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.
Concurrent with Rogers' acquisition of Mountain Cablevision, Shaw Communications acquires Rogers' 33.3% ownership stake in
specialty channelTVtropolis for $59 million.[1]
City 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.[5]
After 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).[10][11]
The 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).[19]
April
Date
Event
14
Valérie Carpentier wins the first season of La Voix.
Rogers Media announces budget cuts that would result in the layoffs of 62 employees, the elimination of
Omni Television's English-language
South Asiannewscast 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.[20]
June
Date
Event
27
The 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.[21][22]
28
After 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.[23][24]
The
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'sHockey 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.[34]
Darren 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
Event
4
Remstar, 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.[37]
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.
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.
Concurrent with Rogers' acquisition of Mountain Cablevision, Shaw Communications acquires Rogers' 33.3% ownership stake in
specialty channelTVtropolis for $59 million.[1]
City 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.[5]
After 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).[10][11]
The 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).[19]
April
Date
Event
14
Valérie Carpentier wins the first season of La Voix.
Rogers Media announces budget cuts that would result in the layoffs of 62 employees, the elimination of
Omni Television's English-language
South Asiannewscast 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.[20]
June
Date
Event
27
The 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.[21][22]
28
After 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.[23][24]
The
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'sHockey 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.[34]
Darren 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
Event
4
Remstar, 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.[37]
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.