ATN Star Plus is a Canadian
Category A specialty channel
A specialty channel (also known in the United States as a cable channel or cable network) can be a commercial broadcasting or non-commercial television channel which consists of television programming focused on a single genre, subject or targete ...
, owned by
Asian Television Network
Asian Television Network (ATN) is a publicly traded Canadian broadcasting company (listed SAT on the TSX Venture Exchange), with 54 television channels in 9 languages, serving the South Asian cultural communities in Canada. ATN operates a So ...
(ATN). It is the flagship channel of the Asian Television Network and features programming from
StarPlus
StarPlus is an Indian Hindi-language general entertainment pay television channel owned by JioStar, a joint venture between Viacom18 and Disney India. Its programming consists of family dramas, romantic comedies, youth-oriented realit ...
as well as
Canadian content
Canadian content (abbreviated CanCon, cancon or can-con; ) refers to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) requirements, derived from the Broadcasting Act of Canada, that radio and television broadcasters (inclu ...
in several
South Asia
South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...
n languages.
History
On September 4, 1996, South Asian Television Canada Limited was granted approval from the
CRTC
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC; ) is a public organization in Canada tasked with the mandate as a regulatory agency tribunal for various electronic communications, covering broadcasting and telecommunic ...
to launch an ethnic specialty television channel called ''SATV'', a regional service catering to the South Asian community in Ontario.
On August 7, 1997, South Asian Television Canada Limited received approval to convert SATV into a national service, available across Canada.
The channel officially launched in May 1998 as ''ATN'' via cable and satellite.
ATN signed an agreement with
Zee Network, securing the exclusive rights to programming from
Zee TV
ZEE TV also known as Z TV is an Indian Hindi language general entertainment pay television channel owned by Zee Entertainment Enterprises. It was launched on 1 October 1992 as the oldest privately owned television channel in India.
History ...
, India's top rated channel at the time. This milestone agreement marked the first major content acquisition for ATN and resulted in Zee TV becoming the main source of programming for ATN channel which was subsequently renamed ''ATN Zee TV''.
On September 7, 2006, ATN signed an agreement with
STAR Plus
StarPlus is an Indian Hindi-language general entertainment pay television channel owned by JioStar, a joint venture between Viacom18 and Disney India. Its programming consists of family dramas, romantic comedies, youth-oriented reali ...
, India's top rated entertainment channel. Programming from STAR Plus was subsequently added to the lineup of ATN Zee TV in October 2006 and resulted in the channel being renamed ATN channel.
On January 23, 2013, it was announced that ATN would no longer be airing any programming from Zee TV as of February 1, 2013, due to the expiration of its licensing agreement with Zee. It was also announced that ATN plans on launching an HD feed of ATN channel in March 2013. Zee subsequently reached a licensing agreement with Ethnic Channels Group that resulted in the launch of
Zee TV Canada
Zee is the phonetic pronunciation of the letter Z in American English ("zed" in Commonwealth English).
Zee may also refer to:
People
*Zee (徐), a Wu Chinese surname, an equivalent of Xu
* Anthony Zee (b. 1945), Chinese-American physicist
* Ch ...
.
On October 6, 2017, ATN Star Plus lost the rights to programming from Star Plus. It subsequently began airing foreign programming from
&TV.
In September 2023, ATN signed a new content agreement with
Disney Star
Disney Star (also known as JioStar), registered as JioStar India Private Limited, is an Indian media conglomerate joint venture owned with a share of 16.34% by Reliance Industries, 46.82% by Viacom18 and 36.84% by Disney India. On 14 Nove ...
which included the re-launch of their flagship ATN Channel as ATN Star Plus.
ATN to launch Disney Star’s channels exclusively in Canada
/ref>
ATN HD
On June 1, 2013, ATN launched ATN HD, a high definition simulcast of the standard definition
Standard-definition television (SDTV; also standard definition or SD) is a television system that uses a resolution that is not considered to be either high or enhanced definition. ''Standard'' refers to offering a similar resolution to the ...
feed. It is currently available on Bell Fibe TV
Bell Fibe TV is an IPTV-based multichannel television service offered by Bell Canada, as part of fibre broadband services in parts of the Canadian provinces of Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba (as Bell MTS Fibe TV) and Atlantic Canada (as Bell Aliant F ...
, Optik TV
TELUS Optik TV is a product of TELUS Communications, a subsidiary of TELUS Corporation, that provides IPTV service in the Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, and Quebec. The service offers over 630 digital channels, including more ...
and Rogers Cable
Rogers Cable is Canada's largest cable television service provider with about 2.25 million television customers, and over 930,000 Internet subscribers, primarily in Southern and Eastern Ontario, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador. Roger ...
.
See also
* List of South Asian television channels in Canada
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:ATN Channel
Specialty television channels in Canada
Television channels and stations established in 1998
ATN
ATN is the Sydney Flagship (broadcasting), flagship television station of the Seven Network in Australia. The licence, issued to a company named Amalgamated Television Services, a subsidiary of Fairfax Media, John Fairfax & Sons, was one of the ...