Canadian TV channel (2001?2019)
Television channel
IFC
was a
Canadian
English language
specialty channel
. The channel was owned by
Corus Entertainment
. The channel broadcast independent films, documentaries, and television series. Its name was licensed from the American company
AMC Networks
, the owner of
IFC
. The channel ceased operations on September 30, 2019.
History
[
edit
]
In November 2000, a joint venture between
Salter Street Films
(95%) and Triptych Media Inc. (5%) were awarded a broadcasting licence by the
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission
(CRTC) for a channel called
The Independent Film Channel Canada
, intended to emulate the American IFC service, the channel was described as "a national English-language Category 1 specialty television service consisting of dramatic and non-fiction short and feature-length independent films, and programs focusing on the independent film-making process, film makers and film festivals."
[1]
On February 9, 2001, the CRTC approved a proposed corporate restructuring that would allow Salter Street Films acquire Triptych Media's 5% in the service.
[2]
Three days later, on February 12,
Alliance Atlantis
announced that it would be purchasing Salter Street Films, acquiring the licence for the Independent Film Channel Canada in the process.
[3]
The channel was launched on August 15, 2001 as
Independent Film Channel
or IFC, under the sole ownership of Salter Street Films, with its name licensed from its American counterpart, IFC. In December 2001, the CRTC approved the purchase Salter Street Films by Alliance Atlantis.
[4]
On January 18, 2008,
[5]
a joint venture between
Canwest
and
Goldman Sachs Capital Partners
known as CW Media,
[6]
acquired control of IFC through its purchase of Alliance Atlantis' broadcasting assets, which were placed in a
trust
in August 2007.
[7]
On October 27, 2010, ownership changed again as
Shaw Communications
gained control of IFC as a result of its acquisition of Canwest and Goldman Sachs' interest in CW Media.
[8]
[9]
On April 1, 2016, IFC's parent company Shaw Media was sold to
Corus Entertainment
.
[10]
In July 2019, various cable operators reported that the channel would be shut down alongside
CosmoTV
on September 30, 2019.
[11]
[12]
Programming
[
edit
]
Like its U.S. namesake, the channel originally focused almost exclusively on smaller independent films. However, it eventually broadened its programming to include more mainstream films as many independent studios became divisions of major film companies. It also de-emphasized the use of the full Independent Film Channel name in favor of the IFC acronym, possibly due to the decreasing number of independent films in its programming lineup. The channel still utilized the 2001 IFC logo rather than the current-day American version, which was still used by
IFC Films
at the time of the network's closure.
IFC also began to regularly air TV series. These were mostly second-run programs that previously aired on other Canadian channels, such as sister channel
Showcase
. None of the American version's original programming aired on this channel; they had instead been picked up by competing Canadian channels. For example,
Portlandia
premiered on
Super Channel
and aired in syndication on
BiteTV
(Now Makeful). For a number of years, it mainly carried content from the American cable network
Showtime
under a licensing agreement with that network's owner, the
CBS Corporation
.
As of December 2013,
Bell Media
, the rival broadcaster of IFC Canada's parent company Corus Entertainment, had an exclusive deal for the American channel's original programming; including
The Spoils of Babylon
(which premiered on
The Movie Network
) and
Comedy Bang! Bang!
(which currently airs on
MuchMusic
), as well as past shows.
[13]
References
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Movie television channels in Canada
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Specialty channels
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Multicultural
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Pornographic
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Premium channels
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Foreign
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Defunct
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Additional resources on North American television
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North America
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Canada
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Mexico
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United States
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