Aug. 28, 2025 "Canadian kids network Family Channel to shutter in coming months": Today I found this article by Abby Hughes on CBC:
After nearly 40 years on air, the iconic kids TV network Family Channel — home to favourites like Life With Derek, The Next Step and Yo Gabba Gabba! — is set to shut down in the coming months.
Toronto-based company WildBrain announced this week it would be shuttering four of its channels because they were "no longer commercially viable":
Family Channel,
Family Jr.,
WildBrainTV
and Télémagino.
"For nearly four decades, Family Channel has been a trusted destination for Canadian kids and families.
We're incredibly proud of the legacy we've built —
thanks to our loyal viewers,
dedicated television employees
and the many talented Canadian producers we've partnered with,"
WildBrain's president and CEO Josh Scherba said in a statement.
WildBrain said that Rogers had notified the company it would stop distributing the channels after the two parties had been unable to work out a new broadcasting agreement.
This — plus Bell's previous decision to remove the four channels — led to the decision to shutter them entirely, WildBrain said.
An exact end date hasn't been announced, but WildBrain said it will stop broadcasting the channels once Rogers stops carrying them.
More than a TV program
Millennial and Gen Z viewers shaped by the channel will remember it as the Canadian home for Disney channel shows like Hannah Montana, The Suite Life of Zack & Cody and more, plus homegrown favourites like Life With Derek or The Next Step.
For the people behind the beloved kids shows — like Michael Seater, director and actor who starred as Derek in Life With Derek — the loss brings back formative memories of time spent on set or at in-person events the channel was known for.
Seater says he realized just how big Family Channel was to a generation of kids when he and his co-star, Ashley Leggat, did their first promotional meet and greet event at a mall. He recalls coming down an escalator and looking out over a sea of thousands of screaming fans.
Seater had starred in a few other TV shows before Life With Derek, but said none of his roles on other networks had received that kind of attention.
"I really understood that … Family Channel was a completely different beast," Seater said. "Those were, like, definitely the glory days of Family Channel. And it was just wild how popular all these shows were."
Outside of the shows themselves, Seater says Family Channel also promoted events and content that tackled important issues — like the Stand Up anti-bullying campaign.
Kids would write in to the network about experiences being bullied or standing up to it, and stars of Family Channel shows, including Seater, would visit schools to talk about how to put an end to bullying.
"I was bullied a lot as a kid ... and so it meant a lot to me. And it felt like a really cool thing to be a part of that Family Channel was doing every year," Seater said.
Former Family Channel producer Adrienne McDonnell says events like the Stand Up rallies were something that really set the network apart from others.
Mall tours,
concerts
and giveaways
that gave fans a chance to be on the network
all engaged viewers in real life in a way other programs didn't,
according to McDonnell.
"It was much bigger than just sitting down in front of the TV and watching for an hour or two," McDonnell said.
The channel also embraced its Canadian-ness, she says, airing homegrown shows right after some of Disney's big hits in order to help give them a shot at the spotlight.
McDonnell says the channel's promotion of Canadian content makes the loss especially worrying.
"I hope that … kids will just be able to find that new and unique content, especially Canadian [content]," McDonnell said.
Tough times for kids' TV
The move by WildBrain comes amid a tumultuous time for broadcast TV — and an even rockier one for kids programming,
according to Ryan Tuchow, a senior reporter at Kidscreen Magazine which covers the kids entertainment industry.
WildBrain had previously signaled the company was moving away from broadcast when it secured a deal to sell off the four channels to IoM Media Ventures, Tuchow points out — a deal that WildBrain said is no longer, following the decision by Rogers to remove the channels.
"The … economics have become so troubling that moves like WildBrain shuttering channels, you know, are stark and depressing, but not wholly surprising. It seems like that's the way things are going," Tuchow said.
For their part, WildBrain said the impact of the channels' shuttering on their business would be "minimal."
Aside from broadcast, WildBrain licenses content to streaming services,
and puts some of it up on its YouTube channel,
which has over 11 million subscribers.
But Tuchow says broadcast is still a major way that WildBrain would have been getting its original content to air.
And while it's possible some Family Channel content could migrate to other platforms after the broadcast channels are no longer,
Tuchow points out that some programs could simply be unavailable to Canadians because of this move.
CBC News asked WildBrain if any programs would be unavailable to Canadians once the cable channels shut down, but the company said they couldn't provide those details.
At the very least, "it certainly is going to be a hit for the company in terms of just how many eyeballs are going to be on their content," Tuchow said.
This also comes as Corus Entertainment is set to wind down five of its own kids TV channels — Nickelodeon, ABC Spark, Disney French, Disney XD and Disney Jr — starting on Sept. 1. Those channels were home to programs like SpongeBob SquarePants, Bluey, Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures and more.
With all of these channels lost, Tuchow says the landscape of kids entertainment on terrestrial cable is bleak.
"There's really not much left for kids without all these [channels], right?" Tuchow said. "
[Kids content] is going to be moving to YouTube and … that's going to be, really, the only place for them."
YouTube has eaten up a big share of the kids' entertainment space from traditional TV and steaming alike. According to a 2024 report by parental control software company Qustodio,
YouTube outranked platforms like Netflix and Disney+ as the most favoured entertainment platform by kids globally.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/family-channel-shuttering-1.7620532
Aug. 5, 2025 "Corus Entertainment axes five kids' channels": Today I found this article by Melissa Hank on the Calgary Herald:
Bluey, an animated series about a playful family of Australian cattle dogs, has become a casualty of Corus Entertainment’s decision to shut down five popular children’s channels. Photo by Disney+
My opinion: I don't watch Bluey, but I do like this picture.
SpongeBob SquarePants, The Backyardigans and Bluey are small-screen staples for many Canadian kids, but as of Sept. 1, they — along with other children’s shows — will no longer air on linear television.
The TV casualties are part of Corus Entertainment’s announcement earlier this month that it will shut down five kids’ channels. The company is axing
ABC Spark,
Nickelodeon,
the French-language La Chaîne Disney,
Disney XD
and Disney Jr.,
according to a statement per The Canadian Press.
Corus will still distribute the English-language Disney Channel on linear TV and its streaming platforms.
A spokesperson said in a statement that the decision came after a “comprehensive review” of the company’s assets.
“Corus regularly reviews its portfolio of channels to ensure we are meeting the evolving needs of our audiences and distribution partners,” the spokesperson said, according to C21 Media.
Children will now need to look for the shows they’re missing on other platforms. For example, SpongeBob SquarePants streams on Netflix and Paramount+. Bluey is on Disney+. Dora the Explorer, another kiddie favourite that Corus airs, also streams on Paramount+ and PlutoTV.
Corus Entertainment’s announcement comes amid an advertising revenue slump for the company.
Last month, news broke that Corus cut seven per cent of employee costs in its most recent quarter.
Chief executive John Gossling told analysts that the company expects its TV advertising revenue to drop about 20 per cent year-over-year in the current quarter as “geopolitical and economic uncertainty” remains, according to The Canadian Press.
Corus has said goodbye to other channels recently.
In December 2024, it stopped carrying
HGTV
and Food Network
— Rogers Communications had picked up the Canadian licensing and trademark agreements for those channels (along with
Cooking Channel,
Magnolia Network
and OWN).
Corus rallied by replacing Food Network and HGTV with two new channels:
Flavour Network
and Home Network.
Corus Entertianment’s portfolio still includes solid performers such as
Global,
the History channel,
Showcase,
Adult Swim,
W Network,
Slice
and National Geographic.
My opinion: I used to watch the Family Channel when I was a kid and teen, like by the end of jr. high school.
There is still YTV:
The Cartoon Network:
https://www.cartoonnetwork.ca/
The other 2 blog posts of the week:
"‘Found’ Canceled By NBC After 2 Seasons"/ "‘The Irrational’ Canceled By NBC After 2 Seasons"
http://badcb.blogspot.com/2025/09/found-canceled-by-nbc-after-2-seasons.html
"Alert: Missing Persons Unit: Cancelled by FOX; Police Drama Not Returning for Fourth Season"/ "Why Fox Canceled The Cleaning Lady After Four Seasons"
http://badcb.blogspot.com/2025/09/alert-missing-persons-unit-cancelled-by.html
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