As PrideVision The channel was launched on September 7, 2001 as
PrideVision TV. Owned by
Headline Media Group, it was Canada's first 24-hour cable television channel targeted at LGBT audiences. It was also the second LGBT-focused channel to be established in the world, after the
Gay Cable Network in the U.S., which shut down in 2001. PrideVision TV was one of 21 digital specialty services that were granted a
Category 1 license by the
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) on November 24, 2000; all digital cable and direct-broadcast satellite providers would be obliged to carry the network in their lineup. Headline Media Group owned 70.1% of the licence, while
Alliance Atlantis owned the remaining interest. In February 2001, before the channel was launched, Alliance Atlantis sold its entire interest in the licence to Headline Media Group, which became the sole owner of the licence. The network launched with a lineup of lifestyle and general entertainment programming, consisting of dramas, comedies, feature films, documentaries and talk shows during the day and in prime time, as well as
pornographic films nightly after 12:00 a.m.
Eastern Time. As PrideVision, the channel maintained a national advisory committee to provide input and feedback on the station's programming and its effectiveness at serving LGBT communities. The committee included businessman and activist
Jim Deva,
Outlooks publisher Roy Heale,
Egale Canada executive director John Fisher, Suzanne Girard of
Divers/Cité, Carmela Laurignano of
Evanov Communications, Winnipeg mayor
Glen Murray, Toronto city councillor
Kyle Rae,
Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto pastor
Brent Hawkes, Ruby Hamilton of
PFLAG and
Halifax businesswoman Shelley Taylor. This process was not required for any other similarly-licensed specialty channel. PrideVision took its concerns to the CRTC, who sided with the network and ordered Shaw to properly offer a free preview of PrideVision to its customers. Mounting issues with distribution, disputes with television service providers, slow growth among digital channels industry-wide, and criticisms around providing a weak mix of programming all combined to affect PrideVision; it was losing a considerable amount of money. The channel's subscriber base grew much more slowly than expected, with only roughly 20,000 subscribers by the end of 2002 compared to channels such as
IFC, which had over 520,000 subscribers in the same time period.
Sale, split, and re-launch as OUTtv On December 3, 2003, Headline Media Group announced that it was selling a majority interest in PrideVision to 6166954 Canada, Inc., a consortium led by broadcaster
William Craig. Craig would own the majority share in the company and act as managing partner, while
Pink Triangle Press and various other independent production companies and investors held minority stakes. Headline Media retained a minority stake in the company. The transaction was finalized later in 2004. In September 2004, 6166954 Canada submitted an application to the CRTC for a new premium service, which would be devoted to gay adult programming. In November, PrideVision expanded its adult programming—now branded with the
double entendre-tinged monicker
Hard on PrideVision—into primetime (from 9:00 p.m.—6:00 a.m.
Eastern Time), in preparation for the expansion of the
block into a 24-hour service, alongside a non-adult network tentatively named "Glow TV". In February 2005, it was officially announced that PrideVision would drop its adult programming and re-launch as
OUTtv in March 2005, alongside the launch of the standalone Hard on PrideVision channel. Its license was approved on March 4, 2005. Craig explained that the removal of adult programming would make OUTtv more attractive to television providers and improve its distribution, and the narrower focus would allow the two networks to expand their lineups with more programming of interest to the LGBT community. Hard on PrideVision was expected to launch on April 7, 2005, but the launch was delayed to April 12 due to difficulties gaining carriage. Concurrently with the official launch of Hard, PrideVision was re-branded as OUTtv, with a 24-hour lineup of general entertainment and lifestyle programming. Even with the launch of Hard and the removal of all adult content from the newly renamed OUTtv, the channel was still facing resistance from Shaw Communications and its national satellite television service,
Star Choice. Both distributors wanted to continue packaging OUTtv as a standalone premium service rather than a general interest specialty channel, which most other major television providers had done. OUTtv filed a complaint with the CRTC; however, the parties settled their disagreement before the matter was taken to a hearing before the CRTC and had agreed on a packaging deal. A similar deal was made with
Bell later that year.
Acquisition by Shavick Entertainment On July 19, 2006,
Shavick Entertainment, a film and television producer based in
Vancouver, British Columbia, announced it would acquire the majority interest in both OUTtv and Hard on PrideVision from William Craig. Shavick also announced plans to rename OUTtv, upgrade the technology infrastructure, and provide a wider variety of programming to the channel. Shavick listed its Hollywood-based partner Regent Studios, owners of American LGBT channel
here!, as a major content provider to the channel. In 2008, the channel ended its long-standing dispute with Shaw Cable, securing an agreement that would see the channel marketed and distributed in the same package as other
Category A digital channels. On December 3, 2009, the CRTC approved an application that would see HardTV sold and spun off into its own company, 4510810 Canada Inc., a company owned by Pink Triangle Press (55%) and Peace Point Entertainment (45%). The transaction closed at a later date. On May 23, 2012, OUTtv announced that it had passed 1 million subscribers, and would launch a
high-definition feed on July 2, 2012. Concurrently, the network also introduced a new logo and refreshed on-air branding. The HD simulcast feed was launched on July 2, and the new website was launched on January 17, 2013. In December 2012, Shavick Entertainment purchased Pink Triangle Press's 24.94% interest and Peace Point Entertainment Group's 15% interest in the channel. Under Shavick's management, the channel has seen significant increases in its subscriber base, going from just 185,000 subscribers when they first purchased the channel to over 1.2 million in 2008. OUTtv would become a partner in
Wolfe Video's GayDirect, a premium subscription channel for LGBT content on YouTube, during this period. OUTtv's improved ratings have been attributed to domestic airings of
Logo TV's ''
RuPaul's Drag Race. The channel would also produce aftershow features for Drag Race
, with Richard Ryder in character as drag queen Wilma Fingerdoo. OUTtv has also seen ratings success with original drama series Sex & Violence'', created by Canadian film director
Thom Fitzgerald. In 2013, the channel applied to the CRTC to have its
Canadian content commitment reduced from 49 to 35 per cent of revenues. According to chief operations officer Bradley Danks, the library of viable LGBT-themed Canadian programming is limited enough that the channel has sometimes had to rely on repeat airings of programming from other networks, such as the talk shows
1 Girl 5 Gays and
Steven & Chris, on "not obviously gay" programs such as
The New Addams Family, and on overscheduling multiple airings of the same programming, to meet its licensing obligations. Media reports revealed on January 11, 2017, noted that the agreement to purchase the channel closed in December 2016 and that the new owners of OUTtv would shift focus from the specialty channel to its
streaming service, OUTtvGO, citing positive audience trends for adopting online television services and sagging cable subscription numbers. The television service was expected to close at a later date; however, the company revealed that the channel would remain on the air until at least 2020. The agreement was later modified to include minority owners James Shavick (18%), Bradley Danks (18%), Phillip Webb (11%), and other minority owners at 2%. In June 2019, OUTtv and
Bell Media announced that they had co-commissioned a Canadian version of ''RuPaul's Drag Race
for the network and the Bell-owned Crave. Canada's Drag Race'' was announced to be airing on both services, first premiering on Crave on July 2, 2020. As part of the deal, OUTtv and Crave also share Canadian rights to the franchise, airing episodes of the U.S. and
British version on their platforms day-and-date with their domestic premieres. In recent years, the channel has reduced its reliance on acquired library programming and increased its investment in new original content. Initial Canadian-based productions included
Cam Boy,
Fak Yaass,
Group Sext and
Call Me Mother. In 2021, OUTtv unveiled a new logo to coincide with the launch of its streaming service in the United States on
Apple TV. OUTtv's reality dating series
For the Love of DILFS, hosted by
Stormy Daniels, premiered on January 31, 2023, and received mainstream coverage. Following the success of the series, OUTtv announced a multi-year first-look deal with producer Daddy TV, including a second and third season. Expanding on its international complement, OUTtv acquired global
SVOD rights to the
BBC competition series ''
Glow Up: Britain's Next Make-Up Star'' in 2024. The network went on to co-finance the show's sixth series and co-commission the seventh. ==Programming==