'''(TCN)''' is a
Canadian English Language Cable Television Specialty Channel owned by
CTV Television Inc., a division of
CTVglobemedia specializing in
Comedy programming.
Licensed in
1996 , The Comedy Network launched on
October 17 ,
1997 . It is available in more than 4.8 million homes in Canada and 44 percent of the channel's revenues are reportedly reinvested back into Canadian programming.
CTVglobemedia also owns the
CTV Television Network , and the two networks occasionally run series simultaneously, such as ''
Corner Gas '' and ''
Robson Arms '', with these shows for the most part being produced by CTV and re-broadcast by The Comedy Network.
As of June 27, 2007,
CTV and TCN have exclusive Canadian rights to the entire
Comedy Central library of past and current programs on all electronic platforms, under a multi-year agreement with
Viacom , expanding on past programming agreements between the two channels. Canadian users attempting to visit Comedy Central websites will also be redirected to TCN's website. The Canadian channel will keep its own brand name, but the agreement is otherwise very similar to the earlier CTV/Viacom deal for
MTV In Canada .
CTV Strikes Multi-Platform Content Deal With Comedy Central , CTV press release, June 27, 2007
The network's longtime slogan is ''Time Well Wasted'', a variation of
A&E 's slogan at the time of Comedy's launch, ''Time Well Spent''. The channel operates two timeshifted feeds, East (
Eastern Time ) and West (
Pacific Time ).
Since its inception in 1997 The Comedy Network has been widely criticized by members of the television and comedy communities as well as by viewers in general.
- Some believe the network's logo and slogan, both in use since it went on the air in 1997, are out of date.
- The Comedy Network's website was widely criticized, but in 2006 TCN answered with a major overhaul, relaunching a new, slick website in an aggressive campaign with the tongue-in-cheek slogan "Our Website Doesn't Suck Any More".
- ---One criticism still made of www.thecomedynetwork.ca is that they have not brought back their message boards or viewer forums, which previously had been flooded with complaints about their shows.
- The quality of the network's original programming is also widely criticized. Almost every TCN production has dismal viewer ratings on IMDb, including its flagship shows Open Mike With Mike Bullard (1.1/10) and Popcultured (1.0/10). Some of their most attacked shows have even spawned "hate" pages on the internet, as well as petitions demanding their cancellation.
- A general attack of the network is that they are allegedly less conerned with quality of programming than they are with their bottom line. This can be derived from the network's choice of re-broadcasting some shows from the 1980s and 1990s such as Comedy At Club 54 , Just For Laughs , Air Farce and Comedy Now . All have been re-aired many times each, and for several years.
- The network and its shows are the "victims" of an annual "''Statelessness of the Industry''" roast as part of the Canadian Comedy Awards .
Original Comedy Network shows
Puppets Who Kill and
Kevin Spencer developed cult followings, with loyal fan bases.
Puppets Who Kill,
Comedy Now! and
The Gavin Crawford Show have each won two
Canadian Comedy Awards .
Several shows produced by (or in partnership with) the
CTV parent network have also been quite successful, most notably
Corner Gas (possibly the most popular Canadian sitcom ever, with seven
Canadian Comedy Award wins and an
International Emmy nomination).
In
2006 CTV launched The Comedy Network on the CTV Broadband Network, an online network that rebroadcasts select series from The Comedy Network. Some shows on the broadband network include
Keys To The VIP ,
Odd Job Jack , and
Corner Gas .
