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]
17
Rogers 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.[2]
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]
27
The 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.[6]
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]
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-languageversions 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).[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]
Global 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.[18]
15
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]
July[]
Date
Event
1
Rogers Media-owned sports news and information channel The Score rebrands as Sportsnet 360.[25]
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]
28
DHX 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.[35][36]
30
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]
12
Bell Media launched sister channel to Canal D called Canal D/Investigation focusing on crime dramas.[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.