Cottage Life (TV channel)

Prior to rebranding the service as bold, the CBC informed the CRTC in October 2007 of its intentions and new programming directive for the service.[11] Following this correspondence, the CBC and the CRTC exchanged correspondence back and forth in an effort to clarify how the change in programming for bold met the nature of service bold was intended to meet when it was originally licensed in 2000. The CRTC ultimately was not satisfied with the CBC's argument and called a public hearing into the matter in June 2009.[12]

Prior to the hearing, the CBC contacted the CRTC to inform them that they did not contest the CRTC's view that the service did not meet the requirements of its nature of service and informed the CRTC that it would like to file an application to modify Bold's nature of service to state it is "a national English-language Category 1 specialty television service for rural Canadians. The service will provide information, interaction and entertainment."[11]

During the separate hearing for the application to modify Bold's nature of service at a later date, the CRTC examined the request and found several issues with the change in nature of service, primarily being that it would allow the service to morph into a general interest service instead of a niche service for rural Canadians, since it would not require the channel to be from "a rural perspective", implying a service defined as "for rural Canadians" would be too broad in nature.[11] Subsequently, the CRTC denied its application and required the CBC to inform the CRTC within 30 days of a new programming proposal to ensure its meets the channel's nature of service.[11]

In response to this decision, the CBC filed yet another application to amend Bold's nature of service, this time reading as "a national English-language Category A specialty television service with a focus on adults 25-54. The service will provide information, interaction and entertainment programming dedicated to reflecting Canada's various regions, including Canada's rural and non-urban regions, to national and regional audiences. The mandate of the service will be to reflect in its programming the unique tapestry of Canada's regions, including programming that reflects the living realities of rural Canadians."[13] Within this application, the CBC also requested to define rural Canadians using Statistics Canada definition, reading as "individuals from rural non-metro adjacent areas, rural metro adjacent areas and rural northern areas."[13]

Although the CRTC raised some concerns over the proposed schedule the CBC submitted as part of this application, the CRTC ultimately approved the application and was satisfied with the changes, stating that the new definition of rural Canadians was more appropriate since it reflected their geographical location, rather than their occupations as the previous nature of service defined; and to ensure the programming reflected Canada's various regions, as per the new nature of service, the CRTC added a definition of such programming.[13]

On April 4, 2012, the CBC announced, in the wake of a $115 million government funding budget cut to be phased in over the next 3 years,[14] that it would sell Bold as a measure to cope with the budget shortfall[15] since the service's licence conditions no longer fit the CBC's strategy nor complement the other programming streams.[16] On August 17, 2012, Blue Ant Media announced that it would purchase the channel for an undisclosed amount,[17] later revealed at $10 million.[18] As a federal crown corporation asset owned by the CBC, the deal also required approval from the Governor-in-Council,[19] which was approved in February 2013.[20] On November 17, 2012, the CRTC approved the sale of Bold to Blue Ant Media. As a condition of the acquisition, Blue Ant stated that it would fund the production of programming that reflects Canada's rural and non-urban regions.[21]

In July 2011, Blue Ant Media purchased a 15% interest in Quarto Communications, with its intentions of launching several television channels based upon Quarto's magazine brands, in particular, Cottage Life.[22] Later, in November 2011, Quarto was granted a license for a Category B service known as Cottage Life Television, which would be focused on programming dealing with cottage communities and lifestyles.[23] Four months after it announced its intentions to purchase Bold, Blue Ant would later purchase the remaining shares in Quarto Communication and rename the company Cottage Life Media.[24]

In April 2013, Blue Ant announced it would launch Cottage Life in the fall of 2013; it was speculated that the company would re-launch Bold as a Cottage Life channel, primarily because the rural-based nature of service complimented the subject matter that Cottage Life covered and bold had existing carriage deals on the majority of all digital television service providers in Canada due to its Category A status. However, Blue Ant did not confirm any rumours or its intentions for the channel.[25]

Although still with no public announcement of the channel's re-branding from Blue Ant Media, it was indirectly confirmed through various television service providers (i.e., announcements on the respective TV provider's websites, statements confirming Cottage Life's television placement on the dial would be that of Bold's, etc.) that bold would be re-branded as Cottage Life on September 4, 2013. It was confirmed on August 22, 2013 by Blue Ant Media that bold would be rebranded on September 4 via a press release.[26]