Showcase Television

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**Showcase**

Type	Cable television specialty channel
Country	Canada
Availability	National
Owner	Showcase Television Inc. (Alliance Atlantis)
Key people	Unknown
Launch date	January 1, 1995
Website	http://www.showcase.ca

Showcase Television, now often just Showcase, is a Canadian cable television specialty channel owned by Alliance Atlantis Communications. A predominantly fiction-based service that promises "television without borders", since its launch it has indeed moved increasingly towards controversial and otherwise risqué fare. It is in some respects the Canadian equivalent of both general-interest U.S. cable channels such as TNT and USA and the increasingly edgy premium service Showtime (which has no direct relationship other than the similar name).

Licensed in 1994, Showcase was a venture between Alliance Communications (prior to its merger with Atlantis), the CBC, and a number of smaller independent Canadian producers, and was intended to be a showcase for "the best of independently-produced movies, drama, comedy and mini-series from Canada and around the world", with limited content from the United States. It launched at midnight on January 1, 1995.

When the network premiered, it garnered some negative publicity due to a disclaimer it would broadcast prior to reruns of older series. The disclaimer, which advised viewers to remember that "attitudes were not always the same as they are now" was applied to relatively recent programs such as Seeing Things. Following media scorn and accusations of political correctness and being condescending to viewers, Showcase abandoned this form of disclaimer. In fact, lately, it has frequently been criticized by the industry's self-regulatory standards council for not airing enough disclaimers.

From the beginning it has aired frequent series repeats of Canadian (or Canadian-filmed made-for-America) series such as Due South, Cold Squad, and Da Vinci's Inquest, the lineup changing from year to year. Showcase has also been the primary Canadian broadcaster for American cable series such as Rescue Me, Queer as Folk (in which Showcase held a minor production role), Weeds, Family Business, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and The L Word, as well as the US/UK series Da Ali G Show, and a secondary broadcaster (following the original Canadian airing on The Movie Network) of Six Feet Under, Dead Like Me and Curb Your Enthusiasm. It similarly airs repeats of the CSI series after their original broadcast windows.

However, such foreign programs can only air in primetime beginning at 10:00 p.m. (Eastern / Pacific), as a result of a condition of licence obligating Showcase to air 100% Canadian content between 7:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. In fall 2005, Showcase began promoting 10:00 as its flagship timeslot, even hiring branded taxis in major markets, driving people home for free by 10:00 p.m. on selected evenings.

Showcase has also added first-run Canadian series, dubbed "Showcase Originals", which include Paradise Falls, KinK, Naked Josh and Trailer Park Boys. The success of these rather risqué series have driven the service towards an even more edgy bent, with nearly all of its programmes now considered "adult" in one way or another, whereas family and children's programmes were more frequent in Showcase's early days.

Showcase also carries regular movies, mostly independent and foreign films. British series like Prime Suspect, the original Queer as Folk, The Second Coming, Little Britain and Cracker have also been present since Showcase's launch. Overnight, Showcase shows a number of films and shows that could be considered soft porn, such as Red Shoe Diaries and Sin Cities.

The channel operates two timeshifted feeds, East (Eastern Time) and West (Pacific Time). An HD simulcast of Showcase will launch on December 19, 2006.

Two spinoff digital television services have launched, the male-oriented Showcase Action and the more feminine Showcase Diva.