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| Country | Canada |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Nationwide |
| Headquarters | 299 Queen Street West, Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Programming | |
| Picture format | 1080i HDTV (downscaled to letterboxed 480i for the SDTV feed) |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | CHUM Limited (1984–2007) CTVglobemedia (CTV Limited) (2007–2011) BCE Inc. (2011–present) |
| Parent | Bell Media |
| Sister channels | CTV Comedy Channel MTV |
| History | |
| Launched | August 31, 1984, |
| Former names | MuchMusic (1984–2013; 2021–present) |
| Links | |
| Website | Much |
Much is a Canadian English language discretionary specialty channel owned by BCE Inc. through its Bell Media subsidiary that airs programming aimed at teenagers and young adults. It is headquartered at 299 Queen Street West in what was once called the MuchMusic World Headquarters.
This channel was originally launched on August 31, 1984 as MuchMusic, under the ownership of CHUM Limited, the owner of Citytv Toronto, though "Much" has been the branding most commonly seen on-air since 1997. In 2006, Bell Globemedia acquired MuchMusic and its parent CHUM Limited, but regulatory limits in media ownership forced CHUM to sell off the Citytv stations to avoid conflicts with CTV stations in the same markets. CTVglobemedia retained the ownership of MuchMusic alongside with CP24 and the small market A-Channel stations. Much was acquired yet again by Bell Media in 2011.
This channel originally focused on music programming, including blocks of music videos and original series focusing on Canadian musicians. Due to shrinking interest in music television because of the growth of online platforms, MuchMusic had increasingly focused on non-music programming targeting a young adult audience, such as comedy, films, and reality shows, and the network has cancelled the majority of its music programming due to budget and staffing cuts. This channel was officially renamed "Much" in 2013 in reflection of its decreasing reliance on music-related programming. From 2021, the "MuchMusic" branding has been used exclusively for its digital media network, which operates in parallel with the linear "Much" TV channel.
Since its launch, MuchMusic had expanded internationally such as the United States in 1994 (now known as Fuse), Europe and beyond. This channel began to launch multiple spinoffs throughout its existence under the Much brand such as MuchMoreMusic in 1998 targeting older adult demographic and a suite of channels ranging from hip hop, rock, retro and request call-in channels throughout the 2000s. In addition, MuchMusic also had a good relations with U.S.-based MTV which also aired a number of programs on that channel since its inception. This led to Craig Media launching its own MTV channel in 2001 leading to a rivalry between the two companies in the early 2000s until CHUM acquired Craig in 2004. MTV would return to Canada in 2006 although it was licensed as a talk channel and since CTV acquired Much in 2007, Much and MTV became sister channels despite the decreasing of music programming within the 2010s decade.
As a former Category A service, Much was required to be carried on the basic service of all digital cable providers across Canada. The channel was, and still is, typically offered optionally at the discretion of providers.