 | |
| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Latin America |
| Headquarters | Culver City, California |
| Programming | |
| Languages | Spanish Portuguese |
| Picture format | 1080iHDTV (downscaled to16:9480i/576i for the channel'sSDTV feeds) |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Sony Pictures Entertainment |
| Sister channels | AXN Sony Movies |
| History | |
| Launched | 20 September 1995 (Latin America) March 1996 (Mexico) 4 September 1996 (Brazil) |
| Former names | Sony Entertainment Television (1995–2014) Canal Sony (2014–2019) |
| Links | |
| Website | Latin America Brazil |
Sony Channel (commonly referred to on-air asSony) is aLatin Americanpay television channel that broadcasts TV series and movies. It is owned bySony Pictures Entertainment and distributed byOle Distribution. It was the first pan-regional basic-tier channel that offered programming in English with Spanish subtitles.
Sony Channel was launched in August 1995 as Sony Entertainment Television, a basic cable television channel. In Mexico, it was first available on Televisa's Cablevisión cable TV system in March 1996 followed by its launch in Brazil that same year. Unlike most television networks in Latin America, which air all imported showsdubbed inSpanish orPortuguese, Sony started airing its programming with subtitles, which led to its role as a regional TV leader.
In 2011, the Sony Pictures channels in Brazil gained greater autonomy from the Spanish-language feeds,[1] and as part of that, it was announced thatCSI: Crime Scene Investigation would return to Canal Sony in Brazil, while in the rest of the region, that show remained airing onAXN. In October 2011,CSI: Miami was picked up by Sony Channel Brazil.[citation needed]
In 2015, HBO Latin America (now Ole Distribution) switched from subtitles to dubbing in most of its channels, including Sony and AXN, which has caused some criticism among viewers.[2] The networks appeal to its users to use the channel'sSAP audio track to view programming in its original language.[citation needed]
