List of foreign television channels available in Canada

This is a list of foreign television channels available in Canada. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) regulates which television channels are allowed to air in Canada. Although the vast majority of television channels available in Canada are Canadian-owned and operated, the CRTC allows certain foreign-owned channels to be broadcast in Canada.

In order for a non-Canadian station/channel to broadcast in Canada it must first listed by the CRTC on the listed as authorized on the List of non-Canadian programming services authorized for distribution. Cable and satellite companies are only allowed to carry the foreign services that are contained in the list. Also, not every channel on the list is currently carried by BDU's, it is up to their discretion to decide what channels they are interested in offering to consumers.

On June 30, 2011, the CRTC introduced new policy whereby the 'lists of eligible satellite services' would be consolidated into one list to be known as the 'List of non-Canadian programming services authorized for distribution'[1]

List of non-Canadian programming services authorized for distribution

Although the CRTC has combined all stations/channels together, the list below has been separated into sections to distinguish between the various types of services that are contained in the list. The sections are as follows: American over-the-air stations, American specialty channels & foreign specialty channels:

American free-to-air channels eligible for national distribution
See also: List of United States stations available in Canada

Up to one channel from each network can be carried by a Class 1, 2, or 3 pay television provider that cannot receive an acceptable signal from that network. As well, the CRTC has authorized most subscription companies to carry a second American network feed from another time zone on a discretionary basis.

Affiliations are as listed by the CRTC.

  • 1WBTS-CD (then WBTS-LD) was authorized for distribution by the CRTC on December 20, 2016, and replaced WHDH as the NBC affiliate on January 1, 2017. The authorization later transferred to the former WYCN-LD, which transmits a full-power signal to the Boston area using a channel share with WGBX-TV.[2][3]
  • 2WHDH's NBC affiliation expired on January 1, 2017, but the station still remains authorized for distribution.
  • 3While listed by the CRTC as a Fox affiliate, WFTC (a current-day MyNetworkTV owned-and-operated station) has not served as such since 2002, when KMSP-TV became the Twin Cities O&O of Fox in September 2002. Since neither station has been carried in Canada since the affiliation change (in fact, it is not clear if WFTC was ever carried in Canada), there has been no reason to fix this "error" to date.

American Superstations eligible for national distribution

Foreign specialty channels[4]
  • Note: All channels listed are authorized for distribution, but may not be carried by a provider due to lack of a carriage contract, low overall viewer interest, programming or rights conflicts with a domestic network, or other technical concerns. Some channels may also distribute their services through IPTV means direct to the consumer without CRTC intervention.

BOLD denotes those stations/channels that are currently broadcasting in Canada, available via cable, satellite or IPTV.

See also

References
  1. http://crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2011/2011-399.htm
  2. "Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2016-489 - Addition of WBTS-LD Boston to the List of non-Canadian programming services and stations authorized for distribution". Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. 20 December 2016. Retrieved 21 December 2016.
  3. Faguy, Steve. "NBC station switch affects many TV subscribers in Eastern Canada". Montreal Gazette. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
  4. "Revised list of non-Canadian programming services and stations authorized for distribution". Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. Retrieved 23 July 2019.
  5. Al Jazeera Arabic - Changes to conditions for distribution
  6. "Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2016-52: Addition of Pac-12 Network to the List of non-Canadian programming services and stations authorized for distribution". CRTC. Retrieved 11 February 2016.
  7. Approval subject to the following conditions: cable or satellite providers who carry the channel, block out both the video and audio feeds and that the customer not be required to purchase this service in order to receive any other service
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