The following is a list of events affecting Canadian television in 2013. Events listed include television show debuts, finales, cancellations, and channel launches, closures and rebrandings.
Events
January Date Event15Rogers Communications acquires Shaw Communications' Mountain Cablevision system in Hamilton, Ontario as part of an agreement with Shaw for an option to purchase Shaw's AWS spectrum holdings.Rogers to Acquire Shaw's Wireless Licences and Mountain Cablevision , Broadcaster Magazine, January 15, 2013.Concurrent with Rogers' acquisition of Mountain Cablevision, Shaw Communications acquires Rogers' 33.3% ownership stake in specialty channel TVtropolis for $59 million.17Rogers Media files an application with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to change programming conditions on The Score's specialty channel licence to reduce sports highlight segments during live sports programming from airing every 15 minutes to airing once hourly.Rogers Files Application to Change Programming at The Score , Broadcaster Magazine, January 17, 2013.21Omni Television owned-and-operated station CJMT-DT/Toronto switches to an all-ethnic programming format with the addition of 35 hours of programming in Asian and South Asian languages (including Mandarin, Cantonese, Punjabi, Tamil, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Urdu, Vietnamese and Persian) weekly., Broadcaster Magazine, January 18, 2013.
February Date Event1Zee TV Canada, a Category B Hindi specialty channel owned by Ethnic Channels Group, launches.4City expands into Eastern Canada full-time as multicultural station CJNT/Montreal begins running City's full national schedule, effectively turning CJNT into an owned-and-operated station of the Rogers Media-owned system (City's programming had been seen part-time since June 2012, alongside multicultural programs from Omni); the station also changed its on-air branding from "Metro 14" to "City Montreal". With the conversion, CJNT is now the first over-the-air television station in Canada to have its licensed format changed.27The Movie Network launches subscription video-on-demand services for desktop computers and mobile devices: The Movie Network GO, HBO GO Canada (for streaming of HBO Canada content) and TMN Encore GO (for streaming of The Movie Network Encore content). All three services will be made available to subscribers of TMN, TMN Encore and HBO Canada at no additional cost.28CBC News Network drops Tom Flanagan from his role as a commentator on Power & Politics following comments he made during a February 27 University of Lethbridge discussion about child pornography in which Flanagan said that there was "no harm" in viewing such material.
March Date Event3The 1st Canadian Screen Awards airs on CBC, The first annual award ceremony following the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television's decision to merge with two award ceremonies, The Genie Awards (film) and the Gemini Awards (television).War Witch leads Canadian Screen Award nominees. CBC News, January 15, 2013.4After an earlier attempt to merge the two companies was rejected by the CRTC in October 2012, the Competition Bureau approves Bell Media's $3.38 billion takeover of Astral Media (Bell filed a formal application with the CRTC to acquire Astral on March 6). Bell will sell Family, Disney Junior (both English and French), Disney XD, Musimax and MusiquePlus as part of the deal. The ruling places restrictions preventing Bell Media from imposing restrictive bundling requirements on any provider seeking to carry The Movie Network or Super Écran (which are among the eight channels that will be acquired by Bell through the merger).BCE takeover of Astral OK'd by Competition Bureau , Montreal Gazette (via The Canadian Press), March 4, 2013.Astral and Bell Comment on New Acquisition Application to CRTC , Broadcaster Magazine, March 6, 2013.In relation to the Bell-Astral deal, Corus Entertainment acquires Astral Media's 50% ownership stake in Cartoon Network, Historia, Séries+, Teletoon and Teletoon Retro (along with French-language versions of the latter two networks) as part of a $400.6 million deal that also includes two Astral-owned radio stations in Ottawa. It also acquires Shaw Media's 49% interest in ABC Spark (the latter agreement will result in Corus selling its 20% interest in Food Network to Shaw).BCE to sell assets to Corus as part of Astral deal, The Globe and Mail (via Reuters and The Canadian Press), March 4, 2013. Corus acquisition of Teletoon, Historia and Series+ was approved by the Competition Bureau on March 15.Corus Receives Competition Bureau Clearance to Acquire TELETOON, Historia and Series+ , Broadcaster Magazine, March 18, 2013. The CRTC approved the sale on December 20.5Bell Satellite TV becomes the first Canadian satellite provider to offer community channels, with the addition of seven channels to its line-up serving Chetwynd and Valemount, British Columbia; Neepawa, Manitoba; Hay River, Northwest Territories; Arichat, Nova Scotia; Leamington, Ontario and St. Andrews, New Brunswick., Broadcaster Magazine, March 5, 2013.14Global News: BC 1, a Shaw Media-owned regional cable news channel focusing on Vancouver and the province of British Columbia, launches. The channel is the first regional cable news channel in Canada located outside of Ontario.15The Canadian Radio-Television & Telecommunications Commission rules that Corus Entertainment must comply with the licensing conditions for the Oprah Winfrey Network that require the channel to maintain formal education and preschool programming during daytime hours (encompassing 55% of its weekly schedule).
April Date Event14Valérie Carpentier wins the first season of La Voix.
May Date Event2The first season of the Canadian version of Big Brother is won by Jillian MacLaughlin.30Rogers Media announces budget cuts that would result in the layoffs of 62 employees, the elimination of Omni Television's English-language South Asian newscast and shut down of Omni's production operations in Alberta (Omni stations CJCO-DT in Calgary and CJEO-DT in Edmonton will continue to broadcast, although local programming will no longer be produced by the two stations). Rogers also announces the shutdown of regional cable news channel CityNews Channel due to financial losses for the service, Rogers will focus its news efforts in the Toronto area on all-news radio station CFTR and City flagship CITY-DT's news department.CityNews channel shut down by Rogers, Toronto Star, May 30, 2013.
June Date Event27The CRTC approves Bell Media's $3 billion merger with Astral Media: the deal was finalized on July 5, 2013, Bell's share of the English-language media increased to 35.8%, while its ownership share of French-language media increased to 22.6% of the media marketplace.CRTC approves Bell's $3.4B acquisition of Astral Media, CTV News (via The Canadian Press), June 27, 2013.Bell's bid for Astral approved, The Globe and Mail, June 27, 2013.28After 10 years on TSN's flagship show, SportsCentre, Jay Onrait and Dan O'Toole anchor their last show together; the two leave TSN to become anchors of Fox Sports Live on the upcoming U.S. sports network Fox Sports 1.Jay Onrait and Dan O’Toole are leaving TSN for Fox Sports , National Post, May 3, 2013.Fox Sports 1 hires Jay Onrait, Dan O'Toole for nightly sports show, SB Nation, May 3, 2013.
July Date Event1Rogers Media-owned sports news and information channel The Score rebrands as Sportsnet 360.Score rebranded as Sportsnet 360 effective July 1, CFTR, June 5, 2013.15It was announced that Blue Ant Media had reached a deal with the Smithsonian Institution and CBS Corporation to re-launch eqhd as a Canadian version of Smithsonian Channel.
August Date Event26Shaw Media-owned channel TVtropolis rebrands as DTour.
September Date Event4Blue Ant Media-owned Bold relaunched as Cottage Life, a Category B specialty channel based on the company-owned magazine of the same name. The channel features lifestyle programming, including food, home improvement and outdoor series.Cottage Life To Launch National Specialty Channel , Broadcaster Magazine, April 5, 2013.6The Shopping Channel relaunched with a new look.30Bell Media-owned MuchMore re-launched as M3.
October Date Event9For the first time in 22 years, the Sabres Hockey Network will be made available to areas of Canada within 50 miles of the First Niagara Center, including all of the Regional Municipality of Niagara. 51 Buffalo Sabres games will be carried by Bell Satellite TV each year on their own channel as part of the agreement.Potrecz, Bill (October 9, 2013). Sabres ring in Canadian television deal . St. Catharines Standard. Retrieved October 9, 2013.
November Date Event13Blue Ant Media-owned eqhd re-launched as the Smithsonian Channel.26The National Hockey League reaches a 12-year, $5.2 billion deal with Rogers Communications for exclusive English-language multimedia rights to NHL games beginning in 2014–15. The deal will see Rogers air exclusive Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday night games on Sportsnet or City, as well as sublicence Saturday night and playoff games to CBC's Hockey Night in Canada. TVA Sports also acquires French language rights in a related deal, which all told will see TSN and RDS lose national NHL rights after 2013–14."Rogers reaches 12-year broadcast deal with NHL worth $5.2-billion," from The Globe and Mail, 11/26/201328DHX Media announced that it would acquire four Canadian specialty television channels from the former Astral Media for $170 million, consisting of Family Channel, Disney Junior, Disney Junior (French), and Disney XD. The networks were being sold as a condition of Bell Media's 2013 acquisition of Astral.30Darren Dutchyshen and Kate Beirness become the weeknight anchors on SportsCentre following the departure of Jay Onrait and Dan O'Toole. It would last for only 11 months as Dutch would return to the late night show with his longtime sidekick, Jennifer Hedger.
December Date Event4Remstar, owners of the French television system V, announced that it would acquire MusiquePlus and MusiMax from the former Astral Media for an undisclosed amount. The networks were being sold as a condition of Bell Media's 2013 acquisition of Astral.12Bell Media launched sister channel to Canal D called Canal D/Investigation focusing on crime dramas.Bell Media Announces Launch of French-language Channel Investigation Dec. 12 CNW 2013-11-14
Television programs
Programs debuting in 2013 Series currently listed here have been announced by their respective networks as scheduled to premiere in 2013. Note that shows may be delayed or cancelled by the network between now and their scheduled air dates.
Start Date Show Channel SourceJanuary 8CrackedCBC TelevisionJanuary 10Rocket MonkeysTeletoonJanuary 20La VoixTVAFebruary 3MotiveCTVFebruary 4SeedCityMarch 8The Next StepFamily ChannelMarch 30Orphan BlackSpaceJune 13Package DealCityJune 24SatisfactionCTVJuly 4Camp LakebottomTeletoonJuly 15The Amazing Race CanadaCTVAugust 26Breakfast Television (Montreal edition)City"Alexandre Despatie named co-host of City Montreal's morning show" . The Gazette, June 8, 2013.August 27PAW PatrolTVOKidsSeptember 2The SocialCTVSeptember 4Forgive MeSuper ChannelSeptember 5GrojbandTeletoonOctober 3PlayedCTV"CTV's new original drama series 'Played' begins production". CTV, May 3, 2013.October 22The Illegal EaterTravel + EscapeNovember 17Sex & ViolenceOutTVDecember 30The Adventures of Napkin ManCBC
Made-for-TV movies and miniseries Premiere date Title Channel Notes Source January 11 Borealis Space March 10 Jack CBC Television Biopic of Jack Layton . Canada.com, March 6, 2013. July 6 Everyone's Famous Web series rebroadcast as a comedy special. Gavin Crawford's Wild West Unsold pilot aired as a comedy special.
Programs ending in 2013 Show Station End dateCrash CanyonTeletoon at NightMarch 3
Changes of network affiliation Show Moved from Moved to Being Ian Nickelodeon BBC Kids