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Real world article
(written from a Production point of view)
CTV Sci-Fi Channel logo
Space logo

CTV Sci-Fi Channel (formerly known as Space) is a Canadian broadcasting channel that is owned and operated by Bell Media, a large telecommunications and media corporation. Its primary programming includes science fiction, fantasy, and horror-related series and documentaries. The station debuted in October 1997, under the ownership of CHUM Limited with an airing of the film Forbidden Planet, and was in essence a spin-off of City, whose predilection for science-fiction programming, including all the Star Trek series up to that point, was likely the catalyst for its' launch.

All six of the Star Trek television shows have been broadcast or re-run on the channel. The channel also airs marathons of the Star Trek films around Christmas and during the summer months.

The station was notable for being the only channel in the world to air all five live-action Star Trek series together on a regular Monday-to-Friday schedule for a number of years. However, other stations and networks such as the United States based Heroes & Icons have since accomplished this.

In 2007, the acquisition of CHUM Limited by CTVglobemedia meant Space became a sister property of broadcaster CTV, which had been the very first to air Star Trek: The Original Series in syndication on 6 September 1966 – in effect beating original broadcaster NBC to the punch by two days and therefore constituting the actual world premiere of Star Trek.

The channel, its websites, and its social media accounts were rebranded on 12 September 2019. Its present and forthcoming Star Trek programming will remain unchanged. [1]

As of 2013, the channel has become the sister company of the French-language channel Z, and as such, both have simultaneously broadcast Star Trek: Discovery in Canada from September 2017 onward.

Star Trek broadcasts[]

After years of airing all five live-action series (and periodically, Star Trek: The Animated Series), Star Trek: Enterprise was dropped in 2007 and The Original Series was replaced by its remastered version in November 2009. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine re-runs ceased in September 2011. Additionally, the channel aired in 2006 the for them produced 40 Years of Star Trek documentary special in celebration of Star Trek's 40th anniversary. Being to date the only one known produced and aired for the occasion, this was all the more remarkable, as the franchise was, pursuant the unceremonious cancellation of Star Trek: Enterprise the previous year, in its home market at an all time low at that time with its owners not bothering to celebrate the occasion, too busy liquidating the Star Trek production assets (see: Demise of "The Franchise" in the prime universe).

In early July 2012, Star Trek: The Next Generation was removed from the summer lineup, leaving the remastered Original Series and Star Trek: Voyager as the only Star Trek series left on Space. However, The Next Generation began to air again in September 2012 where it replaced The Original Series on the schedule. The first season of The Next Generation began to be shown in its high-definition remastered format at this time.

A marathon of The Original Series was aired on Space in March 2015 in remembrance of Leonard Nimoy.

On 26 February 2016, The Next Generation and Voyager aired for the last time on Space for six months. Both shows' episodes had run sequentially from Monday to Friday starting at 4:00 pm EST and were replayed twelve hours later. This marked the first time that Space had not aired a Star Trek program as part of its regular schedule in many years.

Beginning on 1 September 2016 and culminating on Labour Day, Space aired a ten-hour marathon each day celebrating the franchise's 50th anniversary with airings of each series' most popular episodes. The marathon started with Enterprise which was followed by Deep Space Nine, Voyager, The Next Generation, and The Original Series.

All five live-action Trek series were restored to the channel on 6 September 2016. On weekdays, Enterprise and Deep Space Nine aired in the morning while The Original Series, The Next Generation, and Voyager aired in the afternoon with repeat broadcasts later at night. A movie marathon featuring the first ten Trek films was shown during the holiday season of 2016.

In early 2017, a three hour block of Star Trek episodes were added on Friday nights. These episodes follow a particular theme, such as those involving time travel or a particular species. Episodes of The Big Bang Theory were later added before this block was discontinued.

Further changes were made in March, 2017 when Space removed airings of individual shows five days a week, and replaced them with a four-hour block of shows weekdays starting at 2 pm, with only one show airing each weekday. Enterprise airs on Mondays, The Next Generation on Tuesdays, Voyager on Wednesdays, Deep Space Nine on Thursdays, and The Original Series on Fridays. This was later altered in September 2017 when the block was pushed back an hour, and Enterprise and The Original Series switched days. Daily broadcasts continue in 2019.

The premiere episode of Star Trek: Discovery aired on Space, simulcasted with CTV and CBS. New episodes continued to air first run on Space Sundays at 8 pm EST. As of 2019, Space and Z are the only broadcast networks in the world airing first-run Discovery episodes, as in all other regions, the series is available only on streaming services such as CBS All-Access and Netflix. Space generally runs Discovery episodes uncut in an early-evening timeslot (8 p.m. EST, which means it airs as early as 5 p.m. in the western end of the country), which caused problems for the network in 2018 when the station was reprimanded by the Canadian broadcasting watchdog for its broadcast of the episode "Choose Your Pain", which featured heavy violence and the television franchise's first use of the word "fuck". The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council ruled that Space violated rules on language and violence by airing the unedited episode prior to the watershed 9 p.m. cut-off without the appropriate viewer advisory warning. [2] Despite the series airing in the US with a TV-MA rating, Space generally airs Discovery episodes – even "Choose Your Pain" – with a 14+ rating and occasionally even PG.

The channel had planned to air Star Trek: Picard in 2020, [3] before conglomerate owner Bell Media decided to stream the series on its own streaming service CraveTV instead, [4] though it did air the series premiere episode for free on 23 January 2020. [5] Incidentally, all other Star Trek productions had in the meantime found a new home on the CraveTV streaming service, including those of the Kurtzman-era, [6] just like they had elsewhere around the world.

InnerSPACE[]

InnerSPACE, Space's daily genre news program, frequently featured Star Trek productions and its cast members, and also produced the InnerSPACE: Behind The Scenes: Star Trek television special in 2009. The series was discontinued in 2018 after nine seasons.

External links[]

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