C More Entertainment - Programming

Programming

C More Entertainment currently operates over 20 SDTV channels in the Nordic countries and eleven High-Definition, as of September 2012.

C More Entertainment has its origins in the Filmnet channel that started in 1985. In the early 1990s, Filmnet became two channels: Filmnet Plus and Filmnet The Complete Movie Channel. They were later rebranded as Filmnet 1 and Filmnet 2.

Canal+ bought Filmnet in 1996 and the two channels were rebranded on September 1, 1997. Filmnet 1 became Canal+ with localized versions for the different Nordic countries and Filmnet 2 became the pan-Nordic Canal+ Gul/Canal+ Kulta (engl. "Canal+ Yellow", following the colour naming pattern used by Canal+ in France and others countries).

A third channel Canal+ Blå/Canal+ Sininen (Blue) was started on September 3, 1999. Another channel, Canal+ Zap was launched on September 22, 2001, allowing cable and satellite viewers to choose an alternative match to watch during fixtures of the FA Premier League and NHL.

A major overhaul was done on May 1, 2004. The three colour-coded mixed channels were abandoned for four themed channels showing. The Canal+ line-up would then consist of the main Canal+ channel, Canal+ Film 1 and Canal+ Film 2 showing new movies, the all-sports channel Canal+ Sport and C More Film, a channel showing older films. C More Film was the first channel to use the C More brand, which ultimately replaced the Canal+ brand in September 2012.

The line-up was extended on September 1, 2005 when Canal+ Film 3, C More Film 2 and the first HD channel for the Nordic region, C More HD, launched. Canal+ Film 1 was renamed Canal+ Film. Canal+ Sport was changed. Instead of being a pan-Nordic channel, country specific channels were launched. Canal+, that previously was country-specific, became pan-Nordic. At the same time IPTV operators in association with satellite operator Canal Digital launched an interactive VOD service called Canal+ Play, accessed straight from the customer's set-top box, letting the viewers watch any seasons from any show ever broadcast on Canal+ and any movie that is currently showing on the channels. On satellite it has since been merged to the Canal Digital Go service, covering every channel on the platform and also available without a box online (much like its British equivalent Sky Go).

On November 1, 2006 the Canal+ package was changed once again. The C More Film channels were removed and merged with Canal+ Film 2, the main Canal+ channel was removed and replaced by bonus channel Canal+ Mix, showing films, series, documentaries and movies. They also introduced a new sports channel called Canal+ Sport 2. Some channels' content was kept intact but the looks were rebranded: Canal+ Film became Canal+ Film 1, Canal+ Sport became Canal+ Sport 1 and C More HD became Canal+ HD. Previously the customers had to subscribe to all the channels, but with the relaunch, the customers were for the first time allowed to subscribe only to the sports or movie channels. The "Canal+ Film" package consisted of Canal+ Film 1, 2 and 3 and "Canal+ Sport" consisted of Canal+ Sport 1 and 2. The full package was called "Canal+ Total" and contained Canal+ Mix and Canal+ HD as a bonus.

A second HD channel, Canal+ Sport HD, launched in February 2007. The original HD channel was called Canal+ Film HD from that on. September 2007 saw the launch of a pay-per-view sports service called C Sports in Sweden, Denmark and Norway - it was never officially launched in Finland and/or available in Finnish but could also be used there. The service originally showed single matches from Canal+ channels on a PPV basis, but soon after launch customers could also subscribe to a season ticket, allowing them to view all matches from the chosen league during the season. In 2009 it also expanded to cover an archive of all shown matches and the ability to watch live streams of all Canal+ Sport channels. The service is still alive and kicking in all countries except for Finland, where the content of the service is now available through parent company MTV3's VOD service Katsomo.

Yet another overhaul happened on November 1, 2007. The movie and series channels were all renamed and repositioned into different categories. Canal+ Film 1 becomes Canal+ First which will premiere the films and Canal+ Film 2 is replaced by Canal+ Hits which will broadcast older films. Canal+ Film 3 and Canal+ Mix were renamed Canal+ Action and Canal+ Drama and were joined by Canal+ Comedy which broadcasts movies in different genres. Canal+ Sport 1 and 2 kept their names, but were joined by Canal+ Sport Extra which time-shared with the pornographic channel Canal 69.

In July 2009, C More Entertainment launched a brand new channel broadcasting sports and other programming for men. Canal 9, is provided for free for Canal+ Sport and Canal+ Total customers on cable, satellite and IPTV and it shares many sports rights with Canal+ channels, along its independently purchased rights commissioned by TV4 Gruppen. The station was originally modelled on the Finnish MTV3 Max, launched in 2006 and broadcast by TV4 Group's sister company MTV Media. Later there have been discussions to rename MTV3 Max as Canal 9 Suomi In November 2011 Canal 9 also launched in Norway.

On October 1, 2009, Canal+ launched the SF-kanalen, a channel which broadcasts Swedish movies and mini series from the libraries of Svensk Filmindustri. After TV4's purchase of the company, Canal+ and Svensk Filmindustri became part of the same corporation. SF-kanalen replaced Canal 69, which ceased operations the day before.

Canal+ is widely known for changing its channel packages from time to time and yet another change was made on April 1, 2010, when Canal+ Comedy was replaced by Canal+ Series. Its type is the same as Canal+ Hits, but it shows series from 8pm to midnight instead of movies, while from midnight to 8pm it shows various movies.

More changes happened on May 14, 2010, when Canal+ announced the launch of 3 new sports channels named Canal+ Sport 3, Canal+ Football and Canal+ Hockey, of which the first is only available in Norway. At the same time many new sports rights were announced. Later that year Canal+ announced it would launch a second Finnish-language sports channel in December, namely Canal+ Aitio (literally Canal+ Skybox) due to still retaining the rights to FA Premier League and UEFA Champions League unlike other countries. The new channel allowed broadcasting a second simultaneous match from the Premier League, for which they had to use FTA channels until the launch of Aitio. At the same time they also renamed the Finnish version of Canal+ Sport 1 as Canal+ Urheilu. HD versions of the channels have since appeared on all platforms.

In June 1, 2011, Canal+ announced the launch of 2 new film and series channels named Canal+ Family and Canal+ Emotion. Canal+ Family consists of family-oriented movies and CBeebies series. Canal+ Emotion replaced Canal+ Drama.

In May 2012, C More Entertainment announced it would rebrand its whole output as C More. While most channels keep their old names (apart from replacing the Canal+ suffix with C More), some sports channels changed names - mainly Canal+ Sport 2 was changed to C More Tennis, Canal+ Sport Extra into C More Extreme and Canal+ Extra channels were rebranded as C More Live channels. The only channels surviving the rebrand are Canal 9 channels of Denmark and Norway and the Danish Canal 8 Sport, which was launched in August 2012 as the successor of Canal+ Sport 1 Denmark. C More Entertainment also announced that they would add documentaries as a new type of programming to complement their film programming.