National Geographic Wild (Canadian TV channel)

Nat Geo Wild

Country	Canada
Headquarters	Toronto, Ontario
Ownership
Owner	Shaw Media

Nat Geo Wild is an upcoming Canadian English language Category B specialty channel set to launch May 7, 2012. According to their application, this channel will be "featuring urban and wild landscapes by Canadian and international cinematographers" as there will be "no more than 15% of all programming broadcast in each broadcast month to programs drawn from Theatrical feature films aired on TV". However, Shaw Media has yet made an announcement about the detail information about this channel.

History

In April 2010 Shaw Media, the major owner of the Canadian version of National Geographic Channel, had sent a request in order to make the US version of Nat Geo Wild "to the lists of eligible satellite services for distribution on a digital basis (lineup)". However, both High Fidelity HDTV, the owner of Oasis HD, and CTV Speciality Television Inc., the major owner of the Canadian version of Animal Planet, had sent letters to CRTC to oppose the request as they claim Nat Geo Wild is competitive with Animal Planet or Oasis HD and High Fidelity HDTV even ask Shaw to apply for a licence to operate a Canadian version of Nat Geo Wild if Shaw "believed that the wildlife genre was broad enough to support new attractive nature and wildlife services". Although Shaw claimed Nat Geo Wild "uses scientists, experts and explorers to further its mission to inspire people to care about the planet". The analysis from CRTC found that the program of Nat Geo Wild US "would overlap substantially with that provided by Oasis HD and Animal Planet" and thus CRTC denies this request on 15 February 2011. Shaw finally decided to send the request to apply for "NatGeo Wild" as a Canadian Version of Nat Geo Wild and it had been seen on the Notice of Consultation CRTC on October 28, 2011. The licences had been approved by CRTC on April 13, 2012.