| Animal Planet | |
| Picture Format: | 1080i (HDTV) (2011–present) 480i (SDTV) (2001–present) |
| Owner: | Animal Planet Canada Inc. (CTV Specialty Television (80%)) BBC Studios (10%) Warner Bros. Discovery (10%) |
| Country: | Canada |
| Area: | National |
| Headquarters: | Toronto, Ontario |
| Sister Channels: | Discovery Discovery Science Discovery Velocity Investigation Discovery |
Animal Planet is a Canadian English language discretionary specialty television channel. Animal Planet broadcasts a variety of programming featuring animals.
The channel is owned by the Animal Planet Canada Company, which is a consortium consisting of CTV Speciality Television Inc. which owns 80% of the company (CTV Speciality Television Inc. is a division of Bell Media who owns 70% and ESPN owning 30%), and Canadian AP Ventures Company which owns 20% (Canadian AP Ventures Company is owned by BBC Studios at 50% and Warner Bros. Discovery at 50%). Through this ownership structure, this effectively gives Bell Media 56% ownership and control, with ESPN 24%, BBC Studios 10%, and Warner Bros. Discovery 10% ownership.
In November 2000, CTV Inc. was granted approval by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to launch Animal Planet, a service described as being "broadly based on family entertainment that will combine high-quality Canadian programming and attractive series and documentaries from the U.S. counterpart, in the United States.
The channel was launched under its current ownership structure (with the exception of Bell Media, wherein Bell Globemedia, later renamed CTVglobemedia, owned its shares at the time) on September 7, 2001.[1]
On June 30, 2008, Animal Planet unveiled a new on-air appearance, including a new logo and graphics, to align itself with the American service which had updated its appearance earlier that year.[2]
Ownership changed once again when BCE (a minority shareholder in CTVglobemedia) acquired 100% interest in CTVglobemedia and was renamed to Bell Media on April 1, 2011.[3] [4] [5]
On June 10, 2024, Rogers Sports & Media announced it had reached an agreement with Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) for Canadian rights to its lifestyle brands beginning in January 2025. Although not mentioned in Rogers' press release, multiple media outlets, including Rogers-owned CityNews, reported that the affected brands include Discovery Channel and spinoffs such as Animal Planet, the existing Canadian versions of which were managed by Bell.[6] [7]
Bell subsequently said in a statement that it would "assert [its] rights", citing protections it had previously negotiated against the launch of direct competitor channels.[8] On June 19, Bell filed for an injunction which, according to Rogers, would—if granted—prevent the latter from operating any linear TV channels under the brands previously operated by Bell for the first two years of its contract.[9]
On June 17, 2011, Bell Media announced that it would launch Animal Planet HD, a high definition (HD) simulcast of the standard definition feed, by the end of 2011.[10] The channel launched on December 15, 2011, initially on Bell Fibe TV and Shaw Cable and launched at a later date on Telus TV.[11] About six years later, Shaw Direct added it and 5 other HD channels (Business News Network, Cooking Channel, Crime & Investigation, OWN, and Travel + Escape) to the channel listing on September 21, 2017.