Dusk was a
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
English language
English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the ...
specialty channel. Dusk broadcast programming consisting of
films,
television dramas, and reality TV, and documentary-style television series from the
thriller, suspense and
supernatural genres.
Dusk went on the air on September 7, 2001, as Scream (stylized as SCREAM), under the ownership of
Corus Entertainment
Corus Entertainment Inc. is a Canadian mass media company. Formed in 1999 as a spin-off from Shaw Communications, it has prominent holdings in the radio, publishing, and television industries. It is headquartered at Corus Quay in Toronto, Onta ...
and
Alliance Atlantis
Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc. (commonly known as Alliance Atlantis and commonly shortened to simply Alliance or Atlantis and formerly traded as TSX:AAC) was a Canadian media company that operated primarily as a specialty service operato ...
as a
Category 2 service. During its early years, Scream broadcast
horror, thriller, and suspense films along with some television series. After the acquisition of Alliance Atlantis by
Canwest and
Goldman Sachs, the channel was rebranded as Dusk in 2009, shifting more towards suspense and paranormal-themed programming rather than pure horror to appeal to a wider audience.
Two years after Canwest was sold to
Shaw Media, a sister company of Corus, the channel ended operations in March 2012 and was largely replaced on most providers by
ABC Spark
ABC Spark is a Canadian English language specialty channel owned by Corus Entertainment. The channel was launched on March 26, 2012, replacing the declining channel Dusk.
ABC Spark is based on the U.S. subscription channel Freeform (previously ...
.
History
In November 2000, Corus, on behalf of a corporation to be incorporated, was approved by the
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to launch a television channel called ''HorrorVision'', which would be devoted primarily to the
horror and
thriller genres.
The channel was launched as ''Scream'' on September 7, 2001, as a joint venture between Corus Entertainment and
Alliance Atlantis
Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc. (commonly known as Alliance Atlantis and commonly shortened to simply Alliance or Atlantis and formerly traded as TSX:AAC) was a Canadian media company that operated primarily as a specialty service operato ...
. Programming on Scream focused primarily on
horror, thriller, suspense films and television series.
On January 18, 2008, a joint venture between
Canwest and
Goldman Sachs Capital Partners
Goldman Sachs Capital Partners is the private equity arm of Goldman Sachs, focused on leveraged buyout and growth capital investments globally. The group, which is based in New York City, was founded in 1986. As of 2019, GS Capital Partners had ...
known as CW Media, acquired 49% of Scream through its purchase of Alliance Atlantis' broadcasting assets, which were placed in a
trust
Trust often refers to:
* Trust (social science), confidence in or dependence on a person or quality
It may also refer to:
Business and law
* Trust law, a body of law under which one person holds property for the benefit of another
* Trust (bus ...
in August 2007.
On September 9, 2009, Scream was re-launched as Dusk, shifting away from horror and "gore" to focus more broadly on paranormal and suspense-driven programming (such as ''
Supernatural'' and mainstream film premieres such as ''
Along Came a Spider''), to appeal to a broader viewer demographic such as women.
On October 27, 2010, ownership changed once again as
Shaw Communications gained a 49% stake in Scream as a result of its acquisition of Canwest and Goldman Sachs' interest in CW Media.
On February 10, 2012, Dusk revealed through an announcement via its
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
and
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...
accounts, that it would be ceasing operations on March 23, 2012. A statement later announced on the channel's website stated the channel was being shuttered for strategic reasons to concentrate on "areas of expertise." Corus later indicated more specifically, through CRTC filings, that Dusk was discontinued to proceed with the launch of
ABC Spark
ABC Spark is a Canadian English language specialty channel owned by Corus Entertainment. The channel was launched on March 26, 2012, replacing the declining channel Dusk.
ABC Spark is based on the U.S. subscription channel Freeform (previously ...
, such that
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
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 commu ...
could carry the latter while complying with the CRTC's "3:1 ratio" policy (which limits the proportion of speciality channels carried from companies affiliated with a particular service provider).
The last program aired on Dusk was the 1990 film ''
Ghost'', which was aired in a 24-hour marathon on March 22. As before the movie was finished, the network either signed off the air by going
dark
Darkness, the direct opposite of lightness, is defined as a lack of illumination, an absence of visible light, or a surface that absorbs light, such as black or brown.
Human vision is unable to distinguish colors in conditions of very low lu ...
or changed over to ABC Spark at 6:00 am ET on March 23.
Epilogue
Dusk was Canada's first horror television channel dedicated to the thriller, suspense and horror genres and was one of the most-watched new speciality channels.
After Dusk's closure, another attempt to launch a horror-based channel took place five years later when Sylvain Gagné, owner of IO Média inc., launched
Frissons TV in September 2017 with its English counterpart,
Terror TV to be launched.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dusk (Tv Channel)
Digital cable television networks in Canada
Former Corus Entertainment networks
Movie channels in Canada
Television channels and stations established in 2001
Television channels and stations disestablished in 2012
2001 establishments in Canada
2012 disestablishments in Canada
Defunct Canadian television channels