Our History

Early history

Family Channel was licensed as a premium television service by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) on December 1, 1987; it was originally operated as a joint venture between Allarcom Pay Television Limited and First Choice Canadian Communications Corporation (owners of both Superchannel and First Choice), with both companies owning a 50% stake in the service.[3]

In October 1999, as part of the split of Western International Communications (which had acquired Allarcom), its stake in Family Channel was sold to Corus Entertainment.[4] In March 2001, in response to concerns from the CRTC over Corus' near-monopoly position in children's specialty channels (accounting for its stakes in YTV, Treehouse, and Teletoon), Corus traded its stake in Family Channel to Astral Media in exchange for its stake in The Comedy Network for $126.9 million, giving them full ownership.[5]

On July 1, 2007, Family became the last English-language children's network in Canada to switch to a 24-hour broadcast schedule. On January 11, 2011, Family launched a high-definition feed, and concurrently introduced an updated logo and on-air presentation.[6]

Sale to DHX Media (2013–2014)

In March 2013, following the Competition Bureau's approval of Bell Media's acquisition of Astral Media, Bell announced that it would divest Family and its sister networks, among other assets, in order to reduce the market share it would hold in the English-language television market following the completion of the sale.[7] The CRTC approved the sale on June 27, 2013,[8] with Family Channel and its related networks concurrently placed in a blind trust held by businessman and former Montreal Canadiens president Pierre Boivin, pending their sale to a third-party.[9]

On November 28, 2013, DHX Media (now WildBrain) announced that it would acquire Family and its sister networks for $170 million. While the company already distributed and produced a large library of children's television series (particularly through its 2012 acquisition of the Cookie Jar Entertainment, which gave it ownership of the program libraries of Cinar and DIC Entertainment), the purchase marked DHX's first foray into broadcasting. DHX indicated that it would leverage its resources and library to add more original, Canadian-produced programming to Family under its ownership.[10][11][12][13][14]

The acquisition of Family Channel and its sister networks by DHX was approved by the CRTC on July 24, 2014.[15][16] As a condition of the sale, the CRTC imposed licensing conditions requiring that at least 60% of the Canadian programming broadcast by the network on an annual basis be produced by companies other than DHX.[17] The acquisition was finalized on July 31, 2014, with Family and its sister networks becoming part of a newly formed division of the company known as DHX Television.[18]

Removal of Disney Channel programming rights and programming changes (2015–2024)

On April 16, 2015, it was announced that Corus Entertainment had acquired Canadian rights to Disney Channel's programming library, and that it would launch a Canadian version of Disney Channel on September 1, 2015. DHX's programming agreement with Disney expired in January 2016.[19] As a result of these changes, Disney programming was removed from Family Channel's lineup throughout the remainder of 2015, and Disney Junior and Disney XD 1.0 were rebranded as Family Jr., Télémagino on September 18, and Family CHRGD (now WildBrainTV) on October 9.[20][21] Corus would also launch Disney Junior and Disney XD 2.0 on December 1, 2015, and they closed on September 1, 2025.[22]

Along with new and original productions, DHX reached new output deals with AwesomenessTV, DreamWorks Animation and Mattel in 2015 for programming based on their properties across its networks.[19][23][24][25]

On June 9, 2015, it was announced that a new incarnation of the Degrassi franchise, Degrassi: Next Class, would premiere on Family in 2016. The show is produced by Epitome Pictures, a studio where DHX acquired in 2014.[26][27] Next Class premiered on January 4, 2016 as part of a new primetime block known as "F2N". The F2N block was positioned towards an older teenage audience than the "tween" audience that Family has typically targeted; DHX Television senior vice-president Joe Tedesco explained that the company had original series in development for Family in case its rights deal with Disney had expired, and that these decisions were based on a goal to build a "strong lineup" of programs, and was not financially motivated. Tedesco went on to explain that the F2N block was meant to create a "meaningful destination" for teens and (in the case of Degrassi, a series that has historically dealt with teen issues) encourage family viewing.[28][29]

As part of the CRTC's "Let's Talk TV" initiative, DHX Media expressed concern that the elimination of genre protection for Category A specialty channels would put services licensed as premium services at an unfair disadvantage, especially due to their inability to air advertising. On November 2, 2016, the CRTC approved the implementation of new categories for licensed television services, replacing the separate specialty and pay television categories with a single Discretionary service category using standardized conditions of license, and ruled that current premium services may operate under these deregulated policies effective immediately. This decision allowed Family Channel to begin operating under an advertising-supported format.[30][31] Tedesco commended the CRTC for the decision, stating that it "represents the next logical step in the implementation of the Let's Talk TV decision, when genre protection was eliminated, and it ensures that pay and specialty channels will now be on a level field."[32]

Averted sale and closure of 1.0 (2024–2025)

On December 18, 2024, WildBrain announced that it would sell a two-thirds majority stake of its television operations (including Family Channel) to IoM Media Ventures, a Halifax-based company founded by former WildBrain CEO Dana Landry.[33]

In April 2025, WildBrain stated that it would be renegotiating aspects of the agreement, citing factors such as a decision by Bell Canada to not renew its carriage agreements for WildBrain's channels.[34][35]

On August 25, 2025, WildBrain announced that it was unable to renew its carriage agreements with Rogers Cable, and announced plans to close all of its specialty channels (including Family) in the near future, stating that the decline of its carriage agreements meant the channels no longer had most of their value and were "no longer commercially viable".[36] Eventually, it was confirmed that 1.0 would close on October 22.[37]

Programming

Main article: List of programs broadcast by Family Channel

Family's current programming is aimed towards children, teenagers and young adults aged 6–25 and encompasses original and acquired children's television series, teen dramas, sitcoms, and both theatrically released and made-for-television movies. Its daytime lineup is aimed at children, youth, and teenagers, while its primetime programs are aimed at an older teenage and family audience.[28] The channel airs films on Friday and Saturday evenings and on weekend afternoons.

Historically, Family and its spin-offs had been the main Canadian outlets for programming from the American Disney Channel and its sibling brands; Disney Junior and Disney XD. The channel also co-produced the 2010 film 16 Wishes, in association with Disney Channel and MarVista Entertainment. Family would begin to remove Disney programming in late 2015, after Corus Entertainment acquired exclusive rights to Disney Channel and its associated brands in Canada. Since then, Family acquired the bulk of its programming from AwesomenessTV and DreamWorks Animation,[28] as well as other syndicated and off-network programming targeting a family audience. The channel had also aired selected live-action Nickelodeon programs which YTV did not carry (which had typically been the main Canadian carrier of Nickelodeon programming until September 2025).

Family has also co-commissioned programming with the now-defunct American network Universal Kids, owned by DreamWorks' parent company NBCUniversal, which had also acquired the rights to the Family original series The Next Step and provided additional funding for its sixth season due to reduced financial commitments by DHX. Family also co-commissioned the children's horror anthology Creeped Out with British children's channel CBBC.[38][39][40]

As previously mandated for premium services (and consistently with Disney Channel itself), Family did not initially air traditional commercial advertising, besides promotions in between (or sometimes during) programs for its own programming and sponsored contests. It also carried interstitial segments, such as teen pop music videos under the banner "Fam Jam", features on upcoming family films that were produced by The Movie Network, and interstitial series from Disney Channel. After changes in CRTC policies and the network's licensing in November 2016, Family switched to a conventional, commercial-supported format for its non-preschool programs.[30]