Well it's official, children's television in the great white norths of Canada is about to lose another five channels. After almost four decades on the air and 37 years of operations, DHX Media/WildBrain's own cable television networks, Family Channel, Family Jr., Family CHRGD, WildBrain TV and Telemagino are about to officially get killed off the air by the end of Halloween season. The news comes as no surprise as it follows Corus Entertainment's recent shutdown of Disney Junior Canada, Disney XD Canada, Nickelodeon Canada, Disney La Chaine and ABC Spark which all closed last month.
Like with last year's Corus Entertainment cuts, the Family Channel cable linear broadcasting shutdowns are mostly due to DHX WildBrain Media and WildBrain Spark Entertainment have unfortunately been failing to renew the channels' contracts with their own cable provider partners Bell TV Media and Rogers which have been the cable providers for these networks since day one. Unfortunately their contracts have now expired and all five networks have gone bankrupt.
Many people see the death of Family Channel in Canada as a win for quality children's television entertainment as that's what DHX and WildBrain gets for shutting down THEIR Disney networks and ripping them off and then selling Disney networks to Corus Entertainment for which WildBrain has gotten sued multiple times for ripping off Disney's branding over the years.
Family Channel was first launched on September 1st, 1988 and since then it has been considered to be the Canadian equivalent of Disney Channel, most notably for its classic sitcom Life with Derek which still airs reruns on cable and streaming platforms to this very day. In the decades to follow, Family would also launch its Canadian versions of Playhouse Disney in November 2007 and Disney Junior and Disney XD in July 2011, as well as the French PD/DJ counterpart Telemagino in July 2010 and its three Disney copyright infringement channels Family Jr. and Family CHRGD in September 2015 and WildBrain TV in March 2022 respectively.
To mourn the deaths of these other Canadian kids' TV powerhouses, Family and its sister channels have made some special funeral branding to mark the occasion, including a farewell bumper showing off all its previous logos past and present and some words of thanks and gratitude from the brand's stars and in-vision continuity presenters past and present who want to take the time to say thank you for your support and supporting this family of networks after all these years.
Don't worry, the Family brand is still here to stay. Even though the channels are going off the air and getting scrapped for good, you can still find your favorite Disney Canada and Familky Channel content on your local Canadian streaming services. The Canadian versions of Disney Channel, Cartoon Network and Boomerang and original Canadian networks Treehouse TV, Teletoon+ and YTV are also sticking around for a while, so there's still plenty more Canadian linear kids TVin the years to come.
But unfortunately, it's the end of the road for DHX Media/WildBrain's Family Channels saga. From the entire staff at Corus Entertainment and WildBrain Television to all of you, we just want to say a very big thank you for supporting us at Family Channel after 37 years. Without your continued support, this brand of kids TV in Canada wouldn't even exist up until this fateful day.
Thank you for watching and Fartewell to the Fam.
R.I.P.,
Family Channel, Family Jr., Family CHRGD, WildBrain TV, Telemagino,
Playhouse Disney Canada, Disney Junior Canada, Disney XD Canada and ABC Spark
Thursday September 1st, 1988-Wednesday October 22nd, 2025
www.family.ca www.familyjr.ca www.familychrgd.ca www.wildbraintv.com www..telemagino.ca
www.playhousedisney.ca www.disneyjunior.ca www.disneyxd.ca www.abcspark.com
Copyright ©1988-©2025 Family Channels Canada Operations Ltd.
Copyright ©2010-©2025 DHX Media Worldwide Ltd.
Copyright ©2019-©2025 WildBrain Studios Entertainment
Copyright ©MMVII-©MMXXV The Walt Disney Company Enterprises Inc.
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