List of foreign television channels available in Canada

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) regulates which television channels are allowed to air in Canada. Although the vast majority of television channels available in Canada are Canadian-owned and operated, the CRTC allows certain foreign-owned channels to be broadcast in Canada, provided that every foreign station is linked to a Canadian station.

Which non-Canadian stations cannot be carried in Canada is determined by the List of Eligible Satellite Services. Although many stations appear on these lists, several are not carried by any cable companies.

"NOTE:" Stations/channels that are BOLDED are currently on the air, via cable or satellite.

American over-the-air services eligible for national distribution

These channels appear in Part 2 (Section A) and Part 3 of the List of Eligible Satellite Services. As such, up to one channel from each network can be carried by a Class 1, 2, or 3 cable company on the basic service of a cable company that cannot receive an acceptable signal from that network. As well, the CRTC has authorised most cable companies to carry a second American network feed from another time zone on a digital discretionary basis.

"Affiliations are as listed by the CRTC."

*ABC:
**WCVB-TV Boston
**WKBW-TV Buffalo
**WVNY Burlington
**WXYZ-TV Detroit
**WJET-TV Erie
**KSTP-TV Minneapolis
**KXLY-TV Spokane
**KOMO-TV Seattle
*CBS:
**WBZ-TV Boston
**WIVB-TV Buffalo
**WCAX-TV Burlington
**WWJ-TV Detroit
**WSEE-TV Erie
** WTOL-TV Toledo
**WCCO-TV Minneapolis
**KREM-TV Spokane
**KIRO-TV Seattle
*FOX:
**WUTV Buffalo
**WFFF-TV Burlington
**WFTC Minneapolis¹
**WUHF Rochester
** KAYU-TV Spokane
**KCPQ Tacoma
**WFXT Boston
*NBC:
**WHDH-TV Boston
**WGRZ-TV Buffalo
**WPTZ Plattsburgh
** WDIV Detroit
**WICU-TV Erie
**KARE Minneapolis
** KHQ-TV Spokane
**KING-TV Seattle
*PBS:
**WGBH Boston
**WNED-TV Buffalo
** WETK Burlington
**WTVS Detroit
**WQLN Erie
**KSPS-TV Spokane
** KCTS-TV Seattle

¹While listed by the CRTC as a Fox affiliate, WFTC has not served as such since 2002, when KMSP-TV took over Fox programming in Minneapolis. Since neither station has been carried in Canada since the affiliation change (in fact, it is not clear if WFTC was ever carried in Canada), there has been no reason to fix this "error" to date.

American over-the-air services distributed locally

These channels appear on certain cable systems in Canada. However, the CRTC has not authorised their distribution outside of the areas in which these channels can be picked up over-the-air; hence, they are not available for national distribution. There are other American stations available in Canada near the American border, but they are only available over-the-air and are not carried on any cable system.

*ABC:
**WDAZ-TV Grand Forks (available in Winnipeg)
*CW:
**WNLO-TV Buffalo (available in Southern Ontario)
**KSTW-TV Tacoma (available in Vancouver)
*Independent:
**KVOS-TV Bellingham (available in Vancouver)
*My Network TV:
**WNYO-TV Buffalo (available in Southern Ontario)
*PBS:
**WMED-TV (available in New Brunswick)
**KFME-TV Fargo (available in Winnipeg/Northwestern Ontario in high-definition)
**KGFE-TV Grand Forks (available in Winnipeg)
**WCFE-TV Plattsburgh (available in Montreal)

Foreign specialty channels

These channels appear in Part 2 (Section A), Part 3, and DTH (Section A) of the List of Eligible Satellite Services. As such, they can be carried on a discretionary basis by a Class 1 or 2 cable company, on the basic tier or a discretionary basis by a Class 3 cable company, or on a discretionary basis by a DTH company.

*ART America
*A&E (USA)
*BBC World News (UK)
* Black Entertainment Television (BET) (USA)
*CNN (USA)
*CNN Headline News (USA)
*C-SPAN (USA)
*CNBC (USA)
*TruTV (USA)
*Deutsche Welle (Germany)
*The Filipino Channel
*The Golf Channel (USA)
*TLC (USA)
*RFO (France)
*The Silent Network (Kaleidoscope)
*SPEED Channel (USA)
*Spike TV (separate feed for Canada is broadcast) (USA)
*TV Japan
*TV Polonia
*The Weather Channel (TWC) (USA)
*WMNB-TV: Russian-American Broadcasting Company

Foreign pay-TV channels

These channels appear in Part 2 (Section B), Part 3, and DTH (Section B) of the List of Eligible Satellite Services. As such, they can be carried on a pay-TV basis by a Class 1 or 2 cable company, on the basic tier or a discretionary basis by a Class 3 cable company, or on a pay-TV basis by a DTH company.

Up to one superstation (denoted by +) from the list may be carried as a specialty service. Star Choice and most cable companies offer WPCH-TV Atlanta using this option, although Bell Expressvu offers WGN Chicago instead.

*KSTW Tacoma/Seattle +
*KTLA-TV Los Angeles +
*KWGN-TV Denver +
*WGN-TV Chicago +
* WPIX New York City +
*WSBK-TV Boston +
*WPCH-TV Atlanta +
* WUAB-TV Cleveland +
*WWOR-TV New York City +
*AMC (separate feed for Canada is broadcast) (USA)
*Comedy Central (USA)
*GSN (USA)
*Lifetime Television (USA)
*Playboy TV (USA), on the following conditions:
**that the cable or satellite company blocks out both the video and audio feeds, and
**that the customer is not required to purchase this service in order to receive any other service
*Turner Classic Movies (separate feed for Canada is broadcast) (USA)

Foreign digital channels

These channels appear in Part 2 (Section C), Part 3 (Digital), and DTH (Section C) of the List of Eligible Satellite Services. As such, they can be carried on a digital basis by a Class 1, 2, or 3 cable company, or by a DTH company.

*Aaj Tak (India)
*Al Arabiya (UAE)
*Al Jazeera, on the following condition:
**that the cable or satellite company carrying the service monitors the content and blocks out any instances of hate speech
*Ariana Television (Afghanistan)
*ART Movies
*ATV Home Channel (Hong Kong)
*Azteca 13 International
*BabyTV (UK)
*BabyFirstTV (USA)
*Beijing TV (China)
*Big Ten Network (USA)
*Bloomberg Television (USA)
*Bridges TV (USA)
*BVN (Netherlands and Flanders)
*Canal 52 MX (Mexico)
*Canal de las Estrellas Latinoamérica (Mexico)
*Canal SUR (Spain)
*Caracol Television (Colombia)
*CaribVision
*CBS College Sports Network (USA)
*CCTV-4 (China)
*CCTV-Entertainment (China)
*Channel i (Bangladesh)
*Channel One (Russia)
*China Yellow River TV (China)
*CineLatino (Mexico)
*Cubavision Internacional (Cuba)
*Dandana TV (USA)
*De Pelicula (Mexico)
*Docu TVE (Spain)
*Dragon TV (China)
*El Gourmet.com TV (Argentina)
*ETTV Global (China)
*ETV Bangla
*Eurochannel (Brazil)
*EuroNews (France)
*Eurosportnews
*EWTN (USA)
*Fox News (USA)
*France 24- English (France)
*France 24- French (France)
*Future TV USA (Lebanon)
*Geo TV (Pakistan)
*German TV (Germany)
*GMA Pinoy TV (Philippines)
*HDNet (USA)
*Headlines Today (India)
*Horizon Channel (Hong Kong)
*HTV (USA)
*Hunan Satellite TV (China)
*Indus Music (Pakistan)
*Indus Vision (Pakistan)
*iTVN (Poland)
*Jiangsu International TV (China)
*KTO (France)
*LBC Sat America (Lebanon)
*MBC (UAE)
*Mezzo (France)
*Military Channel (USA)
*MSNBC (USA)
*MTA International (UK)
*NASA TV (USA)
*Network Ten (Australia)
*New TV Sat (Lebanon)
*New Tang Dynasty TV (USA- Chinese)
*NFL Network (USA)
*NTV Bangla (Bangladesh)
*Oxygen Network (USA)
*Paris Première (France)
*Premiere Futebole Clube (Brazil)
*Phoenix North America Chinese Channel (USA)
*Phoenix InfoNews Channel (USA)
*Planète (France)
*Planète Thalassa (France)
*Polsat 2 International (Poland)
*ProSiebenSat.1 Welt (Germany) - a Canadian version is already on-air
*PTV Global (Pakistan)
*Rai Italia (Italy)
*RTP Internacional (Portugal)
*Ritmoson Latino Channel (Mexico)
*Romanian Television International (Romania)
*RTR-Planeta TV (Russia)
*RTV (Bangladesh)
*RTV Palma (Serbia) No longer exists
*Sahara One (India)
*SET Asia (India)
*SET Max (India)
*Southern TV Guandong "(TVS Satellite)" (China)
*Southeast TV Station (China)
*STAR News (India)
*STAR One (India)
*STAR Vijay (India)
*Sun TV (India)
*Super Canale Caribe (Dominican Republic)
*Telefe Internacional (Argentina)
*TL Novelas (Mexico)
*Trace TV (France)
*TV3 Republic of Ireland
*TV3 Television Network (New Zealand)
*TV4 Television Network (New Zealand)
*TV Asia (USA)
*TV Chile
*TV Colombia
*TV Globo Internacional (Brazil)
*TV Land (USA) (Canadian Version already on-air)
*TVE Internacional (Spain)
*Utilisima (Argentina)

ee also

*List of Canadian television channels
*List of Canadian television networks (table)
*List of United States stations available in Canada
*List of Canadian stations available in the United States

References

* [http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/publications/satlist.htm CRTC List of Eligible Satellite Services]