Launched January 1, 1995 Broadcast area National Founded 1995 | Country Canada | |
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Formerly called Women's Television Network (1995–2002) TV shows Property Brothers, Love It or List It, Hockey Wives, Love It or List It Vancouver, The Bachelorette Canada Profiles | ||
W network tv bumper
W Network (often referred to only as W) is a Canadian English language Category A specialty channel owned by Corus Entertainment. W Network broadcasts lifestyle and entertainment programming aimed at women.
Contents
The channel is available in two time shifted feeds, East (operating from the Eastern Time Zone) and West (operating from the Pacific Time Zone).
Show pitch to w network
History
In June 1994, Linda Rankin, on behalf of a corporation to be incorporated, (later incorporated as Lifestyle Television (1994) Limited, principally owned by Moffat Communications) was granted a television broadcasting licence by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to operate a channel called Lifestyle Television, described as offering "information and entertainment programming of particular interest to women."
The channel subsequently launched on January 1, 1995 as Women's Television Network (WTN). Like Moffat's other cable television operations, WTN was headquartered in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Linda Rankin served as the president of the network from its launch.
Programming on the network was originally largely focused on lifestyle programming that many had suggested was "feminist" in nature. Such programming included female takes on traditionally male-dominated activities such as fishing and mechanics, with Natural Angler and Car Care, respectively. While other programs, such as Go Girl!, took a comedic approach at parodying typical female-targeted talk shows that discussed subjects such as beauty, fashion, etc. Other programs included films, current affairs, and occasionally sports.
The channel suffered from low ratings in the beginning. Of the slew of new channels launched on January 1, WTN was initially the lowest rated channel on average. Linda Rankin later resigned in August 1995 citing "differences in management philosophy".
In December 2000, Shaw Communications announced it intended to purchase Moffat. The deal was later closed in early 2001. Shaw announced in March 2001 that it would sell WTN to Corus Entertainment, a company that it spun off in 1999, for $205 million CAD (Shaw had primarily acquired Moffat for its cable television systems). Once Corus took ownership of the channel, it moved operations from Winnipeg to Toronto in mid-January 2002, laying off 50 employees in the process. Subsequently, Corus relaunched the network as "W" on April 15, 2002 with a more entertainment-oriented mix of recent dramas and movies. On the same date, Corus launched the west coast feed.
In 2009, Corus Entertainment acquired SexTV: The Channel from CTVglobemedia, and relaunched the channel as W Movies — a spin-off of W Network focusing on films aimed towards women, on March 1, 2010.
High definition
On August 3, 2011, W Network HD was launched as a high definition simulcast of W Network's standard definition Eastern time zone feed. The HD feed was added to Bell TV satellite and Bell Fibe TV channel lineups on March 23, 2012. It is also available on Eastlink, Telus TV and Shaw Direct.
On October 1, 2013, an HD feed for the Pacific time zone was launched on Shaw Cable.
Programming
W Network airs a mix of lifestyle and entertainment television series including films, comedies, dramas, reality TV, cooking, and makeover series.