As Scream In November 2000, Corus, on behalf of a corporation to be incorporated, was approved by the
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to launch a television channel called
HorrorVision, which would be devoted primarily to the
horror and
thriller genres. The channel was launched as
Scream on September 7, 2001, as a joint venture between Corus Entertainment and
Alliance Atlantis. Programming on Scream focused primarily on
horror, thriller, suspense films and television series. On January 18, 2008, a joint venture between
Canwest and
Goldman Sachs Alternatives known as CW Media, acquired 49% of Scream through its purchase of Alliance Atlantis' broadcasting assets, which were placed in a
trust in August 2007.
As Dusk On September 9, 2009, Scream was re-launched as
Dusk, shifting away from horror and "gore" to focus more broadly on paranormal and suspense-driven programming (such as
Supernatural and mainstream film premieres such as
Along Came a Spider), to appeal to a broader viewer demographic such as women. On October 27, 2010, ownership changed once again as
Shaw Communications gained a 49% stake in Scream as a result of its acquisition of Canwest and Goldman Sachs' interest in CW Media. The last program aired on Dusk was the 1990 film
Ghost, which was aired in a 24-hour marathon on March 22. As after the movie was finished, the network was relaunched as ABC Spark at 6:00 am ET on March 23.
As ABC Spark Announcement and launch The announcement of the formation of ABC Spark occurred on October 26, 2011, as part of a program licensing agreement between Corus Entertainment and The Walt Disney Company. The network was branded as ABC Spark to avoid any confusion with
Astral's
Family Channel, which then held the rights to programming from ABC's sister network,
Disney Channel. The channel's broadcast licence, tentatively known then as
Harmony, was approved by the
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) in February 2012. Selected ABC Family programs that were set to air on ABC Spark began airing in preview blocks in advance of the network's launch on January 26, 2012, through sister channels
YTV,
W Network, and
CMT. The channel was owned by Corus (51%) and
Shaw Media (49%) at launch on March 26. At the same time, on February 10, 2012, Dusk revealed through an announcement via its
Twitter and
Facebook accounts, that it would be ceasing operations on March 23, 2012. A statement later announced on the channel's website stated the channel was being shuttered for strategic reasons to concentrate on "areas of expertise." Corus later indicated more specifically, through CRTC filings, that Dusk was rebranded to ABC Spark, such that
Shaw Cable and
Shaw Direct could carry the latter while complying with the CRTC's "3:1 ratio" policy (which limits the proportion of speciality channels carried from companies affiliated with a particular service provider). Shortly after the channel's launch, the CRTC published notice of a pending application to transfer the ABC Spark licence to the
numbered company which previously owned Dusk, which is 51% owned by Corus and 49% owned by
Shaw Media. However, on March 4, 2013, Corus Entertainment announced that it would acquire Shaw Media's 49% ownership interest in ABC Spark, in a larger transaction that would see Corus also acquire Shaw's 50% interest in
Historia and
SériesPlus, while Corus would sell their 22.58% stake in
Food Network. In total, Shaw would receive net proceeds of approximately
$95 million in cash. The sale of the portion of ABC Spark closed in April 2013. In October 2015, ABC Family announced plans to change its name to "Freeform" in January 2016. ABC Spark did not adopt the Freeform name, but it did adopt the on-air imaging used by the U.S. network. By the end of October 2015, ABC Spark had its first original series entitled
Cheer Squad, a docu-reality series which first premiered on July 5, 2016.
Closure On July 10, 2025, Corus announced that they would close ABC Spark alongside a selection of children's channels (
Nickelodeon,
Disney XD,
Disney Jr. and
La Chaîne Disney) at midnight on September 1. Despite the closure, Corus confirmed that it would continue to air Disney content on its
English-language counterpart, but discontinue airing Nickelodeon programming on
YTV and Nick Jr programming on
Treehouse. The last program to air before its closure was the movie "
This Is 40", after which the channel switched to a
slate stating "This channel is no longer available". ==Programming==