OLN
| Country | Canada |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Toronto, Ontario |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Rogers Media |
OLN (formerly Outdoor Life Network) is a Canadian English-language Category A specialty channel. OLN primarily broadcasts factual-based adventure-related programming and reality television series primarily aimed at male audiences. OLN is wholly owned by Rogers Media, although the "OLN" name continues to be licensed from Bonnier Group, publishers of Outdoor Life magazine.[1]
History
Licensed in September 1996 as Outdoor Life by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), the channel launched on October 17, 1997, as Outdoor Life Network. Its initial owners were Baton Broadcasting (later CTVglobemedia), Rogers Media, and the Outdoor Life Network in the U.S., which was later acquired by Comcast.
It was announced on November 16, 2007, that Rogers would acquire the remaining interests in OLN from both CTVglobemedia and Comcast, leaving Rogers as the sole owner of OLN.[2] The deal was approved by the CRTC on July 7, 2008, and was finalized on August 1, 2008, with Rogers taking operational control on August 31, 2008.
Programming
OLN was based on an American channel of the same name which had launched earlier in 1995, and shared much of its programming—including most prominently, coverage of the Tour de France. Due to restrictions in its CRTC licence that required it to maintain a focus on outdoors programming[3] and because Bell and Rogers already owned the mainstream sports channels TSN and Sportsnet respectively, OLN did not follow the suit of its American counterpart (which re-branded as "Versus", later becoming NBC Sports Network in 2012) and become a sports channel—instead, the OLN name and format was maintained, but with fewer shows from its former counterpart.
The channel is also a participant in the successful bid by CTVglobemedia and Rogers for the Canadian broadcast rights to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, as well as the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
Notable programs
- RC-TV
- Baggage Battles
- Beyond Survival
- Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura
- Creepy Canada
- Departures
- Descending
- Destination Truth
- Duck Commander
- Duck Dynasty
- Ed's Up
- Ghost Hunters
- Ghost Hunters Academy
- Man v. Food
- Mantracker
- MonsterQuest
- Operation Repo
- Storage Hunters
- Storage Wars
- Storage Wars: Texas
- Storage Wars: Canada
- Storage Wars: New York
- The Liquidator (TV series)
- UFO Hunters
- The Dudesons
- Note: Series list is current as of 2013
OLN HD
On June 24, 2011, Rogers launched OLN HD, a high definition simulcast of OLN.
Logos
| File:OLN logo 2000.svg | File:Outdoor Life Network 2003.svg | File:OLN logo.svg | 
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997–2003 | 2003–2005 | 2005–2011 | 2011-2012 | 2012-present |
References
- ^ "Canadian Trade-mark Data: Registration No. TMA670475". Canadian Intellectual Property Office. Retrieved 2011-12-27.
- ^ Rogers buys OLN Media in Canada 2007-11-20
- ^ CRTC Decision 96-606