TruTV
TruTV (stylized as truTV) is an American basic cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD). The channel primarily broadcasts comedy, docusoaps and reality shows, as well as sports programming produced by TNT Sports.
Country
United States
Worldwide
1080i (HDTV)
(downscaled to letterboxed 480i for the SDTV feed)
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- Adult Swim
- American Heroes Channel
- Animal Planet
- Boomerang
- Cartoon Network
- Cartoonito
- Cinemax
- CNN
- Cooking Channel
- The CW
- Destination America
- Discovery Channel
- Discovery Familia
- Discovery Family
- Discovery Life
- Free TV
- Food Network
- HBO
- HGTV
- Huda TV
- Investigation Discovery
- Magnolia Network
- Oprah Winfrey Network
- Science Channel
- TBS
- TLC
- TNT
- Travel Channel
- Turner Classic Movies
December 14, 1990
- July 1, 1991 (as Court TV)
- January 1, 2008 (as TruTV)
Court TV (cable television)
Watch Live (U.S. pay-TV subscribers only; 10 minute free trial)
The channel was originally launched in 1991 as Court TV, a network that focused on crime-themed programs such as true crime documentary series, legal dramas, and coverage of prominent criminal cases. The channel was initially a joint venture between Time Warner, American Lawyer Media, Cablevision, and NBC, with Liberty Media later joining the venture as well.
By 2005, Liberty Media and Time Warner had purchased ALM, Cablevision and NBC's stakes in Court TV. Time Warner subsequently bought out Liberty's share in 2006 for $735 million, and brought the channel under its Turner Broadcasting subsidiary. In 2008, the channel relaunched as TruTV, changing its focus to action-oriented docusoaps and "caught on camera" programs, which it marketed as "actuality" television. The channel continued to carry legal coverage during the daytime hours under the title In Session, but this was phased out by September 2013.
In 2011, the channel began to add occasional sports broadcasts from Turner Sports (renamed TNT Sports in 2023), primarily the NCAA men's basketball tournament. In October 2014, TruTV pivoted its format to focus more on comedy-based reality series, such as Impractical Jokers. In March 2024, TruTV began to increase its focus on sports programming, introducing a weeknight block that will feature sports-related programming, as well as being incorporated into new and upcoming TNT Sports rights such as MotoGP and NASCAR.
As of January 2016, TruTV was available to approximately 91 million households (78.1%) in the United States.[1] By June 2023, this number has dropped to 68.3 million households.[2]
High definition[edit]
The 1080i high-definition simulcast feed of TruTV is available on all major cable and satellite providers. In March 2011, the channel saw carriage of its HD feed increase, due to its coverage of the 2011 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament (and subsequent tournaments), which was its first-ever live sports telecast.[18]
International[edit]
Canada[edit]
Court TV Canada, owned by CHUM Limited (and later acquired by CTVglobemedia which then sold its assets to Bell Canada under the Bell Media subsidiary), launched on September 7, 2001. Unlike its U.S. counterpart, it did not relaunch under the TruTV name and continued its previous format until August 30, 2010, when, as part of a wider licensing agreement with Discovery Communications and CTV, Court TV Canada was rebranded as a Canadian version of Investigation Discovery.
The U.S. version of Court TV had earlier been approved by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission as an eligible foreign channel in 1997, and indeed, had been carried by several Canadian service providers prior to the launch of the domestic service.[45] Even after its rebrand, TruTV was never withdrawn as an eligible foreign service for carriage on cable and satellite, meaning that, particularly with the end of the licensing agreement with CHUM, there were few theoretical hurdles that prevented TruTV from re-emerging on Canadian service providers.[46]
Ultimately, the rights to TruTV's original programs have been dispersed across other Canadian cable channels, particularly CMT and Action, both owned by Corus Entertainment, and OLN, owned by Rogers Media. Of the three networks, Action had been the predominant broadcaster of TruTV programming. On April 1, 2019, Action was converted to a new full-time Adult Swim network.
