National Geographic Wild 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 Category B

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

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 National Geographic Global Networks. The channel airs programming devoted to wildlife, nature, and animals.

History

In April 2010,

Canwest Canwest Global Communications Corporation, which operated under the corporate name Canwest, was a major Canadian media conglomerate based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, with its head offices at Canwest Place. It held radio, television broadcasting an ...

(the majority owner and operator of the Canadian version of National Geographic Channel) had requested 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 add the U.S. version of

Nat Geo Wild National Geographic Wild (shortened as Nat Geo Wild and abbreviated NGW) is a global pay television network owned by National Geographic Partners, a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (73%) and the National Geographic Society (27%). T ...

to the list of available foreign channels permitted to broadcast in Canada. Both High Fidelity HDTV (the owner of

Oasis HD Love Nature is a Canadian-based specialty television channel. The channel broadcasts documentaries and television series related to wildlife and nature. The channel's Canadian operations are owned solely by Blue Ant Media, while the internationa ...

) and CTV Speciality Television Inc. (the major owner of the Canadian version of Animal Planet) sent letters to CRTC to oppose the request because they considered Nat Geo Wild to be competitive with Oasis HD and Animal Planet. Canwest was acquired by

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 ...

later that year. The CRTC denied the application on February 15, 2011. In October 2011, NGC Channel Inc. (a company owned by Shaw and National Geographic Channel in the U.S.) put forth its own application to the CRTC in order to launch a Canadian version of Nat Geo Wild. The licence was approved by the CRTC on April 13, 2012. Neither High Fidelity HDTV nor Bell Media voiced a concern about Nat Geo Wild competing with their services. On April 30, 2012, Shaw released a statement that the Canadian version of Nat Geo Wild was scheduled to be launched on May 7, 2012. The channel was launched in standard and

high definition High definition or HD may refer to: Visual technologies *HD DVD, discontinued optical disc format *HD Photo, former name for the JPEG XR image file format *HDV, format for recording high-definition video onto magnetic tape * HiDef, 24 frames-pe ...

. Bell Aliant Fibe TV is the only provider no to carry the channel. On April 1, 2016, Shaw Media was sold to

. Nat Geo Wild was rebranded as National Geographic Wild in 2019.

Logo

Nat Geo Wild Canada.svg, Logo used from 2012 to 2019

Programming

Noted series

* '' Dr. Oakley, Yukon Vet'' * ''

Dogs with Jobs ''Dogs with Jobs'' is a Canadian documentary television series about working dogs and show dogs. Each half-hour episode consists of two to three segments on individual dogs from around the world. The family-friendly series has featured service ...

'' * ''

The Incredible Dr. Pol ''The Incredible Dr. Pol'' is an American reality television show on Nat Geo Wild that follows Dutch-American veterinarian Jan Pol and his family and employees at his practice in rural Weidman, Michigan. The series premiered October 29, 2011 an ...

'' * ''

Totally Wild ''Totally Wild'' is an Australian children's television series which premiered on Network 10 on 12 July 1992. The series aired on 10 Peach from 2013 to 2020, and 10 Shake from 2020 to 2021. It had a current affairs program format, and did stor ...

'' * '' Zoo Diaries''

References

External links

* {{National Geographic English-language television stations in Canada Digital cable television networks in Canada Television channels and stations established in 2012 Corus Entertainment networks National Geographic (American TV channel) 2012 establishments in Canada