Bollywood Times was a Canadian
Hindi language
Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...
specialty channel
A specialty channel (also known in the United States as a cable channel or cable network) can be a commercial broadcasting or non-commercial television channel which consists of television programming focused on a single genre, subject or targeted ...
owned by
Channel Zero.
Bollywood Times broadcast
Bollywood
Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...
films encompassing a variety of genres including action, comedy, horror, and crime. It also aired television series including comedies, dramas, and thrillers. Programs were primarily sourced from India, in addition to Canadian content.
History
In May 2010, FDR Media Group 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 a television channel called ''Bollywood Times HD TV'', described as ''"a national, niche third-language ethnic Category 2 specialty programming service devoted to mainstream as well as art films in the Hindi-language not broadcast on other feature film channels."''
The channel launched on November 28, 2011, 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 ...
as Bollywood Times exclusively in
high definition (HD). The channel launched on
Rogers Cable
Rogers Cable Inc. is Canada's largest cable television service provider with about 2.25 million television customers, and over 930,000 Internet subscribers, primarily in Southern & Eastern Ontario, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador. Ro ...
only days later in December 2011 in both HD and
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 ...
.
At an undisclosed point, FDR's broadcast licenses were acquired by
Channel Zero.
In January 2018, the channel was dropped by all providers who carried it (along with sister network
Mehndi TV
Mehndi TV was a Canadian Hindi language specialty channel owned by Channel Zero.
Mehndi TV broadcast programming aimed at women, including such programs as cooking shows, health and wellness programs, reality series, exercise shows, and Bollywoo ...
) and subsequently shut down.
References
Digital cable television networks in Canada
Defunct television networks in Canada
Television channels and stations established in 2011
Television channels and stations disestablished in 2018
2011 establishments in Canada
2018 disestablishments in Canada
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