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Trio (TV network)

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Trio
CountryUnited States
Ownership
OwnerCanadian Broadcasting Corporation (1994–2000)
Power Corporation of Canada (1994–2000)
USA Network/NBC Universal (2000–2006)

Trio (or TRIO) was an American cable and satellite television network.

Trio went on the air in 1994, then originally owned and operated jointly by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Power Broadcasting Inc. (a subsidiary of Power Corporation of Canada) along with 24-hour international news channel Newsworld International. The channel served as a venue for airing the CBC's arts, culture and entertainment programming in the U.S. It was sold to USA Networks in 2000,[1] and was subsequently transferred to Vivendi Universal and later NBC Universal.

With the slogan, "pop, culture, TV", Trio programming under Vivendi/NBC Universal ownership focused on television as a cultural tool and art form.

In January 2005, Trio was dropped from DirecTV, eliminating about two-thirds of the homes that could receive the network. On November 21, 2005, NBC Universal announced that the Trio brand would be transferred to a broadband Internet TV initiative under the Bravotv.com banner on January 1, 2006. Cable and satellite providers still carrying Trio were offered a new NBC Universal cable network instead, Sleuth.

Notable Trio programs

Original

Reruns

Brilliant But Cancelled

This was the umbrella title under which Trio aired repeats of series that had very short lives on mainstream broadcast television, yet were still considered to be programming that "broke the mold" of what was normally expected from the "Big Three" networks. Series that appeared under the Brilliant But Cancelled umbrella included:

Brilliant But Cancelled was later used by Universal as a title for a series of DVDs that feature samples of short-lived series. Two of these have been released so far—one of these a sampler of short-lived crime drama series; another was selected episodes of EZ Streets.

Flops

Special airing of shows that flopped.

(The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer was supposed to air, but was pulled due to the controversial nature of the program, which played for laughs the relationship between a black nobleman and President Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War).

References

  1. ^ http://www.cbc.radio-canada.ca/htmen/newsreleases/20000519.htm
  2. ^ 64th Annual Peabody Awards, May 2005.
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