Super Channel (Canada)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Super Channel

Launched	November 2, 2007
Owned by	Allarco Entertainment
Country	Canada
Broadcast area	National
Headquarters	Edmonton, Alberta
Website	www.superchannel.ca
Availability
Satellite
Bell ExpressVu	Channel(s) 326-329, 843,844
Star Choice	Channel(s) 616-619
Cable
Available on many cable systems	Check local listings

Super Channel is an English language Canadian premium television service. It is owned by the Allard family through Allarco Entertainment Inc.

Unlike the two previously-licensed English-language premium operators, Movie Central in western Canada and The Movie Network in eastern Canada, Super Channel is authorized to operate across Canada.

Super Channel is currently available on both national satellite television providers Bell ExpressVu and Star Choice as well as being offered by several cable companies including Access Communications, Cogeco, Rogers Cable, Shaw Cable and more. Super Channel was also granted as a "must carry" service by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), meaning all television service providers must carry the service on their systems.

1 Channels and content
- 1.1 Noted series
2 History
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Channels and content

Super Channel consists of a total of six multiplex channels; four standard definition and two high definition channels.

Super Channel offers many of the same types of films and first-run television series presently found on similar regional premium services The Movie Network and Movie Central. However, The Movie Network and Movie Central have reportedly reached long-term supply deals with HBO, Showtime, and most major studios, leaving Super Channel to focus initially on smaller studios, such as MGM, as well as Bollywood movies and other international productions.^[1]^[2]^[3]

The network has also announced a program supply deal with Channel 4 in the United Kingdom.^[4]

Unlike The Movie Network and Movie Central, Super Channel has pledged to reinvest 100 per cent of its profits in Canadian programming, in addition to 32 per cent of revenues annually, and will be spending $1 million a year on marketing these programs. ^[5]

Super Channel 1: the flagship feed; general interest films and television series.	Super Channel 2: action, horror, science fiction, anime, gaming, music, extreme sports.	Super Channel 3: documentaries, film festival selections, world cinema, Bollywood, comedy, televison series.	Super Channel 4: Canadian content
Super Channel HD 1: a high definition feed, simulcast of SC1.	Super Channel HD 2: a secondary high definition feed, including multiple genres.	Super Channel On Demand: a video on demand service delivering content from Super Channel.

[edit] Noted series

[edit] History

Allarco was one of four applicants for new pay licences that was considered at a CRTC public hearing on October 24, 2005^[6]Its competitors were:

BOOMTV, to be operated by the Archambault unit of Quebecor Media. While it was expected to compete directly with the existing general-interest services – The Movie Network and Movie Central (hereafter "TMN/MC") in English Canada and Super Écran in French Canada – Archambault indicated that its services would have regularly favoured first-run dramatic series. Archambault was also the only applicant for a French-language service, but indicated that this licence would be worthless without an English counterpart.^[7]
The Canadian Film Channel, proposed by Channel Zero Inc. It proposed to exhibit 100% Canadian content and be funded entirely by the operators of TMN/MC, in an amount equal to 12.9% of these services' gross revenues, to be required by condition of licence. Neither incumbent indicated approval for such a use of its revenues.^[8]
Spotlight Television, to be controlled by George Burger, a former executive at Alliance Television, and pro-sports mogul Larry Tanenbaum, chairman of the private investment company Kilmer Van Nostrand, which proposed a premium service much in the same vein as TMN/MC.^[9]

The Allarco application was approved on May 18, 2006, while the other three applicants were rejected. ^[10]

The Allard family were also the original owners of Movie Central, which during their stewardship (and indeed up until 2001) was known as "Superchannel" (single word). (For a time in the 1980s, First Choice / The Movie Network had also used the "Superchannel" name under a co-branding agreement.) The "Movie Central" name was adopted shortly after Corus Entertainment acquired the service, but Corus maintained ownership of the "Superchannel" trademark. Just before the new channel's launch, the Allards re-acquired the rights to the "Superchannel" name under undisclosed terms. ^[1]

Super Channel was launched on November 2, 2007 on Bell ExpressVu with all six channels. In February 2008, Super Channel launched an On Demand channel on Cogeco Ontario systems, since that time, other television providers have added Super Channel On Demand.