In December 2000, the
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) granted approval to launch a channel called
Network Italia, described as "a national ethnic Category 2 specialty television service targeting the Italian community." The channel launched June 15, 2005 as
SKY TG24, broadcasting primarily as a simulcast of the
Italian news channel
Sky TG24, with Canadian advertising and added
Canadian content due to CRTC licensing regulations. It was primarily distributed through a package with two other channels called
Super Trio Italiano; the other two channels being
Leonardo World and
Video Italia. However, on September 11, 2007,
Vidéotron dropped all three channels and on September 18, 2007, all other providers that carried the package dropped the remaining channels except for Sky TG24. On August 21, 2014, Bell dropped Sky TG24 from their satellite service, it is still available through their
Fibe TV service. On May 31, 2016, SkyTG 24 launched on Cogeco. In December 2016, the channel was rebranded
Mediaset TGcom 24 and began sourcing its foreign programming from its
Italian counterpart, from which its brand is under licence. Five months later, in May 2017, an HD simulcast of Mediaset TGCOM 24 was launched on Eastlink, as Mediaset TGCOM 24 HD. ==References==