In June 2017, Wow Unlimited Media announced a strategic partnership with Bell, under which it would acquire an unspecified category B service to re-launch as a channel targeting children and young adults, in exchange for a minority equity stake in the company.[15][16] In an October 2017 interview, Bell Media president Randy Lennox revealed that the channel would be Comedy Gold.[17] The sale to Wow Unlimited Media was approved on July 9, 2018.[18]
On March 12, 2019, Wow Unlimited Media issued a press release stating the date upon which the channel would be fully acquired has been pushed back to either May 31, 2019, or August 30, 2019 "to pursue sponsorships and partnerships".[19] On July 24, 2019, a representative of Bell Support revealed that Comedy Gold would be shutting down anywhere between August 30 and September 1.[20] Wow took possession of the license on August 30, and Comedy Gold was ultimately shuttered on September 1. In its second-quarter earnings report, Wow stated that the company was "exploring strategic partnerships to structure a financially attractive business plan" for the network.[21]
In an application sent to the CRTC, dated July 20, 2020, Wow Unlimited requested revocation of its broadcast license for Comedy Gold citing numerous reasons for abandoning the channel, including, but not limited to, the global pandemic, the growing dominance of online streaming services (specifically naming Disney+, Netflix, and Paramount+), the growth of direct-to-consumer AVOD platforms, the significant decrease in ad spending on traditional broadcast channels, the difficulty in acquiring quality content when competing against large multi-national companies such as Netflix, and the crash of the wireline children's TV market making a new network based around that programming unfeasible.[22] The CRTC granted the application's approval and revoked the license on February 5, 2021.[23]
