Background Development of the channel began in October 1986 as part of a round of applications for new specialty channels on cable. The application would broadcast an 18-hour schedule, with children's programming during the daytime and family programming at night. During the bidding process, it was set to compete with another applicant, Young Canada Television, which withdrew from the competition in June 1987. YTV would use the evening daypart for "alternative programming", including repeats of classic CBC shows. To cater to a law stipulating 60% of Canadian content, the channel would air reruns of
Polka Dot Door,
Mr. Dress Up,
Cucumber,
The Friendly Giant, ''
You Can't Do That on Television, The Littlest Hobo and Lorne Greene's New Wilderness, as well as reruns of American series such as The Munsters, Dennis the Menace, My Three Sons, Lassie, Flipper and The Monkees''. The license was approved by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) on December 1, 1987, by
Rogers Cable and
CUC Broadcasting. The channel's intended target audience was children whose parents did not allow them to watch television.
Early years The channel launched on September 1, 1988, at 7:00 p.m. with the first program being a special celebrating the launch of YTV, hosted by
John Candy. At launch, Rogers held 75% of the channel while CUC owned 25%. Kevin Shea was its founding president. At launch, the Canadian offer included shows such as
Rainbow Country,
Stars On Ice,
The Forest Rangers,
Smith & Smith and ''
You Can't Do That on Television, reruns of American series, mostly westerns, such as The Lone Ranger, Roy Rogers and Bonanza, as well as European (mostly British) imports such as Robin of Sherwood and Hayley Mills
. Filmation animated series, such as He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and Ghostbusters, were also part of the schedule as they were shows whose popularity persisted over constant reruns particularly with the core demographic. One month into its inception, the channel introduced original productions: music shows YTV Rocks
(a one-hour music show featuring studio commentary) and YTV Hits
(a weekend music show) and two co-productions: game shows Trivial Pursuit
and Wild Guess
, and the acquired British series S.W.A.L.K.'', about a teenage girl's fantasies while trying to struggle with her family life. This was followed in late October by
Team Tamers, a wildlife-themed game show, presented by
Neil Crone. Most of the original programming was seen during 4pm and 8pm; there were also plans to produce shows for teens. The channel was originally located at
545 Lake Shore Boulevard West, but by November 28, 1990, YTV moved to the renovated 64 Jefferson Avenue. In December, CRTC refused YTV to change its license and increase advertising sales. The license also suggested that the evening drama programming would feature "a major protagonist that is a child, youth under the age of 18 years, puppet, animated character or creature of the animal kingdom", as well as rejecting shows whose main characters were comic book superheroes or mythological heroes. YTV criticized the latter and aimed at obtaining an advertising limit of twelve minutes per hour. YTV started airing
Santa Calls, a live, half-hour Christmas call-in special, on December 19, airing nightly at 7pm until December 23. In January 1989, YTV announced it would boost its production budget, with the primary goal of developing new shows. One of the ideas was a teen drama series akin to
Degrassi to cater to the 12–15 demographic.
YCDTOTV had become one of its most popular shows within weeks of launch. Beginning February that year, in line with its tenth anniversary, the show had aired two times a day.
Bonanza moved to midnights in mid-February, due to the CRTC's recommendations per the age of actor
Michael Landon, who grew throughout the course of the series. YTV aired the series because he played Little Joe, who in early seasons was an adolescent. In June, it planned the creation of the Youth Achievement Awards; its first edition was scheduled for November. On July 3, it started airing
Picture Pages, a series created by
Bill Cosby. A full year after launching, it had become the most watched specialty channel in Canada, available in 5.3 million households, almost the entirety of the amount of cable-connected households in the country. New for the 1989–1990 season was a variety show,
Rec Room, as well as a co-production agreement with
Thames Television to produce
Spats!, set in a fictional Canadian fast-food chain. Other new shows included a five-year output agreement with the
BBC, chief among the shows was
Doctor Who, starting with available reruns of early episodes, as well as
The New Leave It to Beaver. The Youth Achievement Awards were scheduled for November 3. On January 29, 1990, the channel was carrying
Rocky and Bullwinkle in its schedule. By March 1990, its staff had risen to 140 (up from the original 30) and its revenue base had risen to CA$20 million. Officials said that they could initially reach the figure in 1995. What started as a channel that was unable with American prime time, Family Channel, the video market and CRTC demands had become one of the most profitable on Canadian cable.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles had become its most popular show, with its merchandise including in Canada. It had also produced a topical program for adults,
Positive Parenting, with
Debbie Van Kiekebelt. There were also plans to become the new carrier of the CBC series
Switchback, which YTV would finance and would also air on four CBC stations too. The network carried
Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue on April 21, alongside over-the-air networks, as part of a simultaneous showing with the United States and Mexico. For its 1990–1991 season, the channel would begin using its signature program jockeys on September 3; there was also the Canadian-French co-production
The Adventures of the Black Stallion and
Maniac Mansion; as well as three original productions for teens: ''Rock 'n' Talk
(beginning September 3), R.O.S.
(Ross Oliver Show
, from September 9) and StreetNOISE'' (September 21). The network had surpassed Cancon limits by December 1991, in terms of hours produced and revenue. Revenues for that year were expected to fall in the CA$28–29 million region, up from CA$27 million in 1990. Negotiations were underway with CTV to produce a newscast for the channel in January 1992. Unusual for such a channel, it announced a pre-emption of its regular programming on March 10, 1992, to carry the CRTC hearings live, with opening remarks from PJ Jazzy Jan, who would explain some of the topics before starting the telecast (9am to 7pm). The press criticized its reliance on American "junk shows", which became more popular than the original productions and special events. In the hearings, YTV executives wanted the channel to start airing productions featuring superheroes, which were excluded per the original license contract. This concerned
Wayne Gretzky, who thought that the network could end up airing violent programming (along the lines of
Terminator). It also planned to increase the age limit for primetime protagonists from 18 to 21. In August, YTV obtained a rate increase from 32 to 35 cents a month in Anglophone markets and from 8 to 9 cents a month in Francophone markets. At the same time, its license was renewed for another seven years. A pilot edition of
YTV News aired on October 20, ahead of the launch of the full service early next year. This consisted of a one-hour special,
Referendum 102692, concerning the
then-upcoming referendum of the Charlottetown Accord. Negotiations with
Turner Broadcasting System's
Cartoon Network started in early November, it began Canadian distribution for the American channel by late 1993. YTV's president said that, with the arrival of American cable networks to Canada, Canadian producers could benefit from the move. The move implied the creation of a second channel, keeping YTV as it was for its existing output. The first edition of
YTV News aired on February 28, 1993, at 12pm. In September 1993, it carried
MTV's
The Real World. Kevin Shea resigned as president on November 17; he was appointed president and CEO of
Atlantis Films next January. By December, the channel had added
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers to its schedule. The plan to launch a Canadian version of Cartoon Network was later replaced by Fun TV, of which YTV was one of its shareholders (the channel would eventually become
Teletoon later on and would launch in 1997).
Atlantis joins YTV In 1994, the stakes of YTV's ownership was changed, with CUC now owning 34% and Rogers now owning 66%. However, in 1994, Rogers announced its plans to sell YTV and the Canadian Home Shopping Channel to another group. In May, Atlantis Communications emerged with a sale proposal, which would result in an acquisition of a 30% stake if the sale was approved. It acquired 40% of the shares in June at the price of CA$18 million, up from the previous month's proposal worth CA$11 million. The acquisition was approved in July. During the brief period with Atlantis, the channel started its relation with
Nickelodeon, beginning to air animated series from the American network, such as ''
Rocko's Modern Life and Rugrats
. In addition to the Nickelodeon cartoons, the channel premiered ReBoot. On November 1, 1994, YTV voluntarily removed Power Rangers'' from its schedule while reviewing its content. The show also aired on
Global, where there were talks of its removal. The removal from the cable network was revealed to be "temporary".
Shaw's acquisition Calgary-based
Shaw Communications was in talks of acquiring CUC's stake of 34% ownership of YTV. The sale was approved in February 1995. That winter, the network started airing
Short Circuits, a series of CGI-animated fillers to use during its regulated commercial breaks. Patricia McDonald became YTV's new president on July 17, replacing Terry Coles. On September 20, Rogers announced a CA$113 million acquisition of Shaw's cable head-ends in British Columbia. In exchange, Shaw got YTV and
New Country Network, as well as CTV affiliate
CFCN. By June 1996, Shaw had taken full control of YTV. In order to stand out from an increased number of competitors, YTV began to reposition itself as a tween channel. For its 1998 revamp, the network launched 57 new programs as well as "a number of new products such as board games, software, and toys based on the YTV characters", coinciding with its tenth anniversary. On April 22, 1999, YTV announced that it would skip airing the
Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "
Earshot" as originally scheduled, due to its plotline and subject matter unfortunately coinciding with the recent
Columbine High School massacre.
YTV under Corus Later in 1999, the media assets of Shaw were separated to form
Corus Entertainment. YTV had new challenges with its licence revision in 2006. Its target audience had started fleeing to other platforms, especially on-demand services, and the channel was also planning to change some of its requirements, such as the removal of pre-school programming, the removal of the protagonist rule it had since its founding, the maximum hours of Canadian dramas per week and the minimum percentage of non-Canadian programming from outside North America. This led to plans to de-regulate the licence in 2007. Two Corus specialty channel applications for YTV extensions, YTV POW!, an internationally sourced children's action, adventure and superhero genre, and YTV OneWorld, targeting viewers from age 9 to 17 with travel, humour, games and
S.T.E.M. were approved on September 18, 2008. The YTV Oneworld license was used to launch
Nickelodeon Canada. On January 11, 2011, a
high-definition feed was launched. On November 4, 2021, YTV, alongside sister company
Nelvana (which Corus acquired in 2000), announced a collaboration with Canadian clothing brand Retrokid to launch an exclusive line of T-shirts and hoodies donning hand-drawn designs of previous YTV logos and insignia, alongside past YTV original programs. On September 1, 2025, following the closure of the Canadian
Nickelodeon network, Corus Entertainment's broadcasting rights to Nickelodeon programming on YTV and preschool-aimed Treehouse expired as a result of Corus' continued financial issues. Nickelodeon programming remains available in Canada through the
Paramount+ streaming service. == Programming ==