The Comedy Network

A Canadian answer to the USA's Comedy Central, The Comedy Network went on the air in October, 1997. Initially, the station was limited to a fairly limited schedule: Episodes of British television were common (Mr. Bean and The Baldy Man), and the airtime was full of Just For Laughs comedy festival performances, Open Mike With Mike Bullard (a shoestring-budgeted talk show that was so Adored By the Network that it aired for eight seasons), Saturday Night Live repeats (aired from the beginning), and other older TV shows.

Eventually, the British programs were mainly dropped, and the network started showcasing both original programming (Kevin Spencer, Butch Patterson: Private Dic, Corner Gas), and programming from Comedy Central (including The Daily Show and The Colbert Report). It's also become yet another home to endless repeats of The Simpsons, as well as numerous Canadian-original shows (to meet with Canadian Content guidelines, and to create profit for the station, which owns some of these shows).

Any rebranding the network has taken on has occured slowly. Expect to see various CTV or Comedy Network-based programming on great repetition, and with lots of ad time. Corner Gas got it, and it's successors (Hiccups and Dan for Mayor) got it as well.