YTV 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 ...

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 ...

. The channel and its programming is targeted at children and young teenagers; its name was originally thought to be an abbreviation for "

Youth Youth is the time of life when one is young. The word, youth, can also mean the time between childhood and adulthood ( maturity), but it can also refer to one's peak, in terms of health or the period of life known as being a young adult. You ...

Television", though the channel's website has denied this. The channel was launched on September 1, 1988 by owners

Rogers Media Rogers Media Inc., operating as Rogers Sports & Media, is a Canadian subsidiary of Rogers Communications that owns the company's mass media and sports properties, such as the Citytv and Omni Television terrestrial television stations, Sportsnet, ...

and

CUC Broadcasting CUC Broadcasting was a Canadian media company, active from 1968 to 1995. Active primarily as a cable television distributor, the company also had some holdings in broadcast media and publishing. The company was founded in 1968 by chairman Geoffrey ...

upon launch. In 1995,

Shaw Communications 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 ...

acquired CUC's 34% stake and in 1998, it acquired Rogers' remaining interest of the channel, before Shaw's media division was spun off to form Corus Entertainment in 1999. Under Corus ownership, YTV sources most of its programming from U.S.-based

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 ...

and launched its own dedicated TV channel several years later. YTV operates two time shifted feeds, running on both

Eastern Eastern may refer to: Transportation *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai *Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991 *Eastern Air Li ...

and

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

Time Zone schedules, and is available in over 11.0 million households in Canada as of 2013.

History

The channel was licensed by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) in 1987 by

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

. The channel launched on September 1, 1988 at 7:00 p.m., with the first program being a special party celebrating the launch of YTV, hosted by

John Candy John Franklin Candy (October 31, 1950 – March 4, 1994) was a Canadian actor and comedian known mainly for his work in Hollywood films. Candy rose to fame in the 1970s as a member of the Toronto branch of the Second City and its '' SCTV'' ser ...

. At launch, Rogers held 75% of the channel while CUC owned 25%. In 1995, Calgary-based

acquired CUC's stake of 34% ownership of YTV. Shaw acquired Rogers' remaining share in 1998 to take full control of it. In 1999, the media assets of Shaw were spun off to form

. Two Corus specialty channel applications for YTV extensions, YTV POW!, an internationally sourced kids' action, adventure and superhero genre, and YTV OneWorld, targeting children from age 9 to 17 with travel, humour, games, and

STEM Stem or STEM may refer to: Plant structures * Plant stem, a plant's aboveground axis, made of vascular tissue, off which leaves and flowers hang * Stipe (botany), a stalk to support some other structure * Stipe (mycology), the stem of a mushro ...

were approved on September 18, 2008. The YTV Oneworld license was used to launch

Nickelodeon Canada Nickelodeon is a Canadian English language specialty channel based on the American cable network of the same name owned by Corus Entertainment under a brand licensing agreement with Paramount. As with all of its sister networks throughout the ...

.Nickelodeon Canada set to launch
Media in Canada; September 29, 2009 On January 11, 2011, a high-definition feed was launched.

Programming

Current YTV original programming include hosted programming blocks, such as '' The Zone''. In addition to original programming, YTV has historically acquired and co-produced programming with the U.S cable network

Programming blocks

Current

* ''Fam Fun'' (2021–present) * '' The Zone'' (September 2, 1991–present) * ''The Zone Weekend'' is co-hosted by Spencer Litzinger and Alex Wierzbicki. * ''Big Fun Movies'' (January 2, 2011–present)

Former

* '' The Treehouse'' (1994–98) * ''

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 ...

'' (September 7, 1998 – 2002) * '' YTV PlayTime'' (2010–12) * ''

Bionix Bionix may refer to: * Bionix (TV programming block), a program block on the Canadian channel YTV * Air Creation BioniX, a French ultralight trike wing design * '' AOI: Bionix'', a 2001 album by De La Soul, and its title song * Bionix AFV, a famil ...

'' (September 10, 2004 – February 7, 2010) * '' CRUNCH'' (September 9, 2006 – September 28, 2013) * ''Big Fun Weeknights'' * ''Big Fun Fridays'' * ''3 Hairy Thumbs Up'' (October 19, 2002 to August 31, 2008) * ''Moovibot'' (September 5, 2008 – September 6, 2009) * ''ZAPX Movies'' (September 11, 2005 – November 7, 2010) * ''Vortex'' (YTV) (September 15, 2001 – June 24, 2006) * ''Brainwash'' * ''Snit Station'' * ''Limbo'' (2000-2001) * ''Toon Town Alley'' * ''The Alley'' * ''The Breakfast Zone'' (1995–1996) * ''The B-Zone'' * ''The Vault'' (1997) * ''YTV Shift'' * ''Spine Chilling Saturday Nights'' (1998) * ''The Dark Corner'' * ''Whiplash Wednesdays'' * ''Nickelodeon Sundays'' * ''Famalama DingDong''

Program jockeys

Starting in September 1990, YTV called their program jockeys "PJs" in the same vein as

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music f ...

(DJ) or

video jockey A video jockey (abbreviated VJ or sometimes veejay) is an announcer or host who introduces music videos and live performances on commercial music television channels such as MTV, VH1, Much (TV channel), MuchMusic and Channel V. Origins The term " ...

(VJ). Current hosts of these segments have since dropped the moniker as of the mid-1990s.

Current program jockeys

* ''The Zone'' is co-hosted by Spencer Litzinger, Melony Manikavasagar and Kelsey Liem. * ''Big Fun Movies'' is hosted by Kelsey Liem.

Past program jockeys/hosts

* Meisha Watson * Carlos Bustamante * Lisa Gilroy * Victor Verbitsky * Stephanie "Sugar" Beard * Elizabeth Becker * Jenn Beech, also known as "PJ Jenn" * Stéphanie Broschart * Andrew Chapman *

Rachael Crawford Rachael Crawford (born c. 1969 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada) is an actress best known for her roles in '' Brewster Place'', '' Here and Now'', and ''Show Me Yours'', as well as guest appearances on various television series such as ''Cold Squad' ...

* Laura DaSilva * Emily Agard * Ali J. Eisner, also known as "Carrie Funkwash" *

Janis Mackey Frayer Janis Mackey Frayer (born May 27, 1970) is a Canadians, Canadian journalist and a correspondent with NBC News based in Beijing, China. Previously she worked in Canada with CTV Television Network, CTV as its Asia Bureau Chief. She was the networ ...

, also known as "PJ Jazzy Jan" *

The Grogs The Grogs (also known as Grogs Inc.) were a Canadian puppet company troupe active from 1992 to 2009. They produced a variety of television shows and short films for Nickelodeon, its sister channels YTV and Nickelodeon Canada, Treehouse TV,and ...

, puppeteers

Jamie Shannon Jamie Christopher Shannon (born February 26, 1972) is a Canadian actor, voice actor, puppeteer, director, writer and producer, best known for his work in the Canadian television series ''Nanalan, as well as '' Ooh, Aah & You'', and the Canadia ...

and Jason Hopley *

Phil Guerrero Phil may refer to: * Phil (given name), a shortened version of masculine and feminine names * Phill, a given name also spelled "Phil" * Phil, Kentucky, United States * ''Phil'' (film), a 2019 film * -phil-, a lexical fragment, used as a root te ...

, also known as "PJ Fresh Phil" * Laurie Gelman (née Hibberd) *

Daryn Jones Daryn Jones (born January 3, 1978 in Victoria, British Columbia) is a Canadian comedian and television personality. Career He began his career in stand-up comedy clubs at the age of 17, receiving formal training in a private training school. H ...

* Pat Kelly, also known as "Random Pat" * Krista Jackson, also known as "PJ Krista" * "PJ Simon" * Paul McGuire * Simon Mohos *

Ajay Fry Ajay Fry (born Ajay Jack Fry, 17 June 1983) is a Canadian comedian, television personality and producer who grew up in Ottawa, Ontario, best known as host on the official Orphan Black after show ''After the Black'' on BBC America, and the Can ...

* Paula Lemyre *

Shaun Majumder Shaun Vincent Majumder (born January 29, 1972) is a Canadian actor and comedian. He is best known for his role on ''This Hour Has 22 Minutes,'' where he worked from 2003 until 2018. He won a Gemini Award for his work on the series in 2006. Early ...

, also known as "Ed Brainbin" * Aashna Patel, also known as "PJ Aashna" * Joyce Quansah * Jennifer Katie Racicot, also known as "PJ Katie" * Michael Quast, also known as "Michael Q" * Anand Rajaram, the voice of Snit on Snit Station * Atul N. Rao, Snit's voice & puppeteer on The Zone *

Rob Stefaniuk Robert Stefaniuk is a Canadian comedian, actor and writer who has worked in numerous television shows and films as both guest actor and series regular. His feature-film acting credits include the ''Saturday Night Live''-inspired ''Superstar'' (19 ...

, also known as "PJ Rob" * Chandra Galasso, also known as "PJ Rockin Chan" * Marty Stelnick, puppeteer *

Phil McCordic Phil McCordic is a Canadian actor, host, director, producer, and writer. He has created children's programming for YTV, CBC Television, and TVOntario. Kids (via their parents) are welcome to interact with him and ask him science questions on h ...

, also known as "PJ Taylor" *

Todd Doldersum Todd or Todds may refer to: Places ;Australia: * Todd River, an ephemeral river ;United States: * Todd Valley, California, also known as Todd, an unincorporated community * Todd, Missouri, a ghost town * Todd, North Carolina, an unincorporated ...

, also known as "PJ Todd" *

Gordon Michael Woolvett Gordon Michael Woolvett (born 1970) is a Canadian actor from Hamilton, Ontario. Career Woolvett's most enduring role was as Seamus Zelazny Harper on the television series '' Andromeda'' (2000–2005). Prior to ''Andromeda'' he starred in anoth ...

, also known as "Gord the PJ Man" * Russell Zeid * Honey Khan * Cory Atkins * Exan AuYoung * Mark McAllister * Wilf Dinnick * "Tarzan" Dan Freeman * Shauna MacDonald * Adrian Pryce

Related services

Treehouse

Treehouse is a Category A cable and satellite

which airs programming targeted to preschoolers, from 2 to 5. It launched on November 1, 1997. The channel's name is taken from YTV's now-defunct children's programming block, ''The Treehouse''. Treehouse is carried nationwide throughout Canada and it broadcasts its programming without commercial interruption.

Nickelodeon

Nickelodeon is a Category B cable and satellite specialty channel that was launched on November 2, 2009, and is based on the U.S. cable channel

. Like its counterparts in the U.S. and elsewhere, Nickelodeon airs programs aimed at children to younger teenagers, targeted at 7—11. including both live action series and animation.

Former

Vortex on Demand

In July 2005, Corus Entertainment partnered up with

Comcast Corporation Comcast Corporation (formerly known as American Cable Systems and Comcast Holdings),Before the AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corpora ...

to launch a cable video-on-demand service called "Vortex on Demand" in the United States. The deal consisted of 393 30 minute animation TV series from the

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 ...

library; it aired programs such as '' Cadillacs & Dinosaurs'' and ''

Medabots ''Medabots'', known in Japan as , is a Japanese role-playing video game franchise created by Rin Horuma (Horumarin) and currently owned by Imagineer. The main series of RPGs focus on collecting and battling with the titular robots. The bulk of ...

''. The service was discontinued in mid-2007.

Bionix On Demand

In 2008, Corus Entertainment began offering a video-on-demand service called "Bionix On Demand" to Canadian cable providers.

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 ...

were the only providers to offer the service. The service offered older and newer anime programs that did not air on YTV itself. The video-on-demand service was previously titled "YTV Anime On Demand". Bionix On Demand was discontinued on December 17, 2009, and was replaced by YTV On Demand.

YTV GO

YTV GO was 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 ...

mobile app available on the App Store and Google Play Store. It was available at no extra charge to all subscribed customers of

Access Communications Access Communications is a Canadian telecommunications service provider operating in over 235 communities in Saskatchewan. Headquartered in Regina, the co-operative provides internet, cable television, telephone and security services to reside ...

Bell Satellite TV Bell Satellite TV (french: Bell Télé; formerly known as Bell ExpressVu, Dish Network Canada and ExpressVu Dish Network and not to be confused with Bell's IPTV Bell Fibe TV, Fibe TV service) is the division of BCE Inc. that provides satellite ...

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 ( ...

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 ...

Telus Telus Communications Inc. (TCI) is the wholly owned principal subsidiary of Telus Corporation, a Canadian national telecommunications company that provides a wide range of telecommunications products and services including internet access, voi ...

, and

VMedia VMedia Inc. is a Canadian telecommunications company and broadcast distribution provider. It offers VoIP telephone and home security services across Canada; DSL and cable Internet in Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Bri ...

. It offered episodes of various programming from YTV. The app operated between September 2015 and May 1, 2019.

Related businesses

* ''Whoa! magazine'', YTV's official magazine, began publication in 1999 by Creative House, a joint venture between the channel, Today's Parent Group and Paton Publishing. It was distributed through

Pizza Hut Pizza Hut is an American multinational restaurant chain and international franchise founded in 1958 in Wichita, Kansas by Dan and Frank Carney. They serve their signature pan pizza and other dishes including pasta, breadsticks and dessert at d ...

, YTV events, Chapters and Indigo bookstores, Canadian newsstands, and subscriptions. Three issues were released in its first year, followed by four in 2000 before the magazine officially became a quarterly (spring, summer, fall, and winter) in 2001. The magazine celebrated its fifth anniversary with a spring collector's issue in 2004. In 2007, the magazine became available as an

e-zine An online magazine is a magazine published on the Internet, through bulletin board systems and other forms of public computer networks. One of the first magazines to convert from a print magazine format to being online only was the computer magaz ...

on YTV.com. Building on that, in 2008 two additional issues (six for the year) were published as online exclusives. In 2009, YTV ended its association with the magazine. Patton relaunched ''Whoa!'' as a magazine/blogging platform without the YTV branding that same year, before ceasing publication in 2011 and shutting the site down in 2012. * ''Big Fun Party Mix'' was a series of compilation cassettes/CDs containing songs from various tween approved artists, as well as tracks featured in YTV's '' Hit List'' and ''

The Next Star ''The Next Star'' was a Canadian reality competition television series that was broadcast on YTV. It was hosted by Adamo Ruggiero (seasons 1–5) and Carlos Bustamante (season 6–7). The series involved a competition to find the most talented ...

'', plus performances by the stations band "Nuclear Donkey".

Universal Music Canada Universal Music Group owns, or has a joint share in, many of the record labels listed here. According to UMG official site, the main labels are Abbey Road Studios, Bravado, Capitol Music Group, Decca Records, Def Jam Recordings, Deutsche Grammopho ...

published 11 entries from 2000 to 2009. * ''Yabber.net'' was a moderated online

chat room The term chat room, or chatroom (and sometimes group chat; abbreviated as GC), is primarily used to describe any form of synchronous conferencing, occasionally even asynchronous conferencing. The term can thus mean any technology, ranging from ...

operated from 2001 to 2004. The site hosted live chats between viewers and celebrities, voice actors, YTV hosts, and staff. Upon its closure, YTV.com absorbed some of its functionality. * ''The Big Rip'' was an

online portal A web portal is a specially designed website that brings information from diverse sources, like emails, Internet forum, online forums and Web search engine, search engines, together in a uniform way. Usually, each information source gets its dedic ...

for

browser-based A web application (or web app) is application software that is accessed using a web browser. Web applications are delivered on the World Wide Web to users with an active network connection. History In earlier computing models like client-serve ...

massively multiplayer online game A massively multiplayer online game (MMOG or more commonly MMO) is an online video game with a large number of players, often hundreds or thousands, on the same server. MMOs usually feature a huge, persistent world, persistent open world, alt ...

s for preteens. Developed by

and

Frima Studio Frima Studio is a Canadian digital entertainment studio. Headquartered in Quebec City, Quebec and founded in 2003, the company develops video games across a variety of platforms. Frima also produces animation for television and film. In 2010, F ...

, it launched February 15, 2007. Frima later assumed complete control of the portal before ceasing updates in 2010 and later shutting down the site. * ''YTV Spills'' was a follow-up quarterly magazine to ''Whoa!'' produced in association with ''

The Magazine ''The Magazine'' was a monthly digest entertainment magazine targeted for youth and published in Canada. In addition to music, movies, television, and contests, it featured a variety of articles on social issues such as the environment, healthy e ...

'' between 2010 and 2012. * ''Keep It Weird'' is a

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 ...

channel featuring various productions by

, another division of

, along with past Nickelodeon series, channel promos, and YTV originals. It launched in 2015 under the name ''Nelvana Retro'' and was later rebranded to ''YTV Direct'' in 2016 before assuming its current name in 2018.

International distribution

* Jamaica - distributed on Flow Cable systems. * Bahamas - formerly distributed on Cable Bahamas systems channel 307. Removed from the channel line up as of September 2020 due to the programming lineup changes.Cable Bahamas channel lineup

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ytv (Tv Channel) 1988 establishments in Canada English-language television stations in Canada Children's television networks in Canada Corus Entertainment networks Television channels and stations established in 1988 Analog cable television networks in Canada