Discovery Science was licensed by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) on December 14, 2000 as Discovery Civilization Channel.[1] The application was granted to CTV Inc., later to be transferred to its subsidiary, CTV Specialty Television Inc., in which ESPN owns a 20% interest. The channel was originally described in regulatory documents as "a national English-language Category 2 specialty television service dedicated to bringing the diverse people and cultures of the world to Canadian viewers. The service will be dedicated to exploring and understanding the roots of human development and learning from other cultures and traditions."[1]
The channel launched on August 15, 2001 as Discovery Civilization Channel, with programming devoted to human civilization and history. The channel was originally intended to be a Canadian version of an American channel of the same name, which was later reformatted and renamed Discovery Times, and later became Investigation Discovery.
On June 4, 2010 CTVglobemedia announced that Discovery Civilization Channel would be rebranded as Discovery Science on September 27, 2010,[2] focusing on science-related programming.
