The following is a list of events affecting Canadian television in 2017. Events listed include television show debuts, finales, cancellations, and channel launches, closures and rebrandings.
The CRTC rejects simultaneous substitution over Super Bowl LI, giving Canadian viewers the ability to view American Super Bowl commercials in real time; the CRTC ruled that the commercials had become an integral part of the game broadcast and that the network had been botching its simsubs over other programs by cutting in and out at the wrong times.[1]Bell Media, which owns the rights to the Super Bowl broadcasts in Canada, vehemently fought against the proposed rule change, which caused its viewership to drop 39% compared to Super Bowl 50.[2]
The digital specialty channelG4 Canada ends operations after just short of sixteen years of operations, with Rogers Media turning in its license for CRTC revocation.[6][7] It ends four years after the American G4 went off the air, and several months after its intended replacement in United States, Esquire Network also expired.
September[]
Date
Event
4
Jay Onrait and Dan O'Toole return to TSN's SportsCentre after four years in the United States. The pair previously anchored TSN's flagship show from 2003 to 2013.
City stations CKEM Edmonton and CHMI Winnipeg relaunch evening newscasts, under the CityNews brand. The news programs, which air at 6 pm and 11 pm, are the first newscasts on the station since the CTVglobemedia's acquisition of previous owner CHUM Limited.
25
Satirist Rick Mercer, host of the eponymous Rick Mercer Report, announces that the upcoming season of the Report will be his last.[8]
October[]
Date
Event
17
Bell announces the purchase of French channels Séries+ and Historia.
Irv Weinstein, an American actor-turned-news anchor who was widely viewed in Southern Ontario through border blasterWKBW-TV and influenced a large number of Southern Ontario comics who would go on to become internationally famous (such as Eugene Levy, Jim Carrey and Mike Myers), dies at the age of 87 following a 21-month battle with ALS.[9]
Television programs[]
Programs debuting in 2017[]
Series currently listed here have been announced by their respective networks as scheduled to premiere in 2017. Note that shows may be delayed or cancelled by the network between now and their scheduled air dates.