Bravo!

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Bravo!
Launched January 1, 1995
Owned by CTVglobemedia
CTV Limited
Country Canada
Broadcast area National
Headquarters Toronto, Ontario
Website www.bravo.ca
Availability
Satellite
Bell ExpressVu Channel 620
Star Choice Channel 523
Cable
Available on most Canadian cable systems Check local listings, channels may vary

Bravo! is a Canadian English language cable television specialty channel owned by CTV Limited a division of CTVglobemedia. It concentrates on the arts, including; music, ballet, literature, drama, visual arts, modern dance, opera, architecture. Bravo! also features well-known American series such as NYPD Blue, Law & Order and Sex and the City. It originally used the tagline "NewStyleArtsChannel".

The "Bravo" name is used under licence from NBC Universal, which owns the U.S.-based service Bravo (without the exclamation mark). However, aside from the name and the interview series Inside the Actors Studio, there has been essentially no connection between the two channels since 2001, when the American Bravo network (then under the ownership of Cablevision's Rainbow Media) changed its direction away from focusing on performing arts towards a general programming direction. While both channels do air feature films and drama series, most of Bravo (U.S.)'s recent original programs have been reality series which have little to do with the performing arts, many of which are aired in Canada by competing channels.

Contents

[edit] History

In the 1980s, C Channel, a Canadian cultural pay-TV (non-commercial) channel, operated from February 1, 1983 till June 30, 1983. It was licensed as a national service. It went into bankruptcy however, when it did not attract enough cable subscribers willing to pay $16/month for the service.

Several years had passed before there would be another Canadian performing arts network on television, until Bravo! was licensed by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) in June 1994 for CHUM Limited. Bravo! went on-air for the first time on January 1, 1995.

On June 22, 2007, CTVgm gained control of Bravo! as a result of a takeover of CHUM Limited.

[edit] Original programs

Between programs, Bravo! often airs specially commissioned short films by Canadian artists, which may range from comedy to drama to opera to jazz to animation. Many of these also air on Bravo!'s weekly series Bravo!Fact Presents.

Bravo! has also produced a number of notable specials, including a telecast of Canadian rock band Spirit of the West's Open Heart Symphony concert with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.

[edit] CRTC licence-related external links

[edit] External links

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