Launched September 7, 2001 Country Canada Owner Corus Entertainment | Owned by Corus Entertainment Broadcast area National Founded 2001 | |
Picture format 1080i (HDTV)
(2016-present)
480i (SDTV)
(2001-present) Formerly called Mystery
(2001-2007)
Mystery TV
(2007-2014) | ||
Crime & Investigation is a Canadian English-language Category A specialty channel owned by Corus Entertainment which presents movies, television series, and documentaries of the crime, mystery and suspense genres. Its name is licensed by A&E Networks, owners of the U.S. Crime & Investigation Network.
Contents
History
The channel was licensed as 13th Street by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) on November 24, 2000 to Canwest (45.05%), Groupe TVA (45.05%) and Rogers Communications (9.9%). Before the channel's launch, both Canwest and Groupe TVA acquired Rogers' shares in the service equally. The channel was described as "a national English-language Category 1 specialty television service devoted to mystery and suspense programming. The service will nurture and encourage short form Canadian mysteries. It will provide a wide assortment of genre-specific programs including movies, television series, short films and documentaries that will focus exclusively on the delivery of entertaining programming on suspense, espionage and classic mysteries."
The channel was launched as Mystery On September 7, 2001. TVA, Canwest and Rogers also owned the same shares of its French counterpart, Mystère, which would become wholly owned by TVA before launch. The channel was rebranded as Mystery TV in 2007, though the channel was still referred to as "Mystery" on-air.
On October 27, 2010, Shaw Communications completed its acquisition of Canwest, giving it control of Canwest's 50% interest in Mystery TV. On December 22, 2011, Groupe TVA announced its intentions to sell its share of The Cave (now H2) and Mystery TV to Shaw Communications, giving Shaw full control of these two channels. The deal was approved by the CRTC on April 25, 2012.
It was reported in June 2014 that Mystery TV, along with sister network Twist TV, would be rebranded as Canadian versions of the Crime & Investigation Network and FYI, respectively, under a licensing agreement with A+E Networks. They are the fourth and fifth networks to be rebranded after History Television, Showcase Diva and The Cave were rebranded as Canadian versions of History, Lifetime and H2 respectively in 2012.
The rebrand was originally set to take place in December, but was rescheduled to November 3, 2014. On April 1, 2016, CI's parent company Shaw Media was sold to Corus Entertainment.
Noted series
Crime + Investigation HD
In February 2016, Shaw launched Crime + Investigation HD, a 1080i high definition simulcast of the standard definition feed. The HD feed is currently available on Bell Fibe TV, MTS and Rogers Cable.