Hollywood Suite is a group of four CanadianCategory Bspecialty channels, each either majority-owned or wholly owned by Hollywood Suite Inc., a privately held broadcasting company based in Toronto, Ontario. The four channels are devoted to classic films, with each of the four channels devoted to a specific decade, and broadcasting solely in high definition. Although its channels are separately licensed services, the four channels are typically bundled together in a single channel package.
History
On July 2, 2010, Jay Switzer, was granted approval by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission for four new specialty channels, including "Velocity" and "Adventure", which would be "devoted to the entire genre of action and adventure, including selections from crime fiction, and epic and heroic drama." as well as "KISS" and "The Love Channel", which would both be "devoted to romance, love and relationships." The four channels launched on November 23, 2011 under the blanket branding Hollywood Suite, with all four channels typically distributed as a single package; the channels were marketed as providing a "pure" and "high quality" service at a lower cost in comparison to other premium television services in Canada.
Channels
Hollywood Suite consists of four multiplex channels, all broadcasting solely in high definition, and focusing on films from the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s respectively. The service also offers a video on-demand channel, as well as TV Everywhere app Hollywood Suite Go. The four channels were previously formatted with either a theme, or featuring films from specific studios under brand licensing agreements; they originally launched as WarnerFilms, MGM Channel, Hollywood Storm, and Hollywood Festival. On May 31, 2012, Hollywood Suite announced it had reached a partnership with Sony Pictures Television to re-launch Hollywood Storm and Hollywood Festival as AXN Movies and Sony Movie Channel respectively. At the time of the rebrand, AXN Investments took a 46.66% ownership in the two channels. The rebrand occurred on September 4, 2012. In September 2015, Hollywood Suite announced that it would re-launch its channels on November 2, 2015, dropping the studio-based brands in favour of dedicating each network to a specific decade. Free previews for all four channels occur during December to early January.
Ownership
According to CRTC records, the largest shareholders in Hollywood Suite Inc. were co-founder Jay Switzer at 30.15%, Donald Sobey at 15.38%, and ThinkFilm founder Jeff Sackman at 14.23%, with other shareholders holding combined interests of 40.26%. Sony subsidiary AXN Investments holds a net 46.66% interest in a subsidiary which owns the 90s and 00s Movies channels, with the 70s and 80s Movies channels remaining wholly owned by Hollywood Suite.
