OUTtv

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OUTtv

Type	Digital cable specialty channel
Country	Canada
Availability	National
Owner	Shavick Entertainment (52% & managing partner) Pink Triangle Press (23%) Peace Point Entertainment Group (15%) Score Media Inc. (10%)
Launch date	September 7, 2001
Past names	PrideVision HARD on PrideVision (name then moved to adult service)
Website	outtv.ca

OUTtv is a Canadian category 1 digital cable specialty channel with lifestyle and general entertainment programming for LGBT audiences.

OUTtv's licensee is 6166954 Canada Inc. which is 52% owned by Shavick Entertainment, 23% owned by Pink Triangle Press, 15% owned by Peace Point Entertainment Group and 10% owned by Score Media Inc.

1 History
- 1.1 As PrideVision
- 1.2 Re-branding as OUTtv
2 Distribution
3 Shavick Entertainment's Acquisition
4 Noted Programs
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] History

[edit] As PrideVision

Launched on September 7, 2001 as PrideVision by Headline Media Group, it was the world's first 24-hour LGBT television channel. It consisted of lifestyle and general entertainment programs including dramas, feature films, talk shows, erotic adult movies and more. It was one of 21 television channels that were granted a category 1 (mandatory carriage) status by the CRTC on November 24, 2000.

However, the channel had considerable difficulty building an audience in its early years, because its adult content was leading many cable operators to offer it only as a standalone premium channel in the adult tier of cable services, rather than treating it as a general interest channel and adding it to a package along with other channels. This particularly affected the channel in Western Canada, where time zone differences meant that adult programming airing after midnight in Ontario was airing as early as 10 p.m. in British Columbia.

The station's facilities at its initial launch included a street-level studio in Toronto's Church and Wellesley gay village. Due to financial constraints, however, this studio was closed in December 2002.

As a result of these factors and the channel's reputation for providing a weak mix of programming, Headline Media Group's management of the channel was widely criticized both in business circles and by gay and lesbian audiences. Headline Media was also criticized for an ad campaign in several gay publications, which some readers interpreted as stating that gay and lesbian viewers had an obligation to support the channel.

On May 28, 2004, Headline Media sold the channel to broadcaster William Craig, with Pink Triangle Press and other independent production companies, while itself still holding a minority interest. Craig moved the channel's operations into a shared facility with Stornoway Communications, the licensee of two other digital cable channels at that time and also announced planed to move PrideVision's adult programming to a new adult channel, in order to secure better cable distribution for the general interest programming.

[edit] Re-branding as OUTtv

In November 2004, PrideVision, in preperation for the launch of a new adult service, was temporality renamed HARD on PrideVision with only adult content airing in primetime while lifestlye and general entertainment aired during the day. Plans were, when the new adult service launches, all adult content will be removed from HARD on PrideVison and re-brand it as OUTtv and then move the HARD on PrideVision name to the adult channel with a 24/7 adult content schedule.

This was done in hopes to create an illusion of PrideVision evolving into a 24/7 adult service, although this is not the case.

The new adult service was licensed as 617 on March 4, 2005. The expected launch date was set to April 7, 2005, but the new channel went on the air on April 12 due to difficulties with digital cable and satellite providers and on that date HARD on PrideVision's lifestyle programming expanded to 24/7 and HARD on PrideVision was re-named OUTtv and the new adult service took over the HARD on PrideVision name.

[edit] Distribution

As a category 1 television service, it is mandatory for all digital cable and direct broadcast satellite providers in Canada to carry the channel that have the capicaty to do so.

As PrideVision, the channel as mentioned above, had difficulitiies with cable providers because its adult content were leading them to offer the channel as a premium service and not as a general entertainment channel. With the re-brand as OUTtv and removal of all adult content, the channel still was dealing with problems with some digital cable providers, most notably, Shaw Communications and its national satellite service Star Choice. Shaw and Star Choice wanted OUTtv to remaain a standalone channel with a price of $7 to $9 a month, twelve times higher than any other Category 1 channel. There was also a setback with satellite provider Bell ExpressVu (owned by Bell Canada) as they try to constrain the distribution of OUTtv compared to other category 1 channels. Both providers control up to 70% of Canada's digital subscribers.

In August 2005, OUTtv ended their disagreement with Shaw Communications and Bell Canada. Bell Expressvu, Star Choice and Shaw Cable all agreed on a packaging deal with OUTtv. The new agreement allows subscribers on these systems to add OUTtv as standalone channel or it can be added with existing channels by subscribing to a new package.

OUTtv is also broadcasted internationally, in late 2005 OUTtv became available in Australia via SelecTV.

[edit] Shavick Entertainment's Acquisition

On July 19, 2006, it was announced that Shavick Entertainment, a producer of gay-themed programming such as Dante's Cove, will acquire a 52 per cent majority interest in OUTtv and HARD on PrideVision from William Craig (former 80.2% owner), while Pink Triangle Press' share will increase to 23 per cent and Peace Point Group will own 15 per cent. It was also announced that Shavick will also rename and rebrand OUTtv, upgrade the technology infrastructure, and fill the channel's content with a wider variety of programming. Shavick's Hollywood-based partner Regent Studios and the American LGBT channel here! will also become content providers to the channel.

This ownership transaction has yet to be approved by the CRTC.

In an interview with Xtra!, the company's CEO James Shavick noted that audience surveys have found that while many LGBT viewers in Canada subscribe to the network out of a desire to financially support a gay television channel, comparatively few believe that the channel currently offers a compelling program schedule. His business partner Joy MacPhail also expressed the desire to expand the channel's reach, noting that here!'s audience surveys have found that up to 30 per cent of that network's subscriber base consists of heterosexual women.