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Information about Specialty Channel

A specialty channel (or speciality channel) is a television channel which consists of programming focused on a single type or targeted at a specific demographic.

The number of specialty channels has greatly increased during the 1990s and 2000s while the previously common concept of countries having just a few (national) TV stations addressing all interest groups and demographics became increasingly outmoded, as it already had been for some time in several countries.

Types of specialty services may include, but by no means are limited to: (Note: These are not necessarily industry-accepted terms for these types of services)

Some specialty channels may not be free-to-air and/or may not be available through conventional broadcast television. Pay TV providers in particular often produce own specialty channels exclusively for their own network.

Canadian specialty channels



The term "specialty channel" has been used most frequently in Canada, due to its use as a marketing term by the cable industry in relation to the various channel launches of the 1990s. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) term for such a channel is specialty service (or even more explicitly "specialty television programming undertaking"), referring to virtually any non-premium television service which is not carried over the airwaves or otherwise deemed exempt by the CRTC. They are primarily carried, therefore, on cable television and satellite television.

All such services are specifically limited in regard to the types, and often the amount of said types, of programming that can be carried. For instance, TSN can only air sports or sports-related programming, while Bravo! cannot air any sports. This differs from the U.S., where several cable/satellite services such as USA Network or Turner Network Television regularly air programs from nearly all categories, and where there are no restrictions on "specialty" services such as MSNBC from airing sports, as that particular service has on occasion.
The term television channel generally refers to either a television station or its cable/satellite counterpart (both outlined below). Sometimes, it is confused with the term television network, which (when properly used) describes a group of geographically-distributed television
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Computer programming (often shortened to programming or coding) is the process of writing, testing, and maintaining the source code of computer programs. The source code is written in a programming language.
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Demographics refers to selected population characteristics as used in government, marketing or opinion research, or the demographic profiles used in such research. (Note the distinction from demography, see below.
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Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century

1960s 1970s 1980s - 1990s - 2000s 2010s 2020s
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For the band, see .

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Centuries: 20th century - 21st century - 22nd century

1970s 1980s 1990s - 2000s - 2010s 2020s 2030s
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

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The 2000s is the current decade, spanning from 2000 to 2009.
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Adult channels are channels that feature adult content, in the sense of erotica or pornography.

Here is a list of adult channels:
  • Adults Only Channel - Australia
  • Adults Only Select - Australia
  • AOV Adult Movie Channel - Canada

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Children's interest channels are television specialty channels that present children's interest content.

Popular children's interest channels include:
  • Al Jazeera Children's Channel (Middle East)
  • BBC Kids (Canada)
  • CBBC Channel (UK)
  • CBeebies (UK)

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documentary channel is a specialty television channel which focuses on broadcasting documentaries. Some documentary channels further specialise by dedicating their programming to specific types of documentaries or documentaries in a specific area of knowledge.
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A men's interest channel generally refers to either a television station, network or specialty channel that targets men as its main demographic; offering programs that will appeal to the male population.
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Movie channels are television specialty channels that present movie content.

Popular movie channels:
  • AMC (TV network) (USA)
  • IFC (Canada)
  • The Movie Channel (USA)
  • Movie Central (Western Canada)
  • The Movie Network (Eastern Canada)

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News channels are television specialty channels which focus on presenting news content.

The world's first dedicated 24-hour news channel was CNN.

Public news channels

  • TVP3 - Poland
  • 3/24 - Catalonia
  • TVE Canal 24 Horas - Spain

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A quiz channel (also known as a participation television channel) is a television channel that focuses on phone-in quizzes. The quizzes usually focus on puzzles such as fill in the blanks, name the celebrity and add up the numbers.
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Shopping channels are television specialty channels that present shopping related content, particularly for home shopping enthusiasts.

Home shopping pioneers:
  • Bob Circosta
  • Barry Diller
  • Bud Paxson
  • Joseph Segel

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Sports channels are television specialty channels (usually available exclusively through cable and satellite) broadcast sporting events, usually live, and when not broadcasting events, sports news and other related programming.
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Women's interest channels are television specialty channels that present women's interest content.

Popular women's interest channels:
  • FashionTelevisionChannel (Canada)
  • HGTV (Canada)
  • Life Network (Canada)
  • Lifetime Television (USA)

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Free-to-air (FTA) television (TV) and radio broadcasts are sent unencrypted and may be received via any suitable receiver. Free-to-view (FTV) is, generally, available without subscription but is encoded and may be restricted geographically.
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Terrestrial television is a term which refers to modes of television broadcasting which do not involve satellite transmission. [1] . The term is uncommon in the United States, and more common in Europe.
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Pay television or Premium Television refers to subscription-based television services, usually provided by both analogue and digital cable and satellite, but also increasingly by digital terrestrial methods.
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multichannel television platform, such as cable television or satellite television, as opposed to an antenna-based system providing only conventional stations. While the technical details of these platforms differ, the governing Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications
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The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC, in French Conseil de la radiodiffusion et des télécommunications canadiennes) was established in 1968 by the Parliament of Canada to replace the Board of Broadcast Governors.
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Premium television (sometimes pay television in North America) generally refers to a class of commercial-free television services which are available for subscription through cable and satellite television for fees much higher than traditional, packaged cable networks or
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cable television into the house.]]

Cable television is a system of providing cocoy television to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through fixed optical fibers or coaxial cables as opposed to the over-the-air method used in traditional
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The of this article or section may be compromised by "weasel words".
You can help Wikipedia by removing weasel words. Satellite television is television delivered by way of communications satellites, as compared to conventional terrestrial television and cable television.
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Availability
Satellite
Bell ExpressVu Channel 400
Channel 402 (Alternate Feed)
Star Choice Channel 400
Channel 401 (Alternate Feed)
Cable
Available on most Canadian cable systems Check local listings The Sports Network (commonly known as TSN
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Availability
Satellite
Bell ExpressVu Channel 620
Star Choice Channel 523
Cable
Available on most Canadian cable systems Check local listings Bravo! is a Canadian English language cable television specialty channel owned by CTV Limited a division of
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Motto
"In God We Trust"   (since 1956)
"E Pluribus Unum"   ("From Many, One"; Latin, traditional)
Anthem
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Availability
Satellite
DirecTV Channel 242
Dish Network Channel 105
C-Band Galaxy 14-Channel 19
Cable
Available on most cable systems Check Local Listings for channels

USA Network
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Availability
Satellite
DirecTV Channel 245
Channel 75 (HDTV)
Dish Network Channel 138
Channel 9420 (HDTV)
C-Band Galaxy 14-Channel 17
Cable
Available on most cable systems Check Local Listings for channels

Turner Network Television
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