W Network is a
CanadianCanada 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 languageEnglish 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 channelA 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....
owned by
Corus EntertainmentCorus Entertainment Inc. is a publicly traded Canadian media and entertainment conglomerate.Corus is a leading Canadian specialty television and radio producer, with additional assets in pay television, advertising services, television broadcasting, children's book publishing and children's...
. W Network broadcasts lifestyle and entertainment programming aimed at women.
The channel is available in two time shifted feeds, East (operating from the Eastern Time Zone) and West (operating from the
Pacific Time ZoneThe 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...
).
History
In June 1994, Linda Rankin, on behalf of a corporation to be incorporated, (later incorporated as Lifestyle Television (1994) Limited, owned principally owned by
Moffat CommunicationsMoffat Communications was a Canadian cable and broadcasting company. Privately owned by the Moffat family, the company was based in Winnipeg, Manitoba...
) was granted a television broadcasting licence from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to operate a channel called
Lifestyle Television, described as offering
"information and entertainment programming of particular interest to women."
The channel subsequently launched on January 1, 1995 as
Women's Television Network (WTN). Like Moffat's other cable television operations, WTN was headquartered in
WinnipegWinnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...
,
ManitobaManitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
. Linda Rankin served as the president of the network from its launch.
Programming on the network was originally largely focused on lifestyle programming that many had suggested was "feminist" in nature. Such programming included female takes on traditionally male-dominated activities such as fishing and mechanics, with Natural Angler and Car Care, respectfully. While other programs, such as Go Girl!, took a comedic approach at parodying typical female-targeted talk shows that discussed subjects such as beauty, fashion, etc. Other programs included films,
current affairsCurrent Affairs is a genre of broadcast journalism where the emphasis is on detailed analysis and discussion of news stories that have recently occurred or are ongoing at the time of broadcast....
, and occasionally even sports.
The channel suffered from low ratings in the beginning. Of the slew of new channels launched on January 1, WTN was initially the lowest rated channel on average. Linda Rankin later resigned in August 1995 citing "differences in management philosophy."
In December 2000,
Shaw CommunicationsShaw 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...
announced it intended to purchase Moffat. The deal was later closed in early 2001. Shaw would later announce in March 2001 that it would sell WTN to
Corus EntertainmentCorus Entertainment Inc. is a publicly traded Canadian media and entertainment conglomerate.Corus is a leading Canadian specialty television and radio producer, with additional assets in pay television, advertising services, television broadcasting, children's book publishing and children's...
for $205 million
CADThe Canadian dollar is the currency of Canada. As of 2007, the Canadian dollar is the 7th most traded currency in the world. It is abbreviated with the dollar sign $, or C$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies...
Once Corus took ownership of the channel, it moved operations from Winnipeg to Toronto in mid-January 2002, laying off 50 employees in the process. Subsequently, Corus relaunched the network as "W" on April 15, 2002 with a more entertainment-oriented mix of recent dramas and movies. On the same date, Corus launched the west coast feed.
In 2009, Corus Entertainment acquired SexTV: The Channel from CTVglobemedia, and relaunched the channel as
W Movies on March 1, 2010, a 24-hour film-focused spinoff channel of W Network.
W Network HD
On August 3, 2011 W Network HD launched as a
high definitionHigh-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
simulcast of W Network's
standard definitionSorete-definition television is a television system that uses a resolution that is not considered to be either enhanced-definition television or high-definition television . The term is usually used in reference to digital television, in particular when broadcasting at the same resolution as...
feed. It is currently available only on
EastLinkEastLink is a Canadian cable television and telecommunications company. In 1970, EastLink was established in Amherst, Nova Scotia, when it was issued one of the first cable licences granted by the CRTC...
cable (Select areas only).
Programming
W Network airs a mix of lifestyle and entertainment television series including films, comedies, dramas, reality TV, cooking, and makeover series.
Noted series
- Anna & Kristina's Grocery Bag
Anna & Kristina's Grocery Bag is a Canadian television series that airs on the W Network in Canada, as well as 13 other countries around the world...
- Candice Tells All
- Colour Confidential
- Come Dine With Me
Come Dine With Me is a popular Channel 4 television programme shown in the United Kingdom, produced by Granada Television and first broadcast in January 2005. The show has either four or five amateur chefs competing against each other hosting a dinner party for the other contestants...
- Come Dine with Me Canada
Come Dine With Me Canada is a Canadian reality television series, adapted from the British programme Come Dine With Me. The show debuted November 1, 2010 on the W Network. The show has generally brings five amateur chefs competing against each other hosting a dinner party for the other contestants...
- Divine Design
Divine Design is a Canadian interior design show produced by Fusion Television which airs on W Network in Canada and HGTV in the United States. It is broadcast on Thursdays, 9pm e/p and is hosted by Candice Olson, one of Canada's top designers...
- Inside the Box with Ty Pennington
- Judging Amy
Judging Amy is an American television drama that was telecast from September 19, 1999, through May 3, 2005, on CBS-TV. This TV series starred Amy Brenneman and Tyne Daly...
- Love it or List it
Love it or List it is a Canadian home design TV show currently airing on the W Network and on VIVA. The Show is produced by Big Coat Productions...
- Property Brothers
-External links:* ***...
- Supernanny
Supernanny is a reality TV programme which originated in the United Kingdom about parents struggling with their children's behaviour. The UK version has aired on Channel 4 with E4 showing repeats since 2004. The program returned in 2010...
- Supersize vs Superskinny
Supersize vs Superskinny is a British television programme on Channel 4 that features information about dieting and extreme eating lifestyles. One of the main show features is a weekly comparison between an overweight person, and an underweight person...
- Take this House and Sell it
Take This House and Sell it is a Canadian Home and renovation reality show that originally ran from September 2, 2004- May 18, 2010 on the W Network...
- Will & Grace
Will & Grace was an American television sitcom that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 21, 1998 to May 18, 2006 for a total of eight seasons. Will & Grace remains the most successful television series with gay principal characters...
External links