Category B services
A Category B service is the former term for a Canadian discretionary specialty television channel which, as defined by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, may be carried by all digital cable television and direct broadcast satellite providers. Such services were called Category 2 until September 1, 2011.[1]
Unlike Category A services, Category B services are not protected as to format. They are licensed to broadcast within defined formats which are not provided by or overly close to an existing protected channel, but their formats are not protected themselves and need not protect other Category B services. Also unlike Category A services, a Category B service does not have guaranteed cable carriage rights, but must directly negotiate carriage with cable distributors. Category B services encompass both pay television and specialty channels.
In December 2012, the CRTC exempted from formal licensing services with less than 200,000 subscribers that would otherwise meet the definition of a Category B service, and services which air 90% of their programming in a language other than English, French, or languages of aboriginal peoples in Canada.[2]
Henceforth, most Canadian specialty channels (except for national news and mainstream sports channels, which are classified as Category C services) will be licensed as Category B services.[3]
Category B specialty services
The following is a list of currently launched and officially licensed Category B services in Canada:
English
- ABC Spark
- Action
- Animal Planet
- ATN Cricket Plus
- ATN DD Sports
- A.Side TV
- BBC Canada
- BBC Earth
- BBC Kids
- Cartoon Network
- Cooking Channel
- CBN
- Comedy Gold
- Cosmopolitan TV
- Daystar Television Canada
- DejaView
- Discovery Science
- Discovery Velocity
- Disney Channel
- Disney Junior
- Disney XD
- DIY Network
- Dorcel TV Canada
- ESPN Classic
- EuroWorld Sport
- Family Chrgd
- Fight Network
- FNTSY Sports Network
- FX
- FXX
- GameTV
- Global News: BC 1
- HIFI
- Hollywood Suite
- Hollywood Suite 70s Movies
- Hollywood Suite 80s Movies
- Hollywood Suite 90s Movies
- Hollywood Suite 00s Movies
- HPItv
- HPItv Canada
- HPItv International
- HPItv Odds
- HPItv West
- IDNR-TV
- Investigation Discovery
- Leafs Nation Network
- Lifetime
- Love Nature
- Makeful
- MovieTime
- Nat Geo Wild
- National Geographic
- NBA TV Canada
- Nickelodeon
- Penthouse TV
- Playmen TV
- Red Hot TV
- Rewind
- Salt + Light Television
- Silver Screen Classics
- Smithsonian Channel
- Sportsnet World
- Stingray Ambiance
- Stingray Juicebox
- Stingray Loud
- Stingray Retro
- Stingray Vibe
- The Rural Channel
- Vintage TV
- Wild TV
- World Fishing Network
French
Multicultural
Category B pay services
French
Exempted Category B services[4]
English
French
Ethnic
- Abu Dhabi TV
- Al-Nahar TV
- Al-Nahar Drama
- Al Resalah
- All TV K
- ATN Aastha TV
- ATN Alpha ETC Punjabi
- ATN ARY Digital
- ATN B4U Movies
- ATN B4U Music
- ATN Bangla
- ATN Brit Asia TV
- ATN Colors Bangla
- ATN Colors Marathi
- ATN DD Bharati
- ATN DD Urdu
- ATN Gujarati
- ATN IBC Tamil
- ATN Jaya TV
- ATN Movies
- ATN MTV India
- ATN News 18
- ATN PM One
- ATN Punjabi 5
- ATN Punjabi News
- ATN Punjabi Plus
- ATN Rishtey
- ATN Sikh Channel
- ATN Sony Aath
- ATN Sony Max
- ATN Sony Mix
- ATN Star Jalsha
- ATN SVBC
- ATN Tamil Plus
- ATN Urdu
- BBC Arabic
- Big Magic International
- Canada Chinese TV
- Canada National TV
- CCCTV
- Chakde TV
- Channel 9 Canada
- Channel Punjabi
- Channel Y
- CTC International
- Detskiy
- Dream 2
- ERT World
- FTV
- First National
- Greek Music Channel
- Halla Bol! Kids TV
- HRT Sat
- Hum TV
- Iran TV Network
- KHL-TV
- LS Times TV
- Melody Aflam
- Melody Drama
- Melody Hits
- Momo Kids
- Montreal Greek TV
- NGTV
- Nova World
- OSN Ya Hala International
- Prime Asia TV
- ProSiebenSat.1 Welt
- PTC Punjabi
- Rawal TV
- RBTI Canada
- Rotana Aflam
- Rotana Cinema
- Rotana Classic
- Rotana Clip
- Rotana Khalijiah
- Rotana Masriya
- Rotana Mousica
- RTL Living
- RTS Sat
- RTVi
- Russian Illuzion
- SBTN
- Schlager TV
- TET
- Tamil One
- Tamil Vision
- The Israeli Network
- TVCentr International
- TVP Info
- TV Rain
- Vanakkam TV
- Win HD Caribbean
- WOWtv
- Zee 24 Taas
- Zee Bangla
- Zee Marathi
- Zee Punjabi
- Zee Salaam
- Zee Talkies
- Zee Tamil
Defunct Category B services
- ATN NDTV 24x7
- Bloomberg TV Canada
- bpm:tv
- Bollywood Times
- CityNews Channel
- CoolTV
- Discovery Kids
- Dusk
- The Ecology Channel
- Edge TV
- Fine Living
- Fox Sports World Canada
- Global Reality Channel
- GolTV
- Gusto TV (Knight Enterprises)[note 1]
- HSTN
- Leonardo World
- MEGA Cosmos (Ethnic Channels Group)[note 2]
- Mehndi TV
- MSNBC Canada
- NHL Network
- Niagara News TV
- Nuevo Mundo Television
- Persian Vision
- The Pet Network
- RTVi+
- Sundance Channel
- Talentvision 2 HD
- Teletoon Retro
- Télétoon Rétro
- Tonis
- TVOne Canada
- UTV Movies
- Video Italia
- X-Treme Sports
- ↑ Gusto's intellectual property was sold to Bell Media in 2016. The original channel ceased operations on September 1, 2016, and was concurrently replaced by a version operating under a Category A license formerly used by M3.
- ↑ After acquiring rights to its programming, Odyssey Television Network launched a separate channel under the same name)
References
- ↑ "Broadcasting Public Notice CRTC 2008-100: Regulatory frameworks for broadcasting distribution undertakings and discretionary programming services". CRTC. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
- ↑ "Broadcasting Order CRTC 2012-689: New exemption order respecting certain programming undertakings that would otherwise be eligible to be operated as Category B services, and amendments to the Exemption order respecting certain third-language television undertakings". CRTC. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
- ↑ http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2010/2010-786.htm
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20160414051439/http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/BCASTING/catb_e3l.htm
See also
- List of television stations in Canada by call sign
- List of Canadian television networks (table)
- List of Canadian television channels
- List of Canadian specialty channels
- Category A services
- Category C services
- List of foreign television channels available in Canada
- List of United States stations available in Canada
- Digital television in Canada
- Multichannel television in Canada
- List of Canadian stations available in the United States
- List of television stations in North America by media market