
  • Tonis
  • TVOne Canada
  • UTV Movies
  • Video Italia
  • X-Treme Sports
  • References

    Category B services Wikipedia