Space (TV Channel) - History

History

The channel was licensed by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) in 1996. It debuted on October 17, 1997 at 6:00 p.m. EST, under the ownership of CHUM Limited, airing the film Forbidden Planet, followed by a commentary on that film by author Robert J. Sawyer, followed by the film Mars Attacks!. The Sawyer commentary was the first example of the interstitial materials — mostly produced by Mark Askwith — that have become SPACE's signature: short, snappy, mini-documentaries on science fiction and science topics shown between programs, collectively known as "SPACE Flow". Daily installments include Space News (formerly SPIN, for "Space Information and News").

As with Teletoon and MuchMusic, Space was created specifically to prevent the import of a similar American television network, thereby maintaining Canadian content whenever possible. In this case, Space was introduced in lieu of Canadians receiving the SciFi Channel (now Syfy); it has been criticized for not carrying the same type of programming as its U.S. counterpart, although most (but not all) original SyFy programming eventually finds its way onto Space. There are some delays, however. For example, the popular SciFi series The Invisible Man didn't begin airing on Space until after it had finished its run on SciFi. It ran Stargate SG-1 delayed from its initial airing on Sci Fi, and as of January 22, 2006, began airing the companion/spin-off series Stargate Atlantis. There are some shows that air on Space that do not air on SyFy, such as Relic Hunter and Doctor Who.

CTVglobemedia took over Space on June 22, 2007, as a result of a takeover of CHUM Limited.

Ownership changed hands once again when on April 1, 2011, BCE Inc. (parent company of Bell Canada) gained 100% control of the assets that CTVglobemedia did not already own: CTVglobemedia was replaced by Bell Media.