Animal Planet is a Canadian English language specialty television channel. Animal Planet broadcasts a variety of programming featuring animals. The channel is owned by the Animal Planet Canada Company, which is a consortium consisting of CTV Speciality Television Inc. which owns 80% of the company (CTV Speciality Television Inc. is a division of

Bell Media Bell Media Inc. ( French: ) is a Canadian company formed by the amalgamation of several companies. Establishment (2011–13) On December 9, 2011, the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan announced the sale of its majority stake in Maple Leaf Sports ...

who owns 70% and

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

owning 30%), and Canadian AP Ventures Company who owns 20% (Canadian AP Ventures Company is owned by

BBC Studios BBC Studios is a British content company. It is a commercial subsidiary of the BBC that was formed in April 2018 through the merger of the BBC's commercial production arm and the BBC's commercial international distribution arm, BBC Worldwide. ...

at 50% and

Warner Bros. Discovery Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (WBD) is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at 230 Park Avenue South in New York City. It was formed after the spin-off of WarnerMedia by AT&T, and its merger with D ...

at 50%). Through this ownership structure, this effectively gives Bell Media 56% ownership and control, with ESPN 24%, BBC Studios 10%, and Warner Bros. Discovery 10% ownership.

History

In November 2000, CTV Inc. was granted approval by the

Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC; french: Conseil de la radiodiffusion et des télécommunications canadiennes, links=) is a public organization in Canada with mandate as a regulatory agency for broadcasti ...

(CRTC) to launch Animal Planet, a service described as being "broadly based on family entertainment that will combine high-quality Canadian programming and attractive series and documentaries from

Animal Planet Animal Planet (stylized in all lowercase since 2018) is an American multinational pay television channel owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks unit of Warner Bros. Discovery. First established on June 1, 1996, the network is primarily dev ...

in the United States." The channel was launched under its current ownership structure (with the exception of Bell Media, wherein

Bell Globemedia Bell Media Inc. ( French: ) is a Canadian company formed by the amalgamation of several companies. Establishment (2011–13) On December 9, 2011, the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan announced the sale of its majority stake in Maple Leaf Sports ...

, later renamed CTVglobemedia, owned its shares at the time) on September 7, 2001. On June 30, 2008, Animal Planet unveiled a new on-air appearance, including a new logo and graphics, to align itself with the American service which had updated its appearance earlier that year. On September 10, 2010,

BCE Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) are year notations for the Gregorian calendar (and its predecessor, the Julian calendar), the world's most widely used calendar era. Common Era and Before the Common Era are alternatives to the or ...

(a minority shareholder in CTVglobemedia) announced that it planned to acquire 100% interest in CTVglobemedia for a total debt and equity transaction cost of $3.2 billion CAD. The deal which required CRTC approval, was approved on March 7, 2011 and closed on April 1 of that year, on which CTVglobemedia was rebranded Bell Media.

Animal Planet HD

On June 17, 2011, Bell Media announced that it would launch ''Animal Planet HD'', a high definition (HD) simulcast of the

standard definition Standard-definition television (SDTV, SD, often shortened to standard definition) is a television system which uses a resolution that is not considered to be either high or enhanced definition. "Standard" refers to it being the prevailing sp ...

feed, by the end of 2011. The channel launched on December 15, 2011, initially on

Bell Fibe TV Bell Fibe TV is an IP-based television service offered by Bell Canada in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. It is bundled with a FTTN or FTTH Bell Internet service, and uses the Mediaroom platform. Bell Fibe TV officially launched on Septem ...

and

Shaw Cable Shaw Communications Inc. is a Canadian telecommunications company which provides telephone, Internet, television, and mobile services. Headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Shaw provides home telecommunications services primarily in Alberta and Br ...

and launched at a later date on

Telus TV Telus Optik TV is a product of Telus Communications, a subsidiary of Telus Corporation, that provides IPTV service in the Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, and Quebec. The service offers over 630 digital channels, including more t ...

.Animal Planet HD, Investigation Discovery HD and Discovery Science HD Launch Today
Bell Media press release December 15, 2011 About six years later,

Shaw Direct Shaw Direct is a direct broadcast satellite television distributor in Canada and a subsidiary of the telecommunications company Shaw Communications. As of 2010, Shaw Direct had over 900,000 subscribers. It broadcasts on Ku band from two communic ...

added it and 5 other HD channels (

Business News Network BNN Bloomberg (formerly Business News Network and Report on Business Television) is a Canadian English language specialty channel owned by Bell Media. It broadcasts programming related to business and financial news and analysis. The channel is h ...

Cooking Channel Cooking Channel is an American basic cable channel owned by Food Network, a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (69%) and Nexstar Media Group (31%). The channel is a spin-off of Food Network, broadcasting p ...

Crime & Investigation Crime & Investigation (stylized as Crime + Investigation) is an American pay television channel owned by A&E Networks, a joint venture between the Hearst Communications and the Disney Media Networks division of The Walt Disney Company. The cha ...

OWN Ownership is the state or fact of legal possession and control over property, which may be any asset, tangible or intangible. Ownership can involve multiple rights, collectively referred to as title, which may be separated and held by different ...

, and

Travel + Escape T+E is a Canadian English language cable television specialty channel owned by Blue Ant Media. The channel primarily broadcasts entertainment programming, including docu-series and dramas related to the supernatural and paranormal. History On No ...

) to the channel listing on September 21, 2017.

Logos

References

External links

* {{Authority control Digital cable television networks in Canada Bell Media networks English-language television stations in Canada Television channels and stations established in 2001 2001 establishments in Canada