Launched December 12, 2013 Country Canada | Owned by Bell Media Language French | |
Picture format 480i (SDTV)
1080i (HDTV) Slogan La télé d'enquête (Investigative TV) | ||
Investigation is a Canadian French-language Category B specialty channel owned by Bell Media. Investigation airs programming focusing on forensics and police investigations in the form of primarily documentary and reality TV series. It launched on December 12, 2013 on Bell TV, Bell Fibe TV and Cogeco as Canal D/Investigation.
The channel was originally branded as a sister-channel to Canal D, which airs, among other programming, a significant amount of programming on the forensics and police investigations genre. It has now dropped the 'Canal D' moniker and is now known simply as Investigation.
History
On August 10, 2011, Astral Media was granted approval by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to launch "INVESTIGATION", described as "a national, specialty Category B service operating in the French language, devoted to exploring justice and forensic science: legal and police investigations, fraud and swindling, espionage, major trials, procedures, legal firms, coroners, forensic pathology, etc. Intended mainly for adult viewers, INVESTIGATION proposes to air magazines, documentaries, dramas and reality television shows related to justice and forensic science."
Amid an acquisition deal, which would see Bell Media acquire Astral for $3.38 billion, Astral announced in October that it would launch the channel by the end of 2012. Only days later, the Bell/Astral deal was denied by the CRTC.
After a second and successful attempt at acquiring Astral, Bell Media announced in November 2013 that it would launch the channel on December 12, 2013, indicating it would be called Investigation, However, prior to the channel's launch, on December 5, when announcing programming titles the channel would air at launch, Bell Media indicated the channel would be renamed Canal D/Investigation. The channel was renamed Investigation in 2016, maintaining the same graphics and on-air identity and keeping the same logo, with the exception of removing ""canal D" from the logo.