Classical music television channel
Television channel
Stingray Classica
(formerly
Classica
and
Unitel Classica
) is a television channel devoted to classical music, opera, ballet and jazz, currently owned by
Stingray Group
in
Canada
.
History
[
edit
]
Classica was owned by
Unitel
, a distributor of filmed classical music performances also headquartered in Germany. The channel revamped both its logo and programming on 28 May 2014.
[1]
In January 2017,
Stingray Group
in Quebec, Canada, acquired Classica from Unitel: In the deal, Stingray would also be able to use Unitel's library of about 1500 titles and 2000 hours of filmed contents for 11 years, however this deal was terminated and therefore the channel does not feature any content from Unitel. Stingray plans to feature Canadian productions (from both Quebec and outside Quebec) on the channel.
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
In late 2017, Stingray implemented a new branding and on-air look (similar to the one implemented to
Stingray Brava
in 2016) of newly renamed
Stingray Classica
to a version broadcast to Quebec, Canada. The new look was implemented to other versions of Classica operated by Stingray in 2018.
On 1 March 2019, Stingray abolished
Stingray Brava
brand in favour of Stingray Classica. The Dutch and French versions of Brava was rebranded as Classica, while the pan-European version of Brava was shut down and effectively replaced by that of Classica.
On 30 April 2021, Stingray Classica in South Korea was replaced by Orfeo.
-
Logo of Unitel Classica until 2014
-
Logo of Classica from 2014-2018
-
Logo of Stingray Classica since Spring 2018
-
Alternative Logo of Stingray Classica since Spring 2018
Versions
[
edit
]
As of 2019, Stingray operates a number of versions of Stingray Classica for following areas: Germany, Netherlands and Flanders, pan-Europe, pan-Asia, and Canada.
Germany
[
edit
]
A separate version is available to the customers of
Sky in Germany
.
Australia
[
edit
]
Stingray Classica began streaming in Australia during 2022 via the 7 Network's 7 Plus free-to-air streaming portfolio of AV channels.
Netherlands and Flanders
[
edit
]
A Dutch version, available in the Netherlands and Flanders, was originally launched as Brava NL on 1 July 2009. Stingray acquired Brava (along with its sister channel
Djazz TV
) on 31 July 2015. On 1 December 2015, the Dutch version of Brava replaced
Cultuur 7
in Belgium (which Stingray acquired earlier in October 2015) in its former channel slot. It was rebranded as Stingray Classica on 1 March 2019.
France
[
edit
]
A French feed was launched on 1 March 2019, replacing Stingray Brava.
Canada
[
edit
]
In January 2017, Canada's
CRTC
approved Stingray's application for a version of
Stingray Brava
to be available in Canada as a non-Canadian television channel originating from the Netherlands.
[6]
The particular version was renamed as Stingray Classica in late 2017.
[7]
[8]
[9]
At launch in 2017, the channel was made available to subscribers of
Videotron
in both standard definition and high definition.
[8]
[9]
After Stingray and
Bell Canada
expanded television distribution deal in May 2018,
[10]
the channel (along with Stingray's other TV channels) was made available to
Bell Fibe TV
subscribers in August 2018.
[11]
[12]
Other services
[
edit
]
Stingray Classica On-Demand
is available to
Amazon Prime Video
customers in Germany and the United Kingdom, and
Amazon Channels
customers in the United States.
Related channels
[
edit
]
As of 2018, Stingray's acquisition of the channel does not affect the following channels yet:
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]