Launched December 2, 2005 Country Canada Website World Fishing Network Shaw Direct Channel 127 / 458 (SD) Motto We Share Your Passion | Slogan We Share Your Passion Headquarters Toronto, Ontario Bell TV Channel 419 (SD) Owned by Insight Sports Broadcast area National | |
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Picture format 480i (SDTV)
1080i (HDTV) Bell Fibe TV Channel 419 (SD); Channel 1419 (HD) Optik TV Channel 9361 (SD); Channel 361 (HD) Profiles | ||
World Fishing Network is a Canadian English language Category B specialty channel owned by Keywest Marketing Ltd. and Altitude Sports and Entertainment. World Fishing Network broadcasts fishing-related programming, including recreational and sport fishing and lifestyle programming.
Contents
History
In April 2005, Insight Sports, through its subsidiary Global Fishing Network Ltd., was granted approval by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to launch a channel called Global Fishing network, described as "a national English-language Category 2 specialty programming undertaking devoted to fishing and fishing enthusiasts."
The channel was launched on December 2, 2005 as World Fishing Network in standard definition on Rogers Cable.
On January 19, 2017, the CRTC approved the sale of Insight Sports' interest in the channel to Keywest Marketing Ltd., a company with assets in both publishing and television productions relating to hunting and fishing, among others.
International and HD
WFN reached its first international distribution agreement in November 2007 with Verizon FiOS in the United States. A few months later, in May 2008, WFN launched a high definition (HD) channel on the American satellite television service Dish Network, called "World Fishing Network HD", a channel with a separate schedule from its standard definition counterpart. The HD channel was added to Verizon FiOS that year. Since WFN's launch on Verizon and Dish Network, it has been added to several other U.S. television providers such as Charter Communications, and television providers in the Caribbean, including Flow Cable in Jamaica.
An HD feed, simulcasting the Canadian standard-definition feed, was launched on September 2, 2010. Rogers Cable was the first to carry the HD feed at launch.
On January 10, 2011, WFN announced that it had sold a 50% stake in its U.S. operations to Altitude Sports and Entertainment (ASE). Also, in 2011, Altitude Sports and Entertainment purchased a 19.9% interest in the Canadian channel through its division Altitude WFN ULC. In July 2015, Insight Sports sold its remaining interest in the US channel to Kroenke Sports Enterprises, parent of ASE, leaving its remaining operations in the brand solely in Canada.
Although officially named World Fishing Network since its launch, the channel had often been referred to solely as WFN or WFN: World Fishing Network; however, with the rebranding of the channel in January 2014, the channel dropped the WFN moniker and officially began referring itself to solely as World Fishing Network.