Bell Media has announced it is rebranding its MuchMore specialty channel to become M3.

The change will take place on Sept. 30 and comes after 15 years of the channel being known as MuchMore.

Justin Stockman, executive director, music and entertainment, Bell Media, says as a result of the change, the channel, which has and will continue to target adults aged 18 to 34, will be adding more exclusive programming and series to its lineup, including first-runs of the new royal drama Reign and mystery-thriller Ravenswood.

M3 also becomes the exclusive home to Pretty Little Liars, which moves over from Much.

“We wanted to shake it up with some new programming, because we found with our other specialty channels that exclusives are really what brings the big numbers in for us,” he says. “The MuchMore brand has always been seen as a bit of a spin off from Much, when it has always been its own thing. So we wanted to make sure it had its own identity as M3.”

Stockman says the channel will be making a switch from SD to HD when it changes its identity at the end of the month, noting the new name M3 is a nod to the channel’s original MuchMore Music handle.

Programming on the channel is expected to skew a bit more female, he adds, which will present a more targeted audience for advertisers. Stockman says 50% of the content on the channel will still be made up of music videos, due to its conditions of licence, with all programming on the channel having some tie to music.

He adds that the music videos on the channel are still a fit for the target demo, so will be included as a part of programming. 

The channel will also syndicate strips of The Mentalist, Anger Management, Mike and Molly and Supernatural, according to a release from Bell Media.

Launching along with the channel’s new look is its new online home, M3tv.ca, which will feature the channel’s schedule, music video premieres, programmed playlists as well as music and entertainment news.

From Media in Canada