Much (TV channel)
Much is a Canadian English language discretionary specialty channel. Owned by Bell Media, the channel primarily airs general entertainment programming targeting a teenage and young adult audience. It is headquartered at 299 Queen Street West in downtown Toronto, formerly billed on-air as 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 along 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 cancelled the majority of its music programming in the 2010s 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 onward, 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 globally such as the United States in 1994, 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. After the closure of MTV Canada in 2024, Much would take over the channel's remaining programming.
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.
History
Under Moses Znaimer and CHUM (1984–2006)
MuchMusic was licensed on April 2, 1984, by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to CHUM Limited. It had faced competition from two other proposed services. One of them, CMTV Canadian Music Television, was deemed not to have sufficient financial resources. The third applicant was Rogers Radio Broadcasting. The CRTC believed that the Canadian market could only support one music video service and CHUM's proposal was chosen because of various commitments it had made and the company's expertise in music programming. The station was initially patterned on City Limits, an overnight weekend rock music show which had aired on sister station CITY-TV since 1983.File:WikiCHUM building.jpg|thumb|177x177px|The MuchMusic World Headquarters is located on 299 Queen Street West in Downtown Toronto, as seen in April 2005. The channel has been based there since 1987.|left
Shortly thereafter, MuchMusic was launched on August 31, 1984, as one of the first Canadian cable specialty channels. It was headed by the channel's founders John Martin and Moses Znaimer. The first video played on MuchMusic was "an early music-to-film synchronization short from the 1920s which featured Eubie Blake performing Snappy Songs." The first video made specifically for television air play was Rush's "The Enemy Within". MuchMusic's slogan, and on-air advertising, was "The Nation's Music Station".
The station was originally located at CITY-TV's 99 Queen Street East studios, but by May 1987, Much, along with CITY, moved to the renovated 299 Queen Street West.
Making use of CHUM's facilities and production teams, the channel produced many specialty musical and variety shows, including the long-running dance show Electric Circus and the late 1980s game show Test Pattern, and Citytv shows such as City Limits, The Power Hour, The MuchMusic Spotlight and The New Music also became integral parts of the MuchMusic schedule.
The channel's format consisted primarily of an eight-hour daily block which mixed scheduled shows with VJ-hosted general "videoflow", which would then be repeated two more times to fill the 24-hour schedule. Some variance from this model was seen with the late-night shows City Limits and Too Much 4 Much, and live specials such as Intimate and Interactive.
For the first few years of the channel, it was classified as a pay television service and was therefore offered largely in bundles along with other pay-stations such as First Choice and TSN, and would occasionally offer free preview weekends for non-subscribers. The subscriber count was at 500,000 customers by December 1984. In December 1987, MuchMusic received permission from the CRTC to move to basic cable lineups beginning on September 1, 1988; in the interim cable operators could offer the channel as a negative-option expanded basic channel.
In the 1990s and 2000s, the channel ran an annual "MuchTemp" contest, whose winner would get a two-month summer paid internship at the station to learn about the television business. The most noted winner of the contest, Rick Campanelli, stayed on with MuchMusic in other roles after the end of his internship, and became a full VJ in 1996; one of the longest-serving VJs in the station's history, he remained with the station until leaving in 2005 to become one of the hosts of Entertainment Tonight Canada.
A US version of MuchMusic, originally known as "MuchMusic USA", was launched in the U.S. on July 1, 1994, through a partnership with Rainbow Media. The network was largely a simulcast of the Canadian version with U.S. advertising and acquired programs. The network would go into its own direction over time, eventually rebranding as Fuse in 2003.
In 1995, the annual Canadian Music Video Awards were renamed to the "MuchMusic Video Awards". Since 1996, the ceremonies have been held outside the formerly named "MuchMusic Headquarters" on 299 Queen Street West, the present-day main offices for Bell Media's speciality channels.
In 2002, MuchMusic introduced promos that consisted of one of twelve images of a VJ posing in front of the network's logo, lasting for only 1/60th of a second each. The "quickies" were recognized with a Guinness World Record for the world's shortest television commercial. Znaimer stepped down from the CHUM board in 2003, although he continued to produce some of Much's programming until the formation of MZ Media in 2007.
Under Bell (2006–present)
In July 2006, Bell Globemedia announced that it would purchase CHUM for an estimated, including MuchMusic. The sale was subject to CRTC approval and was approved in June 2007, with the transaction completed on June 22, 2007, while the Citytv stations were sold to Rogers Media in the same year. Since then, MuchMusic has aired a vast number of non-music related shows, mainly teen dramas and reality shows.In 2010, the CRTC rejected a request by CTVglobemedia to reduce the percentage of music video programming that the channel shows from 50 to 25 percent. CTV's second request to the CRTC to reduce and reposition its Canadian programming was also denied. For the reasoning behind these requests, CTV explained that "music videos no longer distinguish the service as they are readily available through other sources." This was met with mixed reaction by music fans and drew the ire of notable artists.
On June 1, 2011, MuchMusic launched its high definition simulcast feed.
Beginning in September 2013, the channel would air more comedy programming targeting young adult men during the late afternoon and primetime hours, much of it moved from The Comedy Network. Such shows included Comedy Central series, reruns of The Simpsons and The Cleveland Show, as well as Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and Conan. These changes came when Comedy's request for licence amendments to reduce requirements for Canadian content and increase the amount of animated programming it could air was denied. Around the same time, the channel officially shortened its name to "Much"; while the "Much" shorthand had historically been used as part of its branding, the channel had still used "MuchMusic" as its main branding.
Most of the channel's previous non-music programming, such as Pretty Little Liars and Degrassi, moved to sister channels M3 and MTV respectively. At the same time the channel cut back further on original music-related programming apart from Video on Trial, The Wedge, countdowns, and other non-hosted blocks of music videos, with New.Music.Live. confirmed to have been cancelled and the likes of RapCity no longer appearing on Much's schedule. By the summer of 2014, amidst production and staffing cutbacks, the Countdown went on hiatus and Much's remaining original shows, including a revamped Video on Trial, were cancelled.
Meanwhile, in August, Much celebrated its 30th anniversary. A half-hour anniversary special, 30 Years of Much, aired on August 30, 2014, and was preceded by a full-day countdown of The 100 Greatest Videos Ever. Repeats of both the special and the countdown aired throughout the Labour Day weekend. On September 27, 2014, the Countdown returned with a revamped format.
On April 1, 2015, Much announced the launch of Much Digital Studios, a production unit and YouTube multi-channel network. The network features content catered towards Much's demographic of 12-34s, and would also be integrated into their on-air programming. Such content includes the Mike On Much podcast, hosted by Mike Veerman, co-produced by Arkells lead singer Max Kerman, and featuring segments led by Shane Cunningham. The podcast eventually spawned the spin-off series Much Studios presents "Mike on Much in Conversation With...", which premiered in 2018 on sibling service Crave.
On August 12, 2016, Bell Media sold MuchLoud, MuchRetro, MuchVibe and Juicebox to Stingray Digital. On September 1, 2016, M3 was shut down and replaced by Gusto, which later became CTV Life Channel in 2019, a cooking and lifestyle-oriented TV network that Bell Media acquired, after the original Gusto TV closed in March 2016.
In late 2017, Much further cut back on music programming, reducing its music blocks to the morning hours and removing the Much Countdown from its schedule. MuchFACT was also discontinued, as a result of the CRTC having dropped the requirement for Much to fund it. On October 11, 2017, Much premiered Sides*, a new talk show which discusses youth issues; it was streamed live on Twitter on weekdays, and a weekly highlight show aired on the Much channel. In November 2017, Much began to air a Friday-night block known as Icons, which featured airings of music documentaries.
In 2019, the daytime Playlist block of music videos was discontinued and replaced with library programming, citing decreased interest and viewership. In addition, that year's MMVAs, which were moved to August the previous year, were delayed due to scheduling conflicts with the 2019 MTV Video Music Awards. The Much Retro Lunch block remained the only regularly scheduled music video programming on the channel, with the network citing its popularity among youth as a factor. The block was discontinued on March 20, 2020, and was later replaced by reruns of Corner Gas. The last music video that the channel aired was "Irreplaceable" by Beyoncé.