This article is about the specialty cable channel in Canada. For a similar channel in Spain and Portugal that also uses the Historia name, see History (European TV channel). For other uses, see Historia.
On January 18, 2008, a joint venture between Canwest and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners known as CW Media bought Alliance Atlantis and gained its interest in Historia. The new company also acquired Historia's English language equivalent, History Television (now History).
On October 27, 2010, Shaw Communications completed its acquisition of Canwest and Goldman Sachs' interest in CW Media, giving it control of CW Media's 50% interest in Historia.[2][3]
On March 4, 2013, Corus Entertainment announced that it would acquire Astral Media's stakes in Séries+ and Historia, as well as several other properties, under separate transactions with the two companies. The purchase was tied to Bell Media's pending takeover of Astral Media; an earlier proposal had been rejected by the CRTC in October 2012 due to concerns surrounding its total market share following the merger, but was restructured under the condition that the companies divest certain media properties.[4] In a separate deal, Corus also acquired Shaw's interests in Séries+ and Historia, giving it full ownership.[5] The deals were approved by the CRTC on 20 December 2013[6] and Corus become the full owner of the channel on 1 January 2014.[7]
Third logo used in 2015 and 2016Fourth logo used from 2016 to 2022
On October 21, 2014, Corus reached an agreement with A&E Networks to acquire French-language rights to programming from History, the U.S. counterpart of Historia's English-language sister network. The network was relaunched under History's logo and branding on March 9, 2015, while maintaining the Historia name.[8]
On October 17, 2017, Bell Media announced its intent to acquire Historia and Séries+ from Corus for $200 million, pending regulatory approval. Corus cited the two channels as not being part of the company's "strategic priorities" at this time; the deal came shortly after an announcement that Corus no longer planned to commission original programs for the two channels.[9] On 28 May 2018, both transactions were blocked by the Competition Bureau, as a violation of conditions placed on Bell's acquisition of Astral Media, which barred it from re-acquiring any of the properties it divested in the merger for 10 years.[10] As a result, Bell and Corus mutually agreed to shelve the sale.[11]
Some of the assets listed above are majority-owned, wholly-owned, by Corus Entertainment, or are under license. Refer to full asset list for detailed information.
