This article lists notable events affecting Canadian television in 2026. Events listed include television show debuts, finales, cancellations, and channel launches, closures and rebrandings.

Notable events February Date Event Source6–22The 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy airs on CBC and streaming on CBC Gem in English, Ici Télé and streaming on Ici TOU.TV in French, and cable networks TSN and Sportsnet in English, and RDS in French.

June Date Event Source11 – July 19The 2026 FIFA World Cup airs on all the Bell Media networks including CTV, TSN, and streaming services Crave and TSN+ in English, as well as Noovo and RDS in French. Jointly hosted by sixteen cities in Canada, Mexico and the United States, the 23rd edition of the tournament is the first to be hosted by three nations, the first FIFA World Cup to be held in North America since 1994, the first to feature 48 teams, and the first to be held in Canada with host cites Toronto and Vancouver.16CBC Television announces it would no longer sublicense National Hockey League game rights from Sportsnet for Hockey Night in Canada, marking an end to NHL games on the public broadcaster that began with the network's launch in 1952, and continued through the 2025–26 season via sublicensing deals with Sportsnet owner Rogers Sports & Media (who has possessed exclusive national media rights to the league since 2014). The decision effectively ends the public broadcaster's involvement in major professional sports, as the network's contract with the Canadian Football League ended in 2007, and its rights to the Toronto Blue Jays expired after 2008. Rogers also announced at the same time that it was withdrawing all NHL games from its own over-the-air outlets, Citytv and Omni Television, and making the league exclusive to subscription platforms.25The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is approved for full membership in the European Broadcasting Union. In addition to newsgathering and content-sharing with European broadcast networks, this is followed on July 1 by the announcement of Canada's participation in the Eurovision Song Contest 2027.

August Date Event Source 22 CBC Television airs a tenth anniversary rebroadcast of the 2016 Kingston concert by The Tragically Hip, which marked the end of their farewell Man Machine Poem Tour and was one of the most widely watched television broadcasts in Canadian history when it was originally broadcast.31Streaming platform Victory+ shuts down. The platform, a joint venture between the Dallas Stars (a United States-based hockey team) and Canadian media company A Parent Media Company, was an attempt to adapt a free ad-supported streaming television model to major professional sports. The venture had largely begun to collapse in July following the cancellation of many of its rights contracts and the failure of A Parent Media Co. (otherwise doing business as Kidoodle.TV) to cover rights fees or produce some of the non-major sports telecasts in its portfolio that had been scheduled for August.

Future events December Date Event Source5The Professional Women's Hockey League will take over the Hockey Night in Canada franchise with the first contest in an eight-game slate, keeping the brand alive on CBC Television with a reduced schedule after the CBC's loss of NHL rights (see June entry above). For the first time since 2002, the French counterpart of HNIC will be included, as the PWHL's agreement with the CBC includes exclusive rights to the PWHL's Montreal Victoire for Radio-Canada.

Programs

Programs debuting in 2026 Start date Show Channel Source January 6 Hoop Nations APTN January 7 Searchers January 8 Animal Nation January 9 Pitago Stop January 22 Finding Her Edge CBC Television February 2 The Legacy Lounge CBC Gem February 8 The Borderline CTV, Crave March 10 The Price Is Right Tonight Citytv March 19 Cirque Life CBC Television March 27 Blue Collar Crave April 3 The County HGTV April 9 Life Is Messy Home Network April 10 Andy's East Coast Kitchen Crawl Food Network May 6 Small Town Escapes HGTV May 7 Bon Cop, Bad Cop Crave May 14 All In AMI-tv July 6 Canada's Drag Race All Stars Crave July 17 Young Farts RV Parts Prime Video

Programs ending in 2026 End date Show Channel First aired Status Source March 28 Family Law Global 2021 Ended AprilHockey Night in Canada: Punjabi EditionOmni Television2008Cancelled June 21 The Way Home W Network 2023Ended

Specials Date Show Channel Source March 30 Juno Awards of 2026 CBC May 31 14th Canadian Screen Awards CBCCTVGlobal September 13 2026 Canadian Country Music Association Awards CTV November 15 113th Grey Cup CTV, TSN TBA 28th Quebec Cinema Awards Noovo

Networks and services

Network closures Network Type Closure date Notes BabyTV Cable/satellite August 7Baby TV to close in Canada on August 7, 2026. Documentary Channel Cable/satellite September 1

Deaths Date Name Age Notes Sources January 1 André Provencher 76 Former president of programming for TVA January 30 Catherine O'Hara 71 Actress (Schitt's Creek, Second City Television, The Studio), Emmy winner (1982, 2020) June 24David Clayton-Thomas84English-born Canadian singer (The David Clayton-Thomas Show)July 2Tommy Hunter89Country musician (Country Hoedown, The Tommy Hunter Show)July 7Marc Messier78ActorJuly 29Scott Hylands83Actor (Night Heat)August 4Lloyd Robertson92Journalist (CTV News)August 5Tedde Moore79ActressAugust 26Peter Cullen85Announcer and voice actorAugust 27Jacques Doucet86Sportscaster (TVA Sports)October 2Sass Jordan65Rock singer and judge on Canadian Idol

See also List of Canadian films of 2026

Notes

References