Bite TV
Encyclopedia
BiteTV is a Canadian
English language
Category B specialty channel
. BiteTV is a comedy-focused channel including sitcoms, sketch comedy, stand-up, films, comedy shorts, and more. BiteTV is owned by Glassbox Television
.
The channel launched on March 15, 2005 as BiteTV, a youth oriented channel aimed at a male audience that broadcast short form programming including comedy, videography
and gaming, animation
, and professional and amateur productions. BiteTV was also built on being a interactive television channel that delivered on-air interaction, online participation, wireless downloading, and PC and mobile chat-to-screen directly on the television.
In June 2010, the CRTC gave Glassbox Television approval for an amendment to its nature of service, allowing it to deemphasize its focus on short form programming; instead of BiteTV consisting entirely of short form programming, rather, BiteTV must "predominantly" feature short form programming. The CRTC also granted BiteTV the ability to add sitcoms, feature films, among other programming. In response to the CRTC decision, on October 22, 2010, BiteTV underwent a format and logo change, focusing entirely on comedy programming, incorporating sitcoms and feature films to its schedule, including additional sketch comedy and stand-up programs.
The PC Chat 2 Screen was a function created by BiteTV that let viewers interact with the channel and other viewers by letting them have their say on the channel within minutes of typing it. The viewer typed in their message and it appeared on The Crawl.
The feature faced criticism because viewers could spam The Crawl with various website
URLs, leading to The Crawl and PC Chat 2 Screen being manually shut down for the remainder of the night. To avert this, BiteTV set up features that include certain words automatically banned from entering The Crawl through the PC Chat 2 Screen function.
in the category of "Interactive Channel".
In May 2006, BiteTV won the Pixel award from the 2006 Canadian New Media Award in the category of Excellence in Cross-Platform.
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
Category B specialty channel
Specialty channel
A specialty channel can be a commercial broadcasting or non-commercial television channel which consists of television programming focused on a single genre, subject or targeted television market at a specific demographic....
. BiteTV is a comedy-focused channel including sitcoms, sketch comedy, stand-up, films, comedy shorts, and more. BiteTV is owned by Glassbox Television
Glassbox Television
Glassbox Television is an independent Canadian broadcasting and media company specializing in the operation of multi-platform broadcast and video-on-demand channels, content production, and digital publishing....
.
History
In December 2001, Glassbox Television was given approval from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to launch a digital specialty channel tentatively called Short TV, a channel described as "devoted entirely to short form films shot on film, video or created with computer animation. Short TV will showcase Canadian and international cutting edge short form films, from 1 to 40 minutes in length."The channel launched on March 15, 2005 as BiteTV, a youth oriented channel aimed at a male audience that broadcast short form programming including comedy, videography
Videography
Videography refers to the process of capturing moving images on electronic media even streaming media). The term includes methods of video production and post-production...
and gaming, animation
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
, and professional and amateur productions. BiteTV was also built on being a interactive television channel that delivered on-air interaction, online participation, wireless downloading, and PC and mobile chat-to-screen directly on the television.
In June 2010, the CRTC gave Glassbox Television approval for an amendment to its nature of service, allowing it to deemphasize its focus on short form programming; instead of BiteTV consisting entirely of short form programming, rather, BiteTV must "predominantly" feature short form programming. The CRTC also granted BiteTV the ability to add sitcoms, feature films, among other programming. In response to the CRTC decision, on October 22, 2010, BiteTV underwent a format and logo change, focusing entirely on comedy programming, incorporating sitcoms and feature films to its schedule, including additional sketch comedy and stand-up programs.
On-screen and interactive features
Before rebranding as a comedy channel in October 2010, BiteTV utilized a slightly smaller viewing screen than most other television channels, with the remaining space used to display on-air promotions and upcoming shows, a BiteTV office webcam, a status bar to show the remaining time left in the show, and a feature called The Crawl that contained pointless facts, weird laws, updates on programming, and the PC Chat 2 Screen function.The PC Chat 2 Screen was a function created by BiteTV that let viewers interact with the channel and other viewers by letting them have their say on the channel within minutes of typing it. The viewer typed in their message and it appeared on The Crawl.
The feature faced criticism because viewers could spam The Crawl with various website
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
URLs, leading to The Crawl and PC Chat 2 Screen being manually shut down for the remainder of the night. To avert this, BiteTV set up features that include certain words automatically banned from entering The Crawl through the PC Chat 2 Screen function.
Awards
In April 2007, BiteTV won an International EmmyInternational Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences is an organization of global broadcasters, with members from nearly 70 countries and over 400 companies...
in the category of "Interactive Channel".
In May 2006, BiteTV won the Pixel award from the 2006 Canadian New Media Award in the category of Excellence in Cross-Platform.
Notable series
- Arrested Development
- Caution: May Contain Nuts
- Extras
- Funny Flow
- It's Always Sunny in PhiladelphiaIt's Always Sunny in PhiladelphiaIt's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is an American television sitcom that premiered on FX on August 4, 2005. New episodes continue to air on FX, with reruns playing on Comedy Central, general broadcast syndication, and WGN America—the first-ever cable-to-cable syndication deal for a sitcom...
- Made in CanadaMade in CanadaMade in Canada is a Canadian television situation comedy which aired on CBC Television from 1998 to 2003. Rick Mercer co-created the program and starred as mercenary TV producer Richard Strong....
- Mr. ShowMr. ShowMr. Show with Bob and David is an American sketch comedy series featuring former Saturday Night Live writer/actor Bob Odenkirk and stand up comedian/actor David Cross...
- Mumbai CallingMumbai CallingMumbai Calling is a British-Indian comedy series, starring Sanjeev Bhaskar, set in the fictional Teknobable call centre in Mumbai. The series was shot on location in India. The pilot first aired on ITV on 30 May 2007...
- Pure Toonacy
- The ConventioneersThe ConventioneersThe Conventioneers is a television program currently on Bite TV. The series is hosted by Jason Agnew, and Matt Chin. The series originally began as a simple interview style program set in various conventions across Toronto and Mississauga. Since the shows inception in 2006, The Conventioneers has...
- The Mighty BooshThe Mighty Boosh (TV series)The Mighty Boosh is a British comedy television show created by Julian Barratt, Noel Fielding and others . The Mighty Boosh is a comic fantasy containing humour and pop-culture references. Episodes often featured elaborate musical numbers in different genres, such as electro, heavy metal, funk, and...
- The Wrong CoastThe Wrong CoastThe Wrong Coast is a Canadian stop-motion animated television show. The show emulates a Hollywood gossip show with fake news and features, and includes many parodies on Hollywood movies, often utilizing the voices of real stars...
- Note: series list is current as of October 2010.
Logos
| Original logo | Second logo | Third logo | Current logo |
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