OUTtv
Encyclopedia
OUTtv is a Canadian
English language
Category A specialty channel
that airs entertainment and lifestyle programming for LGBT
audiences.
OUTtv's licensee is OUTtv Network Inc. which is 55.9% owned by Shavick Entertainment
, 24.94% owned by Pink Triangle Press
, 15% owned by Peace Point Entertainment Group
and 4.16% owned by Re:Source Media. OUTtv has offices in both Toronto
, Ontario
and Vancouver
, British Columbia
.
Launched on September 7, 2001 as PrideVision TV by Headline Media Group, it was Canada's first 24-hour LGBT
cable television channel. (and the second to be established, the first being the Gay Cable Network
in the United States). The channel was a lifestyle and general entertainment channel consisting of dramas, comedies, feature films, talk shows, as well as pornographic films, and more. It was one of 21 television channels that were granted a category 1 (mandatory carriage) licence by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) on November 24, 2000. Levfam Holdings Inc. (otherwise known as Headline Media Group) owned 70.1% of the licence while broadcaster Alliance Atlantis
owned the remainder. In February 2001, before the channel launched, Alliance Atlantis sold its entire interest in the licence to Headline Media Group, becoming the sole owner of the licence.
PrideVision had considerable difficulty building an audience in its early years due to the channel being marketed by many television service providers (TSP) as a standalone premium service in the adult tier of TSP channel's listings, rather than a general interest channel packaged along with other similar specialty channels. This was in part due to that fact that PrideVision aired pornographic films and other adult content at midnight EST
and beyond — this particularly affected cable and satellite providers in Western Canada
, where due to time zone
differences, adult programming airing at midnight in Southern Ontario
for example, was airing as early as 10 p.m. PST
in British Columbia
.
While being mostly marketed as a premium service, considerably reducing the number of potential subscribers, the channel also faced particular resistance from Shaw Communications
, the largest cable television provider in Western Canada, which was accused of constraining the availability of PrideVision during the first few months in operation. During a three-month long free trial preview period that was mandated by the CRTC to help launch the slew of new digital specialty channels launching at that time, Shaw customers who tuned to PrideVision were prompted with a screen and had to navigate through various others to ultimately come to the conclusion that they were to be charged a one cent fee to view the channel. This process would have to repeated every time a customer turned back to PrideVision, including the one cent fee. This process was not required for any other similarly-licensed specialty channel.
PrideVision took their concerns to the CRTC, which ultimately sided with PrideVision, in that the CRTC believed PrideVision was being treated unfairly and that Shaw must comply with its decision and offer a free preview of PrideVision to its customers, much like it did with other category 1 channels.
Mounting issues with distribution, disputes with TSPs, slow growth among digital channels as a whole among the industry, and faced with criticisms of providing a weak mix of programming, PrideVision was losing a considerable amount of money. The channel's subscriber base grew much more slowly than expected, with only 20,000 subscribers by the end of 2002 compared to channels such as IFC, which had roughly 700,000 subscribers in the same time period.
To help grow its subscriber base, PrideVision offered another free preview
period to its distributors, and launched a promotional campaign with the slogan "With only 20,000 subscribers we are impotent! Help PrideVision TV GET IT UP!", stating that the channel was in danger of going out of business if it wasn't supported. Many in the gay community interpreted this as the company blaming them for the channel's problems, although the owners denied this. Despite this, PrideVision's subscriptions did increase slowly. In an effort to reduce its losses, staff at PrideVision were cut from 25 to 10, most of its original programming was cut, and the street-level studio on Church Street
in Toronto was closed in December 2002.
On December 3, 2003, Headline Media Group announced that they were selling a majority of PrideVision to a consortium led by broadcaster William Craig
. Craig would own the majority share in the company and act as managing partner, while Pink Triangle Press
and various other independent production companies and investors held minority stakes. Headline Media retained a minority stake in the company. The transaction was finalized later in 2004.
Shortly after the new owners of PrideVision took over, plans were announced to launch a 24/7
gay adult male subscription service in 2005. It was said that a new 24 hour adult channel was needed to launch in order to secure better cable distribution for the general interest programming that was carried on PrideVision.
In November 2004, PrideVision, in preparation for the launch of a new 24-hour adult subscription channel, was temporarily renamed HARD on PrideVision, exclusively airing adult content in primetime (9pm-6am EST
) while lifestyle and entertainment programming aired during the remaining time period.
PrideVision's owners were granted a licence by the CRTC for the adult channel on on March 4, 2005. The channel was tentatively named 617. The expected launch date was April 7, 2005; however, the new channel launched five days later on April 12 due to difficulties with TSPs. On that date, HARD on PrideVision was renamed OUTtv with a new 24/7 schedule consisting of entertainment and lifestyle programming, while the new adult channel launched as HARD on PrideVision with a 24/7 schedule consisting of adult content. This was done to create a seamless transition from one service to the other and to create the illusion of PrideVision evolving into a 24 hour adult service; however, this is not the case.
Even with the launch of the new adult subscription channel and the removal of all adult content from the newly re-named OUTtv, the channel was still facing resistance from Shaw Communications and its national satellite television service, Shaw Direct, then known as Star Choice. Both distributors wanted to remain packaging OUTtv as a standalone premium service rather than a general interest specialty channel which most other major television providers had done. OUTtv filed a complaint with the CRTC; however, both parties settled their disagreement before the matter was taken to a hearing before the CRTC and had agreed on a packaging deal. A similar deal was made with Bell later that year.
, a film and television producer based in Vancouver
, British Columbia
, announced they would acquire the majority interest in both OUTtv and HARD on PrideVision from William Craig. Shavick also announced plans to rename OUTtv, upgrade the technology infrastructure, and provide a wider variety of programming to the channel. Shavick listed their Hollywood-based partner Regent Studios, owners of American LGBT channel here!, as a major content provider to the channel.
As of January 2011, no further announcement has been made as to the proposed renaming of OUTtv and it is unclear at this point if plans to rename the channel have been abandoned. However, sister channel, HARD on PrideVision was renamed HARDtv in November 2006. Also, on December 3, 2009, the CRTC approved an application that would see HARDtv sold and spun off into its own company, 4510810 Canada Inc, a company owned by Pink Triangle Press (55%) and Peace Point Entertainment (45%). The transaction closed at a later date.
through a package called CurveTV. However, in early 2007, OUTtv and the package CurveTV was discontinued due to a low number of subscriptions.
On April 4, 2008, a localized version of OUTtv
launched in the Netherlands
through a licensing agreement with the newly-formed Dutch company, OUTTV Media Group.
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
Category A specialty channel
Specialty channel
A specialty channel can be a commercial broadcasting or non-commercial television channel which consists of television programming focused on a single genre, subject or targeted television market at a specific demographic....
that airs entertainment and lifestyle programming for LGBT
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
audiences.
OUTtv's licensee is OUTtv Network Inc. which is 55.9% owned by Shavick Entertainment
Shavick Entertainment
Shavick Entertainment is a Canadian film and television production company. Owned and operated in Burnaby, British Columbia by James Shavick and his wife, former British Columbia politician Joy MacPhail, the company has primarily produced television films, as well as a few theatrical films and a...
, 24.94% owned by Pink Triangle Press
Pink Triangle Press
Pink Triangle Press is a Canadian non-profit organization which specializes in LGBT media including publishing, online interactive media, and television. PTP's main asset is the LGBT magazine, Xtra! and its spinoffs Xtra! West and Capital Xtra!...
, 15% owned by Peace Point Entertainment Group
Peace Point Entertainment Group
Peace Point Entertainment Group is a Canadian Toronto-based independent television production company.- Corporate Profile :Peace Point principals Les Tomlin and Vallery Hyduk have produced 19 series with worldwide distribution. It has also acquired full ownership of U.S...
and 4.16% owned by Re:Source Media. OUTtv has offices in both Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
and Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
, British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
.
As PrideVision
Launched on September 7, 2001 as PrideVision TV by Headline Media Group, it was Canada's first 24-hour LGBT
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
cable television channel. (and the second to be established, the first being the Gay Cable Network
Gay Cable Network
Gay Cable Network was one of the first cable television networks which openly appealed to a gay and lesbian audience. It was established in 1982 in New York City by Lou Maletta, was broadcasted on Manhattan Cable Television channel 35 and wound down operations in 2000-2001...
in the United States). The channel was a lifestyle and general entertainment channel consisting of dramas, comedies, feature films, talk shows, as well as pornographic films, and more. It was one of 21 television channels that were granted a category 1 (mandatory carriage) licence by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) on November 24, 2000. Levfam Holdings Inc. (otherwise known as Headline Media Group) owned 70.1% of the licence while broadcaster Alliance Atlantis
Alliance Atlantis
Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc. was a Toronto-based media company that operated primarily as a specialty service operator in Canada. Alliance Atlantis also had offices in Halifax, Los Angeles, London, Dublin, Madrid, Barcelona, Shannon and Sydney.Alliance Atlantis was acquired by Canwest...
owned the remainder. In February 2001, before the channel launched, Alliance Atlantis sold its entire interest in the licence to Headline Media Group, becoming the sole owner of the licence.
PrideVision had considerable difficulty building an audience in its early years due to the channel being marketed by many television service providers (TSP) as a standalone premium service in the adult tier of TSP channel's listings, rather than a general interest channel packaged along with other similar specialty channels. This was in part due to that fact that PrideVision aired pornographic films and other adult content at midnight EST
North American Eastern Time Zone
The Eastern Time Zone of the United States and Canada is a time zone that falls mostly along the east coast of North America. Its UTC time offset is −5 hrs during standard time and −4 hrs during daylight saving time...
and beyond — this particularly affected cable and satellite providers in Western Canada
Western Canada
Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces and commonly as the West, is a region of Canada that includes the four provinces west of the province of Ontario.- Provinces :...
, where due to time zone
Time zone
A time zone is a region on Earth that has a uniform standard time for legal, commercial, and social purposes. In order for the same clock time to always correspond to the same portion of the day as the Earth rotates , different places on the Earth need to have different clock times...
differences, adult programming airing at midnight in Southern Ontario
Southern Ontario
Southern Ontario is a region of the province of Ontario, Canada that lies south of the French River and Algonquin Park. Depending on the inclusion of the Parry Sound and Muskoka districts, its surface area would cover between 14 to 15% of the province. It is the southernmost region of...
for example, was airing as early as 10 p.m. PST
Pacific Time Zone
The Pacific Time Zone observes standard time by subtracting eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time . The clock time in this zone is based on the mean solar time of the 120th meridian west of the Greenwich Observatory. During daylight saving time, its time offset is UTC-7.In the United States...
in British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
.
While being mostly marketed as a premium service, considerably reducing the number of potential subscribers, the channel also faced particular resistance from Shaw Communications
Shaw Communications
Shaw Communications is Canada's largest telecommunications company that provides telephone, Canada's fastest Internet and television services as well as broadcasting and soon Wifi. Shaw is headquartered in Calgary, Alberta...
, the largest cable television provider in Western Canada, which was accused of constraining the availability of PrideVision during the first few months in operation. During a three-month long free trial preview period that was mandated by the CRTC to help launch the slew of new digital specialty channels launching at that time, Shaw customers who tuned to PrideVision were prompted with a screen and had to navigate through various others to ultimately come to the conclusion that they were to be charged a one cent fee to view the channel. This process would have to repeated every time a customer turned back to PrideVision, including the one cent fee. This process was not required for any other similarly-licensed specialty channel.
PrideVision took their concerns to the CRTC, which ultimately sided with PrideVision, in that the CRTC believed PrideVision was being treated unfairly and that Shaw must comply with its decision and offer a free preview of PrideVision to its customers, much like it did with other category 1 channels.
Mounting issues with distribution, disputes with TSPs, slow growth among digital channels as a whole among the industry, and faced with criticisms of providing a weak mix of programming, PrideVision was losing a considerable amount of money. The channel's subscriber base grew much more slowly than expected, with only 20,000 subscribers by the end of 2002 compared to channels such as IFC, which had roughly 700,000 subscribers in the same time period.
To help grow its subscriber base, PrideVision offered another free preview
Free preview
Free preview, sometimes referred to by the portmanteau nickname "freeview", is a term, most commonly used by cable television, referring to when cable systems offer a pay-TV service to customers for free for a short period of time.-History:...
period to its distributors, and launched a promotional campaign with the slogan "With only 20,000 subscribers we are impotent! Help PrideVision TV GET IT UP!", stating that the channel was in danger of going out of business if it wasn't supported. Many in the gay community interpreted this as the company blaming them for the channel's problems, although the owners denied this. Despite this, PrideVision's subscriptions did increase slowly. In an effort to reduce its losses, staff at PrideVision were cut from 25 to 10, most of its original programming was cut, and the street-level studio on Church Street
Church and Wellesley
Church and Wellesley is an LGBT-oriented community located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is roughly bounded by Gerrard Street to the south, Yonge Street to the west, Charles Street to the north, and Jarvis Street to the east, with the core commercial strip located along Church Street from...
in Toronto was closed in December 2002.
On December 3, 2003, Headline Media Group announced that they were selling a majority of PrideVision to a consortium led by broadcaster William Craig
William Craig (broadcaster)
William Craig is a Canadian broadcaster.Craig began his career as a researcher for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's This Hour Has Seven Days. He subsequently joined the programming departments at the CBC, TVOntario and Rogers Cable...
. Craig would own the majority share in the company and act as managing partner, while Pink Triangle Press
Pink Triangle Press
Pink Triangle Press is a Canadian non-profit organization which specializes in LGBT media including publishing, online interactive media, and television. PTP's main asset is the LGBT magazine, Xtra! and its spinoffs Xtra! West and Capital Xtra!...
and various other independent production companies and investors held minority stakes. Headline Media retained a minority stake in the company. The transaction was finalized later in 2004.
Shortly after the new owners of PrideVision took over, plans were announced to launch a 24/7
24/7
24/7 is an abbreviation which stands for "24 hours a day, 7 days a week", usually referring to a business or service available at all times without interruption...
gay adult male subscription service in 2005. It was said that a new 24 hour adult channel was needed to launch in order to secure better cable distribution for the general interest programming that was carried on PrideVision.
Re-branding as OUTtv
North American Eastern Time Zone
The Eastern Time Zone of the United States and Canada is a time zone that falls mostly along the east coast of North America. Its UTC time offset is −5 hrs during standard time and −4 hrs during daylight saving time...
) while lifestyle and entertainment programming aired during the remaining time period.
PrideVision's owners were granted a licence by the CRTC for the adult channel on on March 4, 2005. The channel was tentatively named 617. The expected launch date was April 7, 2005; however, the new channel launched five days later on April 12 due to difficulties with TSPs. On that date, HARD on PrideVision was renamed OUTtv with a new 24/7 schedule consisting of entertainment and lifestyle programming, while the new adult channel launched as HARD on PrideVision with a 24/7 schedule consisting of adult content. This was done to create a seamless transition from one service to the other and to create the illusion of PrideVision evolving into a 24 hour adult service; however, this is not the case.
Shavick Entertainment's acquisition
On July 19, 2006, Shavick EntertainmentShavick Entertainment
Shavick Entertainment is a Canadian film and television production company. Owned and operated in Burnaby, British Columbia by James Shavick and his wife, former British Columbia politician Joy MacPhail, the company has primarily produced television films, as well as a few theatrical films and a...
, a film and television producer based in Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
, British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
, announced they would acquire the majority interest in both OUTtv and HARD on PrideVision from William Craig. Shavick also announced plans to rename OUTtv, upgrade the technology infrastructure, and provide a wider variety of programming to the channel. Shavick listed their Hollywood-based partner Regent Studios, owners of American LGBT channel here!, as a major content provider to the channel.
As of January 2011, no further announcement has been made as to the proposed renaming of OUTtv and it is unclear at this point if plans to rename the channel have been abandoned. However, sister channel, HARD on PrideVision was renamed HARDtv in November 2006. Also, on December 3, 2009, the CRTC approved an application that would see HARDtv sold and spun off into its own company, 4510810 Canada Inc, a company owned by Pink Triangle Press (55%) and Peace Point Entertainment (45%). The transaction closed at a later date.
International distribution
In mid-2006, OUTtv ventured into its first international market when it reached a deal with SelecTV to distribute OUTtv in its lineup in AustraliaAustralia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
through a package called CurveTV. However, in early 2007, OUTtv and the package CurveTV was discontinued due to a low number of subscriptions.
On April 4, 2008, a localized version of OUTtv
OUTTV
OUTTV is a Dutch language premium digital cable specialty channel from the Netherlands and is the lifestyle television channel from the Netherlands and Belgium and soon also Sweden and Switzerland. OUTTV originally launched on KPN on April 4, 2008 and widely became available on April 11, 2008,...
launched in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
through a licensing agreement with the newly-formed Dutch company, OUTTV Media Group.