CTV Specialty Television Inc.

CTV Specialty Television's headquarters at9 Channel Nine Court
Formerly	Labatt Communications, Inc. (1984–1996) NetStar Communications, Inc. (1996–2000)
Company type	Joint venture
Industry	Mass media
Founded	1984; 41 years ago (1984)
Headquarters	9 Channel Nine Court, Scarborough, Ontario , Canada
Area served	Canada
Key people	Sean Cohan (president, Bell Media James Pitaro (chairman, ESPN Inc.)
Owners	Bell Media (80%) ESPN Inc. (20%) (sale of 10% stake to theNational Football League pending)
Divisions	Dome Productions, Inc.
Website	bellmedia.ca tsn.ca

CTV Specialty Television Inc. is a Canadian media company that is ajoint venture betweenBell Media subsidiary ofBCE Inc. (also known as Bell Canada Enterprises, the owner of telecommunications companyBell Canada) andESPN Inc., a joint venture ofThe Walt Disney Company (80%) andHearst Communications (20%)^[a], that operates a number of specialty channels such asThe Sports Network (TSN) andUSA Network.

The company was formed in 1984 asLabatt Communications, Inc. by brewerJohn Labatt Ltd.; but long after its acquisition byInterbrew in 1995, LCI was sold to four local investors and ESPN Inc. in 1996 which changed the name of the company toNetStar Communications Inc. NetStar was then acquired by CTV Inc. in 2000 and later merged withBell Canada alongsideThe Globe and Mail to form Bell Globemedia and renamed to its current entity afterwards.

This company was founded in 1984 when brewerJohn Labatt Ltd., which owned theToronto Blue Jays at that time, launched Canada's 24 hour sports channelThe Sports Network (TSN). Its French counterpart,Réseau des sports (RDS) went on the air five years later. The company also operated and establishedViewers Choice andSkyVision Entertainment, both founded in 1991.^[1] With partnership ofDiscovery Communications, Labatt launched theCanadian version of theDiscovery Channel on December 31, 1994.

In 1995, when Belgian brewerInterbrew announced it purchased John Labatt, a consortium of four Canadian investors—Stephen Bronfman (22.5%),the Caisse (22.5%),Reitmans (16.5%), and senior management (6.5%)—along withESPN (32%), took over the company.^[2] The sale was approved by theCanadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission on March 15, 1996 and the company was rebranded to NetStar Communications Inc.^[3]

After a takeover attempt byCanWest Global that was vetoed by ESPN, CTV Inc. (the former Baton Broadcasting Inc.) announced a friendly bid to take over NetStar Communications in early 1999, with CRTC approval on March 24, 2000. After acquiring Netstar, the CRTC required CTV to divest itself of either Netstar's TSN or their ownSportsnet; they chose to sell the latter toRogers.^[4] NetStar was then renamed again to CTV Specialty Television Inc. after its acquisition.

Later, CTV Inc. merged intoBell Canada's Bell Globemedia, but was renamed to CTVglobemedia in 2007 and again toBell Media in 2011.

• CTV Nature Channel (formerly Discovery Science)
• CTV Speed Channel (formerly Discovery Velocity)
• CTV Wild Channel (formerly Animal Planet)
• Réseau des sports (RDS)
  • RDS2
  • RDS Info
• The Sports Network (TSN)
  • TSN1 (British Columbia, Alberta and Yukon)
  • TSN2
  • TSN3 (Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Manitoba and Saskatchewan)
  • TSN4 (Ontario excluding the Ottawa Valley)
  • TSN5 (Atlantic Canada, Ottawa Valley and Quebec)
• USA Network (formerly Discovery Channel)

Dome Productions (jointly owned withRogers Media Inc.) — a multi-platform production company that operates a fleet of 18 television production mobiles, oneproduction/uplink truck, and three KU uplink tractors. For over 30 years, Dome's head office was located in theRogers Centre in Toronto. The company has since moved to 130 Merton Street in 2023.^[5]

• ESPN Classic (ceased operations in 2023)
• Exploration Production Inc. and Exploration Distribution Inc. (56.06% owned by CTV Specialty) were Discovery Channel's in-house production and distribution companies. In February 2021, EPI and EDI were subsumed into Bell Media Studios.^[6]
• SkyVision Entertainment (sold in 1996, renamed to Fireworks Entertainment, but folded in 2011)
• NHL Network (21.42% owned by CTV Specialty via the NHL Network Inc., joint venture ofNational Hockey League consortium (NHL,Edmonton Oilers andCalgary Flames - 58%) andInsight Sports (20.58%) - ceased operations in 2015)
• Viewers Choice (ceased operations in 2014)
• WTSN (ceased operations in 2003)

• Bell Canada
• Media ownership in Canada
• List of Canadian television channels

• NetStar Communications at theWayback Machine
• CRTC ownership chart

• Bell Media
• Bell Canada
• Canadian brands
• Canadian companies established in 1984
• BCE Inc. acquisitions
• Companies based in Toronto
• Mass media companies established in 1984
• Television broadcasting companies of Canada
• 1984 establishments in Ontario
• Labatt Brewing Company
• Hearst Communications assets
• Joint ventures
• Disney Media Networks
• ESPN

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