In November 2000, CHUM Limited was granted approval from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to launch MuchLoud, described as "a national English-language Category 2music videospecialty television service dedicated exclusively to alternative, hard rock, metal and punk music or alternative music-related programming." The channel was launched on September 7, 2001 as MuchLoud, fashioned after the former MuchMusic original program, Loud. The channel aired primarily music videos with a small selection of other programming including concerts and interviews. Existing MuchMusic rock music video programs were aired on a more frequent & regular basis on MuchLoud, such as The Punk Show, the network's eponymous metal block Loud, and the alternative rock program The Wedge. In July 2006, Bell Globemedia announced that it would purchase CHUM for an estimated $1.7 billion CAD, included in the sale was MuchLoud. The sale was subject to CRTC approval and was approved in June 2007, with the transaction completed on June 22, 2007. While the channel, from its inception, had always been an ad-supported service, on August 31, 2009, commercial advertising was dropped from the music video portion of the channel's schedule. The only remaining commercials existed in programs such as concerts or other special programming. On September 10, 2010, BCE, Inc. announced that it planned to acquire 100% interest in CTVglobemedia for a total debt and equity transaction cost of $3.2 billion CAD. The deal which required CRTC approval, was approved on March 7, 2011 and closed on April 1 of that year, on which CTVglobemedia was rebranded Bell Media. On June 21, 2016, it was announced that Stingray Digital would acquire MuchVibe, MuchLoud, MuchRetro, and Juicebox from Bell Media at a price-tag later revealed to be $4 million for all 4 channels. The deal for MuchLoud would later close on August 15, 2016, with MuchLoud rebranded as Stingray Loud on August 12, 2016. On June 1, 2017, Stingray announced the completion of the rebranding process for all 4 channels, which included new programming and a national promotional campaign. With the rebrand, all non-music video programming was removed from the channel.
