In May 1999, Radiomutuel Inc. was granted approval by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) for a television broadcasting licence for a channel called Canal Z, aux limites du savoir, described as "a national French-language television specialty service that is dedicated entirely to science and technology, the earth and its secrets, space exploration, the paranormal and science fiction, lifestyles and computer science."

However, before the channel was launched, in June 1999, Astral Media announced its intention to purchase Radiomutuel, which was approved by the CRTC on January 12, 2000 and closed shortly thereafter. The channel launched on 31st January 2000 as Canal Z (often referred to as simply Z). The channel was renamed Ztélé in 2005.

Astral Media was acquired by Bell Media in 2013, making Ztélé a sister channel to the English-language science-fiction channel, Space. On 25th August 2014, the channel was renamed back to Z.