Investigation Discovery (Canadian TV channel)

In November 2000, Learning and Skills Television of Alberta, a company majority owned by CHUM Limited (60%) and owners of Access, was granted permission by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to launch a television channel called "The Law & Order Channel", described as "a national English-language Category 2 specialty television service that will feature entertainment programming about police, law, the courts, emergency and medical response teams, disaster and relief operations featuring people and organizations that uphold law and order in our society."[1]

The channel was launched on September 7, 2001 as Court TV Canada.[2] The channel replaced the American Court TV service, which was available on many television service providers throughout Canada as an eligible foreign service.

Court TV Canada logo from 2005 to August 29, 2010.

On February 15, 2005, CHUM completed the purchase of the remaining interest in LSTA, bringing its ownership to 100%.[2] A year later, in July 2006, Bell Globemedia (later renamed CTVglobemedia) announced that it would purchase CHUM for an estimated CAD$1.7 billion, included in the sale was LSTA and its interest in CourtTV Canada.[3] The sale and was approved by the CRTC in June 2007,[4] and the transaction was completed on June 22, 2007. In 2008, LSTA (then known as Access Media Group) was wound up into CTV Limited (the renamed CHUM Limited).[5]

The original CourtTV was relaunched as TruTV in 2008, though the Canadian version continued to use the CourtTV branding. On August 30, 2010, CourtTV Canada was relaunched as a Canadian version of Investigation Discovery, a similarly formatted channel, as part of a wider licensing agreement between CTV and Discovery.[6]

On September 10, 2010, Bell Canada (a minority shareholder in CTVglobemedia) announced that it planned to acquire 100% interest in CTVglobemedia for a total debt and equity transaction cost of CAD$3.2 billion.[7] The deal was approved by the CRTC on March 7, 2011,[8] and was finalized on April 1 of that year, on which CTVglobemedia was rebranded Bell Media.[9]

On June 17, 2011, Bell Media announced plans to launch a high definition simulcast feed of Investigation Discovery HD by the end of the year.[10] The HD feed was launched on December 15, 2011 on Bell Fibe TV and later on Telus Optik TV; The HD feed later began to be carried on Bell Satellite TV on December 13, 2012.[11] The HD feed was added to Shaw Direct's lineup on October 16, 2018.