In May 2003, Dieter Kohler was granted approval by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to launch a television channel called The Cult Movie Channel, described as being “devoted to exploring the world of cult film and television.”ch as a linear television service available through various cable and satellite television service providers, the channel began operating online as a subscription video-on-demand service under the name The Cult Movie Network focusing on low-budget B movies primarily from the horror film genres.

The channel was launched as a linear television service in December 2010 when it began being carried by MTS TV in Manitoba. Since that time, the channel has reached carriage agreements with other TV providers around the world for carriage on their systems.[2]

According to the channel’s website in early 2011, the channel was scheduled to undergo a rebrand in the summer of 2011 by introducing a new logo, on-air graphics, and programming initiative. The channel was expected to focus on higher profile cult films from various genres including comedy, sci-fi, and fantasy. However, the rebrand did not take effect as planned. The rebranding took effect in January 2012; and although the channel began to broadcast programming from a wider variety of films, the majority remains focused on films from the horror genre and are low budget B movies.