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Treehouse TV is 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 is ...
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 ...
for preschoolers aged 2 to 5 that was launched in 1997. Its name comes from YTV's former preschool block, " The Treehouse". The channel is owned by YTV Canada, Inc., a subsidiary 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 ...
. Development of a separate channel started when YTV aired preschool shows as part of its weekday morning lineup. This block of shows was given the name "The Treehouse" in 1994. On November 1, 1997, Treehouse TV launched as its own channel, airing preschool shows from 6 a.m. to 3 a.m. daily. Like the block it was spun off from, commercials weren't broadcast when the Treehouse channel first launched. Instead, shorts hosted by humans and puppets were broadcast. As of 2011, Treehouse TV had been available to over 7.5 million homes across Canada.


History


The Treehouse block

The Treehouse brand began as a daily programming block for preschoolers on YTV. The block was given the name "The Treehouse" in 1994. Commercials for the block weren't shown. Instead, the block was hosted by three program jockeys (or "PJs") named PJ Katie, PJ Krista, and PJ Todd. In between shows, the PJs made crafts, played games, and held contests. As the block's name suggests, these segments were set in a
tree house A tree house, tree fort or treeshed is a platform or building constructed around, next to or among the trunk or branches of one or more mature trees while above ground level. Tree houses can be used for recreation, work space, habitation, a han ...
. The PJs' co-hosts were a group of stuffed animal puppets called
the Fuzzpaws The Fuzzpaws are a group of seven puppets which co-hosted the Treehouse programming block on YTV in the 1990s. When the block was cancelled in 1998 in favor of an unhosted block called YTV Jr., the Fuzzpaws got their own TV series and a markete ...
. On Fridays, PJ Katie would act out stories with clay animals. These segments were eventually spun off into the series ''
PJ Katie's Farm ''PJ Katie's Farm'' was a Canadian children's television series featuring the live action manipulation of Crayola Model Magic figures and was hosted/narrated/acted/voiced/improvised by actress Jennifer Racicot as PJ Katie. The series was originall ...
''.


Treehouse channel

In early 1996, it was announced that YTV was looking to "break part of tsaudience off with a separate network aimed at viewers under the age of 6." The network's president, Patricia Macdonald, said she had "done a lot of research that led us to the conclusion that the preschool market is underserved." On September 4, 1996, 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) approved YTV's request to launch a new channel called Treehouse TV. The new channel eventually debuted on November 1, 1997, at 8:00 a.m. EST. For a few months, The Treehouse block on YTV continued to air alongside the channel. In 1998, the Treehouse block was replaced by
YTV Jr. YTV Jr. (formerly known as The Treehouse) was a block on YTV for preschoolers that was launched in 1994 and aired weekdays until 2002. History When YTV launched, it had a block of programs for preschoolers with a focus on Canadian content. In ...
, an unhosted block. Like the Treehouse block, the Treehouse channel was non-commercial, opting instead to show interstitial shorts in between shows. These shorts featured a new set of characters who lived in Treetown. While the PJs (program jockeys) from the original Treehouse block did not return for the Treehouse channel, PJ Katie's show (''PJ Katie's Farm'') was rerun on Treehouse throughout 1999. In March 2005, Corus Entertainment began offering a
video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of o ...
service called ''Treehouse On Demand'' to cable providers such as
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 ...
and
Cogeco Cogeco Inc. is a Canadian telecommunications and media company. Its corporate offices are located at 1 Place Ville-Marie in Montreal, Quebec. The company is structured into three strategic business units (SBU); Cogeco Connexion, Breezeline ( ...
, delivering content from Treehouse TV. It is offered as a free service to customers who subscribe to each providers digital cable service. Some providers such as
SaskTel Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holding Corporation, operating as SaskTel, is a Canadian crown-owned telecommunications firm based in the province of Saskatchewan. Owned by the provincial government, it provides wireline and wireless communicati ...
offer it as a standalone premium subscription service. Between June 2015 and May 2019, Corus operated ''TreehouseGO'', a
TV Everywhere TV Everywhere (also known as authenticated streaming or authenticated video on-demand) refers to a type of subscription business model wherein access to streaming video content from a television channel requires users to "authenticate" themselv ...
service available on
iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...
and Android devices. In 2011, Corus launched a standalone
subscription video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of o ...
service for iOS. It was later rebranded to ''Treehouse Classic'' before a 2016 revamp dropped the "Classic" branding. On February 5, 2013,
Nelvana Nelvana Enterprises, Inc. (; previously known as Nelvana Limited, sometimes known as Nelvana Animation and simply Nelvana or Nelvana Communications) is a Canadian animation studio and entertainment company owned by Corus Entertainment. Founded ...
,
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 ...
's animation division, launched the Treehouse Direct channel on
YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
. On March 2, 2015, Treehouse TV launched its own YouTube channel. On July 19, 2019, Corus Entertainment filed a
copyright infringement Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the copyright holder, s ...
lawsuit against a
medical marijuana Medical cannabis, or medical marijuana (MMJ), is cannabis and cannabinoids that are prescribed by physicians for their patients. The use of cannabis as medicine has not been rigorously tested due to production and governmental restrictions ...
dispensary chain, known as "Treehouse Dispensary", alleging the chain "wilfully copied and is using a confusing similar imitation" of the Treehouse TV logo. An attorney for the dispensary contested the claims and said that the business "categorically denies that its logo infringes on any existing trademarks in the United States." Corus won the lawsuit through a
default judgment Default judgment is a binding judgment in favor of either party based on some failure to take action by the other party. Most often, it is a judgment in favor of a plaintiff when the defendant has not responded to a summons or has failed to appear ...
the following December. On July 4, 2022, the CRTC announced plans for
Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (often abbreviated as CN) is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is a part of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also has the broadcasting and production activities of Boomerang, Car ...
,
Adult Swim Adult Swim (AS; stylized as
dult swim Dult is a village in Batala in Gurdaspur district of Punjab State, India. It is located from sub district headquarter, from district headquarter and from Sri Hargobindpur. The village is administrated by Sarpanch an elected representati ...
and often abbreviated as s is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television Television channel, channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programme ...
,
Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...
,
Teletoon Teletoon (stylized as TELETOON) is a Canadian English-language specialty channel owned by Teletoon Canada, Inc., a subsidiary of Corus Entertainment. Its name is a portmanteau of "television" and " cartoon". The channel primarily broadcasts ...
,
Télétoon Télétoon (styled as TĒLĒTOON) is a Canadian French language specialty channel owned by Teletoon Canada, Inc., a subsidiary of Corus Entertainment. Its name is a portmanteau of " télévision" and "cartoon". As of 2013, along with its Englis ...
, YTV,
Disney Channel Disney Channel, sometimes known as simply Disney, is an American pay television channel that serves as the flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney General Entertainment Content division of The Walt Disney Compan ...
,
La Chaîne Disney LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on Figure 8 ( ...
,
Disney Junior Disney Junior is an American pay television network owned by the Walt Disney Television (part of Disney General Entertainment Content) unit of The Walt Disney Company through Disney Branded Television. Aimed mainly at children two to seven yea ...
and
Disney XD Disney XD is an American pay television channel owned by the Disney Branded Television and Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution units of The Walt Disney Company. The channel is aimed primarily at older children ages six to eleven years ...
have been renewed for another two years (licences valid until August 31, 2024).


Programming


See also

*
Family Jr. Family Jr. is a multiplex channel of the Canadian specialty channel Family Channel. It broadcasts children's programming aimed at viewers aged 2 to 7. The channel launched on November 30, 2007 as a Canadian version of Playhouse Disney, under ...
*
Telebimbi Telebimbi is a Canadian Category B-exempt Italian language specialty channel owned by TLN Media Group. Telebimbi broadcasts programming primarily aimed at children in addition to select family-oriented programming. History In October 2011, TLN ...
*
Télémagino Télémagino is a Canadian French-language specialty channel owned by WildBrain. Launched on 5 July 2010, as a sister to an equivalent English-language service, it airs children programming for ages 2–11. Not only is it a French version of Fa ...
*
TeleNiños TeleNiños is a Canadian Category B-exempt Spanish language specialty channel owned by TLN Media Group. TeleNiños broadcasts programming primarily aimed at children in addition to select family-oriented programming. History In October 2011, TLN ...
*
Yoopa Yoopa (stylized YOOPA) is a Canadian French language specialty channel owned by Groupe TVA, a division of Quebecor Media. Initially aimed at preschoolers, Yoopa now broadcasts programming targeted toward children, aged 2–11. A magazine for p ...


References


External links

* {{Authority control 1997 establishments in Canada Children's television networks in Canada Preschool education television networks Commercial-free television networks English-language television stations in Canada Corus Entertainment networks Analog cable television networks in Canada