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| Country | Canada |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Nationwide |
| Headquarters | Toronto, Ontario |
| Programming | |
| Language(s) | English |
| Picture format | 1080i HDTV (downscaled to letterboxed 480i for the SDTV feed) |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Bell Media [a] |
| Sister channels | CTV Comedy Channel Much |
| History | |
| Launched | January 1, 1995 |
| Former names | New Country Network (1995–1996) Country Music Television (1996–2006) |
| Links | |
| Website | ctv |
CMT is a Canadian English language premium specialty channel owned by Bell Media. Based the flagship CMT channel in the United States, the channel is devoted to animation, sitcoms and programming aimed at youth raging from preschoolers to young adults. Originally an ad-supported network, it transitioned to premium, non-commercial operation when it was transferred to Bell.
This channel was originally established on January 1, 1995 as the New Country Network under the joint ownership of Shaw Communications, who acquired Maclean-Hunter's stake in 1994, and Rawlco Communications. Later, NCN was relaunched on September 14, 1996 as CMT with CBS Cable acquiring the stake. Prior to its Canadian launch, the American version of CMT was available in Canada from 1984. Shaw's media assets were spun off to form Corus Entertainment in 1999. However, through various acquisitions, on November 13, 2021, CMT was acquired by Bell Media and was relaunched as an ad-supported service.
As with its U.S. counterpart, CMT previously devoted a large amount of its programming to country music, with such programming as music videos and concert specials. Over time, the channel shifted its focus towards family-oriented general entertainment such as sitcoms, to the point where music programming was eventually axed in August 2017.
Paramount previously owned a 10% stake in the service; it would be acquired by Bell Media in 2022 to take full control of it.
It is one of two Paramount-branded channels that are owned by Corus; the companies also partner on Nickelodeon (which is wholly owned by Corus).
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