Télétoon Rétro was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

French language Category B specialty television channel that was owned by

Corus Entertainment Corus Entertainment Inc. is a Canadian mass media company. Formed in 1999 as a spin-off from Shaw Communications, it has prominent holdings in the radio, publishing, and television industries. It is headquartered at Corus Quay in Toronto, Onta ...

. The channel was based on the former

Télétoon Télétoon (styled as TĒLĒTOON) is a Canadian French language specialty channel owned by Teletoon Canada, Inc., a subsidiary of Corus Entertainment. Its name is a portmanteau of " télévision" and "cartoon". As of 2013, along with its Englis ...

programming block ''Télétoon Retro'' and was dedicated to broadcasting French-dubbed

animated series An animated series is a set of animated works with a common series title, usually related to one another. These episodes should typically share the same main characters, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series can have eith ...

that had premiered on television at least 10 years prior to their airing on Télétoon Retro. Along with its

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the ...

sister station,

Teletoon Retro Teletoon Retro was a Canadian specialty channel that was owned by Corus Entertainment that was based on the Teletoon programming block. The service was dedicated to broadcasting classic animated television programs as well as some live-action s ...

, combined, both were available in over 9 million Canadian households as of 2013, having the most subscribers among the digital Canadian specialty channels.

History

Télétoon Rétro initially started as a programming block on Télétoon. On November 24, 2000, TELETOON Canada Inc. (at the time, an equal

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and economic risk, risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four rea ...

between Corus Entertainment and Astral Media) was granted approval by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to launch ''TELETOON RETRO'', described at the time as "a national Category 2 specialty television service with English- and French-language feeds. The service shall present classic cartoons from Canada and around the world, including animated movies, specials, series and shorts which commenced production at least ten (10) years prior to their exhibition by the licensee."Decision CRTC 2000-697
CRTC; 2000-12-14 The channel did not commence operation and the licence expired. Plans to launch the channel arose again in 2005, when on October 21, TELETOON Canada Inc. was given approval again to launch TELETOON Rétro, this time as a singular French channel with no English language feed. The channel was launched on September 4, 2008 as Télétoon Rétro, promoted with select programs airing on Télétoon on Saturday and Sunday nights at 7:00pm EST. An English-language counterpart,

, had already been on the air since October 1, 2007. Along with

, Télétoon Rétro rebranded on February 4, 2013. On March 4, 2013, Corus Entertainment announced that it would acquire Astral Media's 50% ownership interest in TELETOON Canada Inc. The purchase was in relation to

Bell Media Bell Media Inc. (French: ) is a Canadian company formed by the amalgamation of several companies. Establishment (2011–13) On December 9, 2011, the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan announced the sale of its majority stake in Maple Leaf Sports ...

's pending takeover of Astral, which had earlier been rejected by the CRTC in October 2012, but was restructured to allow the sale of certain Astral Media properties in order to allow the purchase to clear regulatory hurdles. Corus' purchase was cleared by the Competition Bureau two weeks later on March 18. On December 20, 2013, the CRTC approved Corus' full ownership of TELETOON Canada Inc. and it was purchased by Corus on January 1, 2014. On March 24, 2014, Télétoon Rétro launched Télétoon Rétro HD, a high definition simulcast of the

standard definition Standard-definition television (SDTV, SD, often shortened to standard definition) is a television system which uses a resolution that is not considered to be either high or enhanced definition. "Standard" refers to it being the prevailing sp ...

feed. On April 16, 2015,

announced that it had acquired long-term, Canadian multi-platform rights to Disney Channel's programming library; the cost and duration of the licensing deal were not disclosed. Alongside the licensing deal, Corus announced that it would officially launch a Canadian version of Disney Channel; the service will consist of linear television channels in English and French, along with

TV Everywhere TV Everywhere (also known as authenticated streaming or authenticated video on-demand) refers to a type of subscription business model wherein access to streaming video content from a television channel requires users to "authenticate" themse ...

and

video-on-demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of ...

services for digital platforms. It was decided that instead of launching a new channel to coexist with Télétoon Rétro, Télétoon Rétro itself would be rebranded as the French language Disney Channel. On September 1, 2015, Télétoon Rétro was replaced with Disney La Chaîne, to coincide with the launch of its English language counterpart, Disney Channel.Pay and Specialty - La chaîne Disney (formerly TÉLÉTOON Rétro (Français))
CRTC Financial Summaries, 06-23-16

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Teletoon Retro

Retro Retro style is imitative or consciously derivative of lifestyles, trends, or art forms from history, including in music, modes, fashions, or attitudes. In popular culture, the "nostalgia cycle" is typically for the two decades that begin 20–30 ...

Former Corus Entertainment networks Television channels and stations established in 2007 Television channels and stations disestablished in 2015 Digital cable television networks in Canada Children's television networks in Canada Defunct Canadian television channels French-language television networks in Canada 2007 establishments in Canada 2015 disestablishments in Canada Classic television networks