.svg) | |
| Country | Canada |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Nationwide |
| Headquarters | 299 Queen Street West,Toronto, Ontario |
| Programming | |
| Language | English |
| Picture format | 1080i (HDTV) 480i (SDTV) |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Bell Media[a] |
| Sister channels | CTV CTV 2 CTV Comedy Channel CTV Drama Channel CTV Life Channel CTV Nature Channel CTV Sci-Fi Channel CTV Speed Channel CTV Wild Channel USA Network CLT (2001–2010) Canal D (French language) Investigation (French language) |
| History | |
| Launched | September 7, 2001; 24 years ago (2001-09-07) |
| Replaced | Court TV (American feed) |
| Former names | Court TV Canada (2001–2010) Investigation Discovery (2010–2025) |
| Links | |
| Website | Oxygen |
Oxygen (branded asOxygen True Crime) is aCanadiandiscretionary service owned byBell Media. Based on the American cable networkof the same name, the channel focuses ontrue crime programming, including original productions and imports from its American counterpart.
The channel was launched on September 7, 2001, as a Canadian version ofCourt TV, byLearning and Skills Television of Alberta Ltd., which was then owned byCHUM Limited, although the American Court TV channel became available in Canada through cable and satellite providers as a foreign channel approved by theCanadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission in 1997. CHUM was acquired by CTVglobemedia in 2007.
Two years after its American counterpart was relaunched asTruTV, Court TV was relaunched asInvestigation Discovery on August 30, 2010, as part of a licensing arrangement between CTVglobemedia andDiscovery Communications. On January 1, 2025, after Bell lost its rights toWarner Bros. Discovery factual and lifestyle brands toRogers Sports & Media, the channel relaunched as Oxygen as part of a licensing agreement withNBCUniversal, laterVersant, maintaining its true crime format. Rogers concurrently launched anew iteration of ID the same day.
In November 2000, Learning and Skills Television of Alberta, a company majority owned by CHUM Limited with a 60% ownership and owners of Access, was granted permission by theCanadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to launch a television channel called "The Law & Order Channel", described as "a national English-language Category 2 specialty television service that will feature entertainment programming about police, law, the courts, emergency and medical response teams, disaster and relief operations featuring people and organizations that uphold law and order in our society."[1]
The channel was launched on September 7, 2001 asCourt TV Canada.[2] The channel replaced theAmericanCourt TV service, which was available on many television service providers throughout Canada as an eligible foreign service from 1997.
On February 15, 2005, CHUM completed the purchase of the remaining interest in LSTA, bringing its ownership to 100%.[2] A year later, in July 2006,Bell Globemedia (later renamed CTVglobemedia) announced that it would purchase CHUM for an estimatedCAD$1.7 billion, included in the sale was LSTA and its interest in CourtTV Canada.[3] The sale and was approved by the CRTC in June 2007,[4] and the transaction was completed on June 22, 2007. In 2008, LSTA (then known as Access Media Group) was wound up into CTV Limited (the renamed CHUM Limited).[5]
The original CourtTV was relaunched asTruTV in 2008, though the Canadian version continued to use the CourtTV branding. On August 30, 2010, CTV announced a new licensing agreement withDiscovery Communications, under which Court TV Canada would be rebranded as a Canadian version of Discovery's true crime brandInvestigation Discovery.[6] It is the only Discovery-branded channel operated by Bell Media that neither Discovery, norESPN Inc. (via CTV Specialty Television, Inc.), holds an ownership stake in.
On September 10, 2010,Bell Canada (a minority shareholder in CTVglobemedia) announced that it planned to acquire 100% interest in CTVglobemedia for a total debt and equity transaction cost of CAD$3.2 billion.[7] The deal was approved by the CRTC on March 7, 2011,[8] and was finalized on April 1 of that year, on which CTVglobemedia was rebranded Bell Media.[9]
On June 17, 2011, Bell Media announced plans to launch ahigh definition simulcast feed of Investigation Discovery, titled Investigation Discovery HD, by the end of the year.[10] The HD feed was launched on December 15, 2011 onBell Fibe TV and later onTelus Optik TV; The HD feed later began to be carried onBell Satellite TV on December 13, 2012, thenBell Aliant andNorthernTel in the mid-2010s.[11] The HD feed was added toShaw Direct's lineup on October 16, 2018. It is yet to be launched on Shaw Cable and some smaller providers.
In June 2024,Rogers Sports & Media announced that it had acquired the rights to allWarner Bros. Discovery lifestyle and factual television brands in Canada beginning January 1, 2025.[12] Rogers stated that it would concurrently launch anew Investigation Discovery linear channel on that date.[13]
On October 17, 2024, Bell Media announced a licensing agreement withNBCUniversal, then-parent company prior to the spin-off intoVersant, to relaunch two of its former Discovery-branded channels, with ID becoming a Canadian version of NBCU's true crime brandOxygen on January 1, 2025. The relaunched channel will retain its existing Canadian original programming, but with Oxygen library programs replacing programs acquired from Investigation Discovery.[14]
Oxygen marks Bell's third active channel partnership with NBCUniversal, following the relaunch of Star! asE! in 2010, and the concurrent relaunch of Discovery Channel as USA Network in 2025; Comcast and Bell Media's predecessors were also co-owners ofOLN from 1997 to 2008.[15]
The channel primarily airstrue crime programming sourced from its American parent network (such asDateline,The Real Murders of..., andSnapped). It has also commissioned several originalCanadian productions, such asFear Thy Neighbor (a co-production with French-language sister networkInvestigation and the American Investigation Discovery) andForensic Factor.[14]
Under the former incarnation as Court TV Canada, this channel also aired crime-themed programs such as true crime documentary series, legal analysis talks shows, and live news coverage of prominent criminal cases. This format is continued to be maintained after its relaunch as Investigation Discovery in 2010 and the retirement of the genre protection rules by the CRTC in 2015 while its American counterpart which was rebranded as TruTV which has since then shifted towards comedy and sports programming throughout the late 2010s; Court TV would be revived as an over the air channel byScripps Networks in 2019.
