| List of years in Canadian television: |
|---|
The following is a list of events affectingCanadian television in 2013. Events listed include television show debuts, finales, cancellations, and channel launches, closures and rebrandings.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 15 | Rogers Communications acquiresShaw Communications'Mountain Cablevision system inHamilton, Ontario as part of an agreement with Shaw for an option to purchase Shaw'sAWS spectrum holdings.[1] |
| Concurrent with Rogers' acquisition of Mountain Cablevision, Shaw Communications acquires Rogers' 33.3% ownership stake inspecialty channelTVtropolis for $59 million.[1] | |
| 17 | Rogers Media files an application with theCanadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to change programming conditions onThe Score's specialty channel licence to reduce sports highlight segments during live sports programming from airing every 15 minutes to airing once hourly.[2] |
| 21 | Omni Televisionowned-and-operated stationCJMT-DT/Toronto switches to an all-ethnic programming format with the addition of 35 hours of programming in Asian and South Asian languages (includingMandarin,Cantonese,Punjabi,Tamil,Hindi,Japanese,Korean,Urdu,Vietnamese andPersian) weekly.[3] |
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1 | Zee TV Canada, aCategory BHindispecialty channel owned by Ethnic Channels Group, launches.[4] |
| 4 | City expands intoEastern Canada full-time as multicultural stationCJNT/Montreal begins running City's full national schedule, effectively turning CJNT into anowned-and-operated station of theRogers Media-ownedsystem (City's programming had been seen part-time since June 2012, alongside multicultural programs fromOmni); 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.[5] |
| 27 | The Movie Network launchessubscription video-on-demand services fordesktop computers and mobile devices: The Movie Network GO, HBO GO Canada (for streaming ofHBO Canada content) and TMN Encore GO (for streaming ofThe Movie Network Encore content). All three services will be made available to subscribers of TMN, TMN Encore and HBO Canada at no additional cost.[6] |
| 28 | CBC News Network dropsTom Flanagan from his role as a commentator onPower & Politics following comments he made during a February 27University of Lethbridge discussion aboutchild pornography in which Flanagan said that there was "no harm" in viewing such material.[7][8] |
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 3 | The1st Canadian Screen Awards airs onCBC, The first annual award ceremony following theAcademy of Canadian Cinema & Television's decision to merge with two award ceremonies, TheGenie Awards (film) and theGemini Awards (television).[9] |
| 4 | After an earlier attempt to merge the two companies was rejected by the CRTC in October 2012, theCompetition Bureau approvesBell Media's $3.38 billion takeover ofAstral Media (Bell filed a formal application with the CRTC to acquire Astral on March 6). Bell will sellFamily, Disney Junior (bothEnglish andFrench),Disney XD,Musimax andMusiquePlus as part of the deal. The ruling places restrictions preventing Bell Media from imposing restrictive bundling requirements on any provider seeking to carryThe Movie Network orSuper Écran (which are among the eight channels that will be acquired by Bell through the merger).[10][11] |
| In relation to the Bell-Astral deal,Corus Entertainment acquiresAstral Media's 50% ownership stake inCartoon Network,Historia,Séries+,Teletoon andTeletoon Retro (along withFrench-languageversions of the latter two networks) as part of a $400.6 million deal that also includes two Astral-owned radio stations inOttawa. It also acquiresShaw Media's 49% interest inABC Spark (the latter agreement will result in Corus selling its 20% interest inFood Network to Shaw).[12][13] Corus acquisition of Teletoon, Historia and Series+ was approved by the Competition Bureau on March 15.[14] The CRTC approved the sale on December 20.[15][16] | |
| 5 | Bell Satellite TV becomes the first Canadian satellite provider to offercommunity 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 andSt. Andrews, New Brunswick.[17] |
| 14 | Global News: BC 1, a Shaw Media-owned regionalcable news channel focusing onVancouver and the province ofBritish Columbia, launches. The channel is the first regional cable news channel in Canada located outside ofOntario.[18] |
| 15 | The Canadian Radio-Television & Telecommunications Commission rules that Corus Entertainment must comply with the licensing conditions for theOprah Winfrey Network that require the channel to maintain formal education and preschool programming during daytime hours (encompassing 55% of its weekly schedule).[19] |
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 14 | Valérie Carpentier wins the first season ofLa Voix. |
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 2 | Thefirst season of the Canadian version ofBig Brother is won by Jillian MacLaughlin. |
| 30 | Rogers Media announces budget cuts that would result in the layoffs of 62 employees, the elimination ofOmni Television's English-languageSouth Asiannewscast and shut down of Omni's production operations in Alberta (Omni stationsCJCO-DT inCalgary andCJEO-DT inEdmonton 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 channelCityNews Channel due to financial losses for the service, Rogers will focus its news efforts in the Toronto area onall-news radio stationCFTR andCity flagshipCITY-DT'snews department.[20] |
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 27 | The CRTC approvesBell Media's $3 billion merger withAstral 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.[21][22] |
| 28 | After 10 years onTSN's flagship show,SportsCentre,Jay Onrait andDan O'Toole anchor their last show together; the two leave TSN to become anchors ofFox Sports Live on the upcoming U.S. sports networkFox Sports 1.[23][24] |
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1 | Rogers Media-owned sports news and information channel The Score rebrands asSportsnet 360.[25] |
| 15 | It was announced thatBlue Ant Media had reached a deal with theSmithsonian Institution andCBS Corporation to re-launcheqhd as a Canadian version ofSmithsonian Channel.[26] |
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 26 | Shaw Media-owned channel TVtropolis rebrands asDTour.[27] |
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 4 | Blue Ant Media-owned Bold relaunched asCottage Life, aCategory Bspecialty channel based on the company-ownedmagazine of the same name. The channel features lifestyle programming, including food, home improvement and outdoor series.[28] |
| 6 | The Shopping Channel relaunched with a new look.[29] |
| 30 | Bell Media-owned MuchMore re-launched asM3.[30][31] |
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 9 | For the first time in 22 years, theSabres Hockey Network will be made available to areas of Canada within 50 miles of theFirst Niagara Center, including all of theRegional Municipality of Niagara. 51Buffalo Sabres games will be carried byBell Satellite TV each year on their own channel as part of the agreement.[32] |
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 13 | Blue Ant Media-owned eqhd re-launched as theSmithsonian Channel.[33] |
| 26 | TheNational Hockey League reaches a 12-year,$5.2 billion deal withRogers Communications for exclusive English-language multimedia rights to NHL games beginning in2014–15. The deal will see Rogers air exclusive Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday night games onSportsnet orCity, as well as sublicence Saturday night and playoff games toCBC'sHockey Night in Canada.TVA Sports also acquires French language rights in a related deal, which all told will seeTSN andRDS lose national NHL rights after2013–14.[34] |
| 28 | DHX Media announced that it would acquire four Canadian specialty television channels from the formerAstral Media for $170 million, consisting ofFamily Channel,Disney Junior,Disney Junior (French), andDisney XD. The networks were being sold as a condition ofBell Media's 2013 acquisition of Astral.[35][36] |
| 30 | Darren Dutchyshen andKate Beirness become the weeknight anchors onSportsCentre 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. |
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 4 | Remstar, owners of the French television systemV, announced that it would acquireMusiquePlus andMusiMax from the formerAstral Media for an undisclosed amount. The networks were being sold as a condition ofBell Media's 2013 acquisition of Astral.[37] |
| 12 | Bell Media launched sister channel toCanal D calledCanal D/Investigation focusing on crimedramas.[38] |
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 | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| January 8 | Cracked | CBC Television | [39] |
| January 10 | Rocket Monkeys | Teletoon | |
| January 20 | La Voix | TVA | |
| February 3 | Motive | CTV | [40] |
| February 4 | Seed | City | [41] |
| March 8 | The Next Step | Family Channel | |
| March 30 | Orphan Black | Space | |
| June 13 | Package Deal | City | [41][42] |
| June 24 | Satisfaction | CTV | |
| July 4 | Camp Lakebottom | Teletoon | |
| July 15 | The Amazing Race Canada | CTV | [43] |
| August 26 | Breakfast Television (Montreal edition) | City | [44] |
| August 27 | PAW Patrol | TVOKids | [citation needed] |
| September 2 | The Social | CTV | |
| September 4 | Forgive Me | Super Channel | |
| September 5 | Grojband | Teletoon | |
| October 3 | Played | CTV | [45] |
| October 22 | The Illegal Eater | Travel + Escape | |
| November 17 | Sex & Violence | OutTV | |
| December 30 | The Adventures of Napkin Man | CBC |
| Premiere date | Title | Channel | Notes | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 11 | Borealis | Space | ||
| March 10 | Jack | CBC Television | Biopic ofJack Layton | [46] |
| July 6 | Everyone's Famous | Web series rebroadcast as a comedy special. | ||
| Gavin Crawford's Wild West | Unsold pilot aired as a comedy special. |
| Show | Station | End date |
|---|---|---|
| Crash Canyon | Teletoon at Night | March 3 |
| Show | Moved from | Moved to |
|---|---|---|
| Being Ian | Nickelodeon | BBC Kids |
| Date | Market | Station | Channel | Affiliation | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| December 11 | Montreal,Quebec | CFHD-DT | 47.1 | Independent/Omni | [47] |
| Date | Market | Station | Channel | Old affiliation | New affiliation | Notes/References |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unknown | Vancouver,British Columbia | CHNU-DT | 66.1 (PSIP) | Joy TV | Independent (primary) Yes TV (secondrary) |
| Date | Name | Age | Notability | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan. 14 | Conrad Bain | 89 | Canadian-born American actor, known for his roles as Dr. Arthur Harmon inMaude (1972-1978), Phillip Drummond inDiff'rent Strokes (1978-1986) and Charlie Ross in the short-livedMr. President (1987-1988); guest starring roles includeWestinghouse Studio One,The Defenders,N.Y.P.D.,Dark Shadows,The Facts of Life,The Love Boat,The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air andUnforgettable. | [48] |
| July 13 | Cory Monteith | 31 | Canadian actor, known for his role asFinn Hudson inGlee. | [49][50] |
| Nov. 28 | Danny Wells | 72 | Canadian television and film actor (The Jeffersons,The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!) | [51] |
| Dec. 21 | Geoff Stirling | 92 | Canadian multimedia mogul (founder ofCJON-DT) | [52] |
Tom Flanagan
 |