The Canadian appetite for programming just got a lot bigger – 289 channels larger, to be exact – after the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission’s announcement late last year of the new digital pay and specialty television licences.

Twenty-one Category 1 licences – which cable companies, satellite distributors and dth services will be required to carry – were granted. Of these, 16 are English and five are French.

The remainder are Category 2, pay-per-view and video-on-demand licences.

And the Category 1 winners are…

English Category 1 specialty services

• 13th Street (Global, tva, Rogers)

• The Biography Channel (Rogers, Shaw, a&e)

• BookTelevision: The Channel (Learning and

Skills Television of Alberta (lta))

• The Canadian Documentary Channel (Corus,

cbc, nfb, four other independent producers)

• Connect (Craig)

• FashionTelevision: The Channel (chum)

• Health Network Canada (Alliance Atlantis,

Webmd)

• Independent Film Channel Canada (Salter Street,

Triptych Media)

• Issues Channel (Stornoway, Cogeco)

• Land & Sea (Corus, cbc)

• Men tv (tva, Global)

• PrideVision (Levfam, Alliance Atlantis)

• Techtv Canada (formerly ZDTV Canada) (Rogers,

Shaw, techtv (formerly zdtv))

• Travel tv (BCE Media, ctv, tva)

• Wisdom: Mind, Body and Soul Channel (Vision tv,

Radio Nord, Wisdom Media Group)

• wsn (Women’s Sports Network) (tsn)

French Category 1 specialty services

• 13ieme rue (tva, Global, Rogers)

• LCN Affaires (tva, Publications Transcontinental, bce)

• Le Reseau Info Sport (rds)

• Perfecto, La Chaine (MusiquePlus, chum)

• Tele Ha! Ha! (tva, Film Rozon, bce)

For the full list of new services, see the crtc’s website (www.crtc.gc.ca).