Global InformationOmni Television information
 | |
| Type | Broadcast television system |
|---|---|
| Country | Canada |
| Broadcast area | Canada |
| Headquarters | 33 Dundas Street East, Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Rogers Communications |
| Parent | Rogers Sports & Media |
| History | |
| Launched | September 3, 1979 (independent television network) September 16, 2002 (launch of the Omni system) |
| Founder | Dan Iannuzzi Jerry Grafstein Raymond Moriyama Steve Stavro Garth Drabinsky Nat Taylor |
| Former names | MTV (1979-1983) CFMT Television (1983-2002) Channel M (current Vancouver station only; 2001-2007) |
| Links | |
| Website | www |
Omni Television (stylized as OMNI Television) is a Canadian television system and group of specialty channels owned by Rogers Sports & Media, a subsidiary of Rogers Communications. It currently consists of all six of Canada's conventional multicultural television stations, which are located in Ontario (two stations), British Columbia, Alberta (two stations), and an affiliate in Quebec. The system's flagship station is CFMT in Toronto, which was the first independent multicultural television station in Canada.
The Omni brand was first introduced in 2002 after Rogers launched a second station in Toronto, CJMT; the two stations were collectively branded as Omni Television, with CJMT branding as "Omni.2" and focusing on programs targeting Asian and African communities, and CFMT "Omni.1" focusing on targeting the European and Caribbean communities. The Omni brand expanded outside of Toronto for the first time in 2005, with Rogers' acquisition of religious independent stations in Vancouver and Winnipeg.
In 2007, Rogers secured new multicultural licenses in Calgary and Edmonton, announced its sale of the Vancouver and Winnipeg stations to S-VOX, and then acquired Vancouver's existing multicultural station CHNM. In 2012, Omni added an affiliate in Montreal via the new multicultural station CFHD-DT, with Rogers agreeing to help support the station in exchange for relieving CJNT of its own multicultural remit.
Since September 2017, Omni began to be distributed throughout the remainder of the country, as a group of specialty channels with mandatory carriage. This group is licensed under the blanket name Omni Regional; Rogers argued that revenue from mandatory carriage was necessary to restore and sustain the stations' local programming. Originally licensed by the CRTC on a three-year interim basis while the commission considered alternative proposals for a national multicultural channel, the Commission ultimately chose to re-licence Omni Regional until at least 2023, on the basis of commitments to expanded Canadian programming production.[1]
- ^ Faguy, Steve (May 23, 2019). "CRTC renews OMNI for three years, rejects 6½ other proposals to replace it". Retrieved May 23, 2019.