Much (TV channel)

Sale to Bell (2006–present)

In July 2006, Bell Globemedia (later renamed CTVglobemedia) announced that it would purchase CHUM for an estimated $1.7 billion CAD, including MuchMusic. The sale was subject to CRTC approval and was approved in June 2007,^[7] with the transaction completed on June 22, 2007 while the Citytv stations were sold to Rogers Media that same year. Since then, MuchMusic has aired a vast number of non-music related programs. Before those programs aired, Much Mega Hits was a prominent program that played various music videos based on singles.

Bell Canada gained control of MuchMusic through its takeover of CTVglobemedia on April 1, 2011, in effect changing the company's name to Bell Media. Shortly thereafter, MuchMusic received a new look and a new "Much" logo, while continuing to add non-music television series, mainly dramas and reality shows.

Since September 2013, the channel has been airing significantly more comedy programming targeting young adults during the late afternoon and primetime hours, much of it moved from The Comedy Network. Such shows included Comedy Central series (such as South Park, Tosh.0 and The Jeselnik Offensive), reruns of The Simpsons and The Cleveland Show, as well as Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and Conan.^[8][9] These changes came when Comedy's request for license amendments to reduce requirements for Canadian content and increase the amount of animated programming it could air was denied.^[10][11]

Most of the channel's previous non-music programming, such as the teen dramas Pretty Little Liars and Degrassi, moved to sister channels M3 (formerly MuchMoreMusic) and MTV respectively.^[12] At the same time the channel cut back further on original music-related programming apart from Video on Trial, The Wedge, countdowns, and other non-hosted blocks of music videos, with New.Music.Live. confirmed to have been cancelled and the likes of RapCity no longer appearing on Much's schedule. By the summer of 2014, amidst production and staffing cutbacks, the Countdown went on hiatus and Much's remaining original programs, including a revamped Video on Trial, were cancelled.^[13]

Meanwhile, in August, Much celebrated its 30th anniversary.^[14] A half-hour anniversary special, "30 Years of Much", aired on August 30, 2014 and was preceded by a full-day countdown of The 100 Greatest Videos Ever.^[15] Repeats of both the special and the countdown aired throughout the Labor Day weekend. On September 27, 2014, the Countdown returned with a revamped format.^[16]

On April 1, 2015, Much announced the launch of Much Digital Studios, a multi-channel network on YouTube. The network features content catered towards Much's demographic of 12-34s which will also be integrated into their on-air programming.^[17][18]

In late 2017, Much further cut back on music programming, reducing its music blocks to the morning hours and removing the Much Countdown from its schedule. In addition, it was announced in September 2017 that the MuchFACT program had been closed, as a result of the CRTC dropping the requirement for Bell Media to fund it.^[19][20] On October 11, 2017, Much premiered Sides*, a new talk show which discusses youth issues; it is streamed live on Twitter, and compiled into weekly televised editions on the channel.^[21] In November 2017, Much began to air a Friday-night block known as Icons, which features airings of music-related documentaries.^[22]

Controversy

In recent years, the popularity of MuchMusic has waned and the channel faces constant criticism that it focuses too much on "top 40" acts and programs that have nothing to do with music. A main point of criticism is not giving nearly enough time to smaller, independent and Canadian performers.

In 2010, CTV (the parent company of MuchMusic) was denied a request by the Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to reduce the percentage of music video programming that the channel shows from 50 to 25 percent. CTV's second request to the CRTC to reduce and reposition its Canadian programming was also denied. For the reasoning behind these requests, CTV explained that "music videos no longer distinguish the service as they are readily available through other sources." This was met with mixed reaction by music fans and has also drawn the ire of notable music artists.^{[23][24][25][26]}

Much has also been the centre of controversy because of its leniency in censorship, sometimes leaving expletives uncensored from videos played on the network, in contrast to MTV, which often censors certain music videos for inappropriate content. However, some programs, due to their wider audience, are edited for content. As with MTV, the network also generated controversy by occasionally "banning" videos it deemed too racy or violent for broadcast. Unlike MTV however, MuchMusic sometimes aired the controversial videos in a late-night series dubbed Too Much 4 Much, along with panel discussions on their content and arguments on if it should be banned or not.

Relationship with MTV

MuchMusic was launched in part to capitalize on the success of MTV, an American cable music channel that had premiered a few years earlier. Although never an affiliate, Much over the years would often broadcast MTV-produced programming such as awards shows, concerts, reality series and other programs. MTV itself was not permitted in Canada because of Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) restrictions on format protection. However, no such restrictions exist in the United States, where CHUM attempted to compete with MTV through MuchUSA (now the unaffiliated Fuse).

Perhaps owing to this, MTV was unwilling to extend its relationship with MuchMusic longer than necessary, and has made two attempts to launch a competing MTV channel in Canada. The first attempt began in 2001 when MTV Canada (Now MTV2) was launched by Craig Media and Viacom. MTV Canada had an edge over MuchMusic in that it was licensed by the CRTC as a broadly based teen channel and could air programming from various categories and not just music-related programming. In 2004, MTV Canada's owners were bought by CHUM, allowing Viacom to exit its contract with Craig, and stripped MTV programming and branding from the channel forcing Viacom to find another partner to bring MTV to Canada.

The next attempt began in 2006 when Viacom partnered with CTV to rebrand its low-rated specialty channel talktv as MTV. With the new launch of MTV in March 2006, MuchMusic lost all rights to MTV programming from that point forward.Since the acquisition of CHUM Limited (which includes MuchMusic and MuchMore) by CTVglobemedia, MTV and MuchMusic have technically been under the same ownership since June 2007. CTVglobemedia has announced that it planned on maintaining all CHUM's specialty channels including both MuchMusic and MTV. Bell Media and Viacom have no plans to disaffiliate either channel from its programming and/or branding. In fact, MuchMusic and MTV have even begun cross-promoting each other's programs (e.g., MuchMusic airing a promo for MTV's The Hills).

Until the fall of 2013, Much has premiered many of MTV's scripted series. The channel continues to air these programs in reruns.

Much Digital Studios

Much Digital Studios is a multi-channel network on YouTube.

Much Digital Studios announced its first ever original series Dan for a Week on March 7, 2017, produced by Bell Media and hosted by The Danocracy.^[27]

Former

• MusiquePlus: Launched in 1986, it was developed as a Canadian French language version of MuchMusic. In September 2008, new owner Astral Media dropped the MuchMusic branding and separated itself from the network.
• PunchMuch: an all-request music video service consisting of music videos from various genres.^[28] On November 17, 2011, PunchMuch was replaced by Juicebox, a new music video channel aimed at pre-teens. Stingray Digital relaunched that channel as Stingray Juicebox in 2016.
• M3: Originally known as MuchMoreMusic, this channel focused on adult contemporary, classic rock classic hits and even generally lighter music in addition to current pop-rock hits like its sister stations Much & MTV. In 2013, it rebranded under its current name; marketed as an entertainment-focused "superstation" and a separate brand. In September 2016, the channel was shut down and its broadcast license was used to relaunch Gusto on all service providers.
• MuchLoud: Focuses on rock, modern rock, alternative, punk and metal. In August 2016, new owner Stingray Digital relaunched the channel as Stingray Loud.
• MuchVibe: Focuses on urban music such as rap, hip hop, R&B and reggae. In August 2016, new owner Stingray Digital relaunched the channel as Stingray Vibe.
• MuchRetro: Focuses on music videos from the 1980s to the early 2000s. Originally known as MuchMoreRetro, a spinoff of what is now known as M3, the channel rebranded on November 1, 2013; aligning itself with the Much brand. In 2016, new owner Stingray Digital relaunched the channel as Stingray Retro.

International

VJ era (1984–2014)

Several individuals have served as MuchMusic's on-air hosts, or video jockeys ("VJs"). A number of notable Canadian and American television personalities either began their careers at MuchMusic or spent time there. Among these are J.D. Roberts who, under the name John Roberts, is a national correspondent for Fox News; Christopher Ward, a noted songwriter and producer who collaborated musically with Mike Myers on the Austin Powers movies; Sook-Yin Lee, now a noted CBC Radio host and actress; Terry David Mulligan, a prolific film and TV character actor; actress Amanda Walsh; Erica Ehm, who became a noted songwriter after leaving Much; and George Stroumboulopoulos, who became a television personality on CBC, U.S. network CNN and currently Sportsnet.

Much Creators (2015–present)

Much Creators are selected social media personalities, mostly established and emerging Canadian YouTubers,^[17] who work with the Much Digital Studios platform.

The first ever Fan Fave Much Creator award was awarded during the 2017 iHeartRadio MMVAs won by YouTwoTV.