The channel was licensed by the
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) in 1996. It launched on October 17, 1997 at 6:00 p.m.
ET (3:00 p.m.
PT), as
Space: The Imagination Station, launching under the ownership of
CHUM Limited, airing the film
Forbidden Planet, followed by a commentary on that film by author
Robert J. Sawyer, followed by the film
Mars Attacks!. The Sawyer commentary was the first example of the interstitial materials — mostly produced by
Mark Askwith — that became SPACE's signature: short, snappy, mini-documentaries on science fiction and science topics shown between programs, collectively known as "SPACE Flow". Daily installments include
Space News (formerly
SPIN, for "Space Information and News"). CTVglobemedia took over Space on June 22, 2007, as a result of a takeover of
CHUM Limited. At the same time, the
Citytv stations were sold to
Rogers later that year. Ownership changed hands once again when on April 1, 2011,
BCE Inc. gained 100% control of CTVglobemedia's non-publishing assets that it did not already own, placing Space under the ownership of
Bell Media. On February 8, 2011, the
Reeves-Stevenses submitted a letter to the
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) in support of an application by CTVglobemedia to renew the broadcasting license of Space. On July 6, 2011, a
high definition simulcast of Space was launched. On March 4, 2013, Space introduced a new logo and slogan ("It's all around you") to coincide with the premiere of its original co-production
Orphan Black. The rebrand notably moved from a
outer space theme to scenes of the new logo formed by real-life objects with a "
phenomenal twist", symbolizing a broadening of the science fiction genre (and, in turn, the channel's programming) beyond
space operas. On June 7, 2018, it was announced that Space would be rebranded as "CTV Sci-Fi", as part of a re-alignment of several Bell Media specialty channels under the
CTV brand. The following year, it was revealed the channel would instead rebrand as CTV Sci-Fi Channel on September 12, 2019. == Programming ==