When I visited the Vancouver office of OUTtv, an LGBTQ+ specialty network, in 2020, I found it across the street from a flooring company with a big, serious sign reading “BC Hardwood.” It was an unintentional reminder of the network’s less glamorous channel.
“HARDtv was a porn service,” said Brad Danks, OUTtv’s chief executive. “I couldn’t wait to get rid of it.”
Porn had been a bit of a problem. HARDtv was formed in 2005 after OUTtv, then called PrideVision, spun off its porn content in part to placate cable companies. But the main, porn-less channel still suffered in visibility, grouped with adult channels nonetheless. That exposed the real problem, that content must bow to distribution. OUTtv fought Shaw (now part of Rogers Communications Inc.) all the way to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.
