Action (Canadian TV channel)
| Country | Canada |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Toronto, Ontario |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Corus Entertainment |
Action (formerly known as Showcase Action) was a Canadian English language specialty channel owned by Corus Entertainment. The channel was established as a spin-off of Showcase focused on action genre films and television series. Following a rebrand in 2009, the channel would eventually shift to general-interest, male-targeting programming.
The channel was first launched on September 7, 2001; it was rebranded on April 1, 2019, at midnight ET as Adult Swim.
History
In November 2000, Showcase Television Inc., a division of Alliance Atlantis, was granted approval by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to launch a television channel called Action Television, described as "a national English-language Category 2 specialty television service devoted to action movies and series primarily driven by a fast-paced fictional plot featuring car chases, explosions, special effects, or martial arts."[1] The channel launched on September 7, 2001 as Showcase Action,[2] a spin-off of another Alliance Atlantis television channel, Showcase.
On January 18, 2008,[3] a joint venture between Canwest and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners known as CW Media,[4] acquired control of Showcase Action through its purchase of Alliance Atlantis' broadcasting assets, which were placed in a trust in August 2007.[5] The channel was renamed Action on August 31, 2009.[6] On October 27, 2010, ownership changed once again as Shaw Communications gained control of Action as a result of its acquisition of Canwest and Goldman Sachs' interest in CW Media.[7][8]
In 2011, Action would begin airing two original programs, The Drunk and On Drugs Happy Funtime Hour and Kenny Hotz's Triumph of the Will, both of which were cancelled after one season.[9] By this time, Action's programming would begin to diverge and incorporate reality shows acquired from U.S. network TruTV. Another original series, But I'm Chris Jericho, starring Canadian-born professional wrestler Chris Jericho, premiered as a webseries in 2013 on Action's YouTube channel. But I'm Chris Jericho would be eventually picked up by CBC Television for their online vertical, CBC Comedy, and receive a second season.[10]
On May 1, 2015, an HD feed of Action was launched. During this time, the channel was made available as a free preview. [11] On April 1, 2016, Shaw Media was sold to Corus Entertainment.
On March 4, 2019, it was announced that Action would be replaced by a Canadian version of Adult Swim on April 1, 2019, marking the first time that the brand has been used for a 24-hour channel. The channel launched with a two-month free preview on linear television, and an on-demand free preview to the end of 2019. As a result of the relaunch, both Cartoon Network and Teletoon ended their respective adult programming blocks and shifted full-time into age-appropriate, family-oriented programming, while Télétoon carried on with its Télétoon la nuit block.[12] The Canadian Adult Swim block was discontinued on March 3, 2019, while Teletoon at Night did so on April 1, 2019.
References
- ^ Decision CRTC 2000-675 CRTC 2000-12-14
- ^ CTV, Score Media Challenge New Specialty Channel Applications Archived May 13, 2012, at the Wayback Machine The Wire Report 2010-06-03
- ^ Canwest Global receives final CRTC approval for acquisition of Alliance Atlantis CNW press release 2008-01-18
- ^ Goldman's happy ending at CanWest The Globe and Mail 2010-05-03
- ^ CanWest Completes Acquisition of Alliance Atlantis Archived 2012-04-23 at the Wayback Machine Investor Point 2007-08-15
- ^ Showcase Action Unveils its Fall 2009 Programming Highlights Archived May 27, 2012, at the Wayback Machine Channel Canada 2009-07-26
- ^ Shaw Communications closes purchase of Canwest TV assets, rebrands as Shaw Media Archived 2011-07-08 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ CRTC approves Shaw’s purchase of the Canwest Global television properties Archived 2013-12-20 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "The Drunk and on Drugs Happy Funtime Hour and Kenny Hotz's Triumph of the Will -- Coming to Action This July". Showcase.ca. Archived from the original on 16 June 2011.
- ^ Ore, Jonathan (2017). "From TV to wrestling, Chris Jericho is the king of the comeback". CBC News. Retrieved 2019-03-07.
- ^ http://media.shawmedia.ca/uploadedfiles/shawmedia/content/insidetrack/2015/04_23/action_free_preview.pdf
- ^ First Ever 24-Hour Adult Swim Channel Coming to Canada This Spring Newswire 2019-03-04