TMN first received its license in 1982 after considerable public and governmental debate. Similar services in the United States had been successful, but the CRTC and others expressed concern about the impact pay-movie channels would have on Canadian culture. Was the market substantial enough for the proposed services to survive? Or would they become yet another vehicle for the importation of inexpensive U.S. film and made-for-cable products? Despite the recent rapid expansion of specialty channels and the parallel rise of multiple feature film services through cable and satellite delivery, both concerns were initially borne out.

In 1982 the CRTC awarded licenses to a number of pay-TV channels. C Channel, the service devoted to Canadian culture, lasted only five months and collapsed with insufficient viewer support to cover its costs. Star Channel, serving the Atlantic region, went bankrupt shortly thereafter. When the smoke had cleared, only First Choice (to be renamed The Movie Network in 1993), SuperChannel, and Super Ecran (which served the French-language market) were left. TMN operates east of the Manitoba/Ontario border, while SuperChannel operates in the west, thus giving them de facto regional monopolies.

As expected, the remaining movie channels began to ask for reduced Canadian-content requirements, arguing that programming “control” was necessary to their survival. The CRTC complied, and starting in 1986, the channels were required only to show 20 percent Canadian programming overall; their expenditures on Canadian content were reduced from 45 to 20 percent of subscriber revenue. TMN’s financial support for Canadian production was almost $7.5 million (Canadian) in 1988–89 and just under $10 million in

1992–93. This amount dropped dramatically to $1.4 million by 2000–01. In 1993 TMN was showing 30 percent Canadian content in prime time and 25 percent otherwise. While TMN remains primarily a carrier of popular U.S. films, it has become a key source of sales for Canadian film and television producers. TMN’s Foundation to Underwrite New Drama for Pay-TV (FUND) competition awards interest-free loans for scripts at various stages of development.

In 1992 TMN became the first network in North America to offer “multiplexing.” Through digital video compression technology, TMN subscribers receive an additional three channels (TMN2, TMN3, and TMN4) at no extra cost. These channels show what is essentially a reorganized broadcast schedule based on that of the main TMN. Multiplexing intends to provide additional choice and convenience to the subscribing customer by multiplying the number of showings of a film and the number of start times.

Through their common parent company, Astral Media, TMN operates in conjunction with Viewer’s Choice Canada Pay Per View and Moviepix, which specializes in films from decades past. Astral sees the common ownership of these pay-TV channels as a way to ensure that they complement one another in the relatively small Canadian market. Critics, however, see this as a concentration of media venues that has contributed to the creation of a tiny powerful media elite in Canada.