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December 3, 2020 12:32 pm  #1


Cartt.ca: BBC Canada Shutting Down By End Of The Year

I'm not a subscriber to Cartt.ca, which is a great site for Canadian broadcasting industry news, but one of their headlines caught my eye: "Corus-owned BBC Canada shutting down at month’s end."

This is apparently the only BBC branded channel in this country that will disappear. A falling subscriber base is to blame and it will be gone from cable and satellite on Jan. 1st. Frankly, I always thought this one would be a winner, but having never seen it, it's possible they didn't have access to much of the more popular BBC programming, a lot of which gets sold off elsewhere, including to PBS in the U.S. 

I haven't been able to find this anywhere else, so kudos to Cartt.ca for breaking the story. If you have a subscription (or want to) you can find the item here. 

 

December 3, 2020 12:37 pm  #2


Re: Cartt.ca: BBC Canada Shutting Down By End Of The Year

A pity. Where else will I be able to watch endless re-runs of Top Gear?

 

December 3, 2020 3:45 pm  #3


Re: Cartt.ca: BBC Canada Shutting Down By End Of The Year

Interestingly, BBC America appears to be doing quite well in the US. Is there any possibility of it becoming available here or are there too many programming conflicts (Doctor Who, which is one of BBC America's mainstays, is carried on CTV Sci-fi (ie Space) here. 

 

December 3, 2020 4:53 pm  #4


Re: Cartt.ca: BBC Canada Shutting Down By End Of The Year

As a fan of British TV,  I was initially happy when I discovered it in a new cable package 3 years ago.  I soon discovered however,  that it lacked a decent lineup and rarely premiered anything that interested me.

I believe RA  may be right concerning the other outlets that have managed to obtain the Broadcast rights for so many good U.K. shows.

Last edited by Media Observer (December 3, 2020 4:55 pm)

 

December 3, 2020 4:54 pm  #5


Re: Cartt.ca: BBC Canada Shutting Down By End Of The Year

Chrisphen wrote:

A pity. Where else will I be able to watch endless re-runs of Top Gear?


 

 

December 3, 2020 5:07 pm  #6


Re: Cartt.ca: BBC Canada Shutting Down By End Of The Year

Hansa wrote:

Interestingly, BBC America appears to be doing quite well in the US. Is there any possibility of it becoming available here or are there too many programming conflicts (Doctor Who, which is one of BBC America's mainstays, is carried on CTV Sci-fi (ie Space) here. 

That would be a factor absolutely but Canada doesn't have the population that would make all of these services viable.  And no doubt BBC Canada was impacted by the popular BritBox which has been available here since 2018. 

 

December 3, 2020 5:16 pm  #7


Re: Cartt.ca: BBC Canada Shutting Down By End Of The Year

having to adhere to "canadian content" rules, in my opinion, didn't help. all corus did was place existing canadian shows into the bbc canada line-up.

 

December 3, 2020 5:46 pm  #8


Re: Cartt.ca: BBC Canada Shutting Down By End Of The Year

the original hank wrote:

having to adhere to "canadian content" rules, in my opinion, didn't help. all corus did was place existing canadian shows into the bbc canada line-up.

But looking at BBC Canada's schedule the only cancon is 6am to 12noon.  Any cancon shows like Holmes Inspection is only on in the morning.  So I can't see how this really would impact on it's popularity. There is no cancon after 12 noon.

And checking out BBC America's schedule it is radically different than the Canadian channel, but also loaded up with non British shows like 8 hours of Star Trek The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine. Some of the programming on BBC America shows up on the BBC Earth Canada Channel which isn't owned by Corus. So it does get complicated. 

Also what hurt BBC Canada would be the fact that TVO, PBS and CBC and CBC News Channel all show BBC produced documentaries and series regularly in their schedules.  So some of their best shows, like Planet Earth,  have already run on CBC and TVO which doesn't help. 

 

December 4, 2020 12:16 am  #9


Re: Cartt.ca: BBC Canada Shutting Down By End Of The Year

I tuned in during William and Kate's wedding to find BBC Canada showing Global's coverage rather than the BBC's coverage.  That was a head scratcher.

 

January 22, 2021 3:06 am  #10


Re: Cartt.ca: BBC Canada Shutting Down By End Of The Year


RadioWiz & RadioQuiz are NOT the same person. 
RadioWiz & THE Wiz are NOT the same person.