CoolTV was a Canadian 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 2

Category 2 specialty channel

A Category B service is a Canadian specialty television channel which, as defined by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, may be carried, optionally, by all digital cable television and direct broadcast satellite providers.Unlike Category A services, Category B services...

 digital cable

Digital cable

Digital cable is a generic term for any type of cable television distribution using digital video compression or distribution. The technology was originally developed by Motorola.-Background:...

 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....

 dedicated to the musical genre

Genre

Genre , Greek: genos, γένος) is the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or culture, e.g. music, and in general, any type of discourse, whether written or spoken, audial or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time...

s of jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

, blues

Blues

Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...

 and world music

World music

World music is a term with widely varying definitions, often encompassing music which is primarily identified as another genre. This is evidenced by world music definitions such as "all of the music in the world" or "somebody else's local music"...

; including music videos, movies, concerts, and television series. Based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, CoolTV was owned by Canwest Media, a division of Canwest Global Communications.

History

In November 2000, Global Television Network Inc. (a subsidiary of Canwest Global Communications) was granted a television broadcasting licence by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) called The Jazz Channel, described as "a national English-language Category 2 specialty music video television service dedicated to jazz, blues and world music."

The channel launched in September 2003 as CoolTV, and was initially headed by former CBC Radio

CBC Radio

CBC Radio generally refers to the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which are outlined below.-English:CBC Radio operates three English language...

 broadcaster Ross Porter

Ross Porter (Canadian broadcaster)

Ross Porter is a Canadian broadcast executive and music writer. Best known as the longtime host and co-creator of the jazz program After Hours on CBC Stereo and pop culture reporter for CBC Television's The National and CBC Newsworld's On the Arts, he became head of the jazz television channel...

, who left in 2004 to head up CJRT-FM

CJRT-FM

CJRT-FM is a Canadian public radio station, which broadcasts at 91.1 on the FM dial in Toronto, Ontario. CJRT currently operates as JAZZ.FM91.The station transmits at a strength of 40,000 watts; as its transmitter facilities are at the CN Tower...

 in Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

.

From 2003 to 2007, Canwest operated a radio station in Winnipeg, CoolFM, which served as an adjunct to CoolTV. The radio station was sold to Corus Entertainment

Corus Entertainment

Corus Entertainment Inc. is a publicly traded Canadian media and entertainment conglomerate.Corus is a leading Canadian specialty television and radio producer, with additional assets in pay television, advertising services, television broadcasting, children's book publishing and children's...

in 2007 and rebranded "Groove FM".

On July 21, 2008, CoolTV ceased operations. Canwest cited growth potential, profitability and warranting investment for its reasons to discontinue the service.