OLN

OLN (formerly Outdoor Life Network) is a Canadian English-language discretionary specialty channel owned by Rogers Sports & Media. The channel was launched on October 17, 1997 by Rogers, in-partnership with Baton Broadcasting and the U.S. Outdoor Life Network; with the "OLN" name licensed from Camden Media, owners of the Outdoor Life magazine brand. Rogers took sole ownership of the channel in 2008.

OLN was originally dedicated to factual-based adventure and outdoors programming. In the years since the channel's acquisition, and with the eventual shuttering of its U.S. counterpart in 2021, OLN would drift into a general entertainment format aimed at male audiences; including reality shows, documentaries, movies, sitcoms, and overflow sports programming.

History
Licensed in September 1996 as Outdoor Life by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), the channel launched on October 17, 1997, as Outdoor Life Network. Its initial owners were Baton Broadcasting (later CTVglobemedia), Rogers Media, and the Outdoor Life Network in the U.S., which was later acquired by Comcast.

It was announced on November 16, 2007, that Rogers would acquire the remaining interests in OLN from both CTVglobemedia and Comcast, leaving Rogers as the sole owner of OLN. The deal was approved by the CRTC on July 7, 2008, and was finalized on August 1, 2008, with Rogers taking operational control on August 31, 2008.

On June 24, 2011, OLN launched their high definition feed. This feed is available on Shaw Direct, Bell Satellite TV, Eastlink, Optik TV, Bell MTS, SaskTel, Rogers, Cogeco, and Bell Fibe TV.

In July 2024, it was revealed on Access Communications' website that OLN would be rebranded as a Canadian version of Bravo as of September 2024. Rogers previously announced on June 10, 2024 that they struck an agreement with NBCUniversal to bring the brand back to Canada, five years after the original Canadian version of Bravo was rebranded as the CTV Drama Channel on September 12, 2019.

Programming
OLN was originally based on the American channel of the same name (later known as NBCSN), which operated from 1995 to 2021, and shared much of its programmingincluding coverage of the Tour de France. Today, OLN primarily airs general-interest programming with little to no relation to the network's original format (such as Canada's Got Talent and Impractical Jokers), and library programming to fulfil Canadian content requirements. Since January 2023, OLN also airs reruns of adult animated comedies (including The Simpsons, Family Guy and Bob's Burgers).

Due to restrictions in its CRTC license that required it to maintain a focus on outdoors programming at the time, and because Rogers already operated several services under the Sportsnet brand, OLN did not follow the suit of its American counterpart to become a mainstream sports channel. However, the channel has been used for sports coverage, including Bell Media and Rogers's coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympics and 2012 Summer Olympics. OLN has also carried programs from professional wrestling promotion WWE; usually as an overflow from Sportsnet 360, when schedule conflicts arise in the latter's sports programming.