BBC Canada, Cartoon Network, FYI & Fashion Television to shut down

[CDN Viewer]

It looks like the specialty channel purge continues, according to a post on the Telus website, the following channels will be shutting down on December 5:

BBC Canada
Cartoon Network
FYI
Fashion Television

Here is the message from the Telus site, which is the same for all 4 channels:

As of December 5th, 2019, the BBC Canada channel will no longer be available due to a recent channel provider change.

Fashion Television is way over due to be shut down IMO (Book Television should be part of this list as well) and based on comments I have heard from others, BBC Canada is not very good and pales in comparison to BBC America. I am kind of surprised about Cartoon Network, guess its not that popular which makes we question why they bothered launching a separate Cartoon Network branded channel in the first place?! In that regard, I wonder if Nickeldeon Canada is next on the chopping block as it airs nothing but repeats with first run shows airing on YTV.

https://www.telus.com/en/bc/support/...amming_updates

[mtlguy]

It's weird that Corus and Bell would stop channels on the same odd day in December.
It may be the end of the road for the Corus channels, but I have questions id FT is only removed from Telus and not the end at Bell. Can we verify that?

On the Digital Home forum, there is a note:

"So far these channels are only being dropped by Bell satellite. Telus just resells Bell satellite."

[mtlguy]

I checked with Vidéotron and they say they have no plans to remove those channels at the moment.

[CDN Viewer]

Interesting,

If they are not actually shutting down but simply Bell dropping them from their lineup then why isn't Book Television being dropped as well as I doubt it has many viewers.

The wording on the Telus site is similar to the messages they posted for IFC & Cosmo TV which recently shut down- quite confusing, guess we will find out on December 5.

[mtlguy]

It's also only Bell Satellite only, they are staying on Bell Fibe.

[bigoranget]

It's also only Bell Satellite only, they are staying on Bell Fibe.

Honestly, I don't get why Bell Satellite is still carrying SD + HD duplicates. Most providers are starting to transition away from this. Shaw Direct just completed the SD purge. Shaw Blue Sky, Rogers Ignite and whatever the service is that Videotron has done away with SD channels when those respective services launched. MPEG-2 equipment is at end-of-life and much of the MPEG-2 hardware already has passed end-of-life. It's time for Bell Satellite to start dropping SD channels completely. It doesn't make economical sense to be powering countless transponders on 2x satellites when probably a good chunk of their customers have at least 1 or more HD receivers. HD receivers are pretty low cost and would probably cost way less to swap out customers than to continue powering and maintaining unnecessary satellite space.

As for specialty channels, FT and Book should have been shuttered years ago. I can't believe these channels still exist. These channels weren't even relevant when they launched back in 2001. Bell Media could probably also shutter MTV and MTV2 as well. MTV hasn't had a hit in years and much of their limited prime time content could easily be placed on any of the new "CTV" specialty channels, MUCH or E!.

As for Corus, Dejaview should absolutely be on the chopping block. The channel was decent the first few years after it launched but Canwest gave up on it, Shaw Media did nothing with it and now under Corus, it remains an after thought. Honestly at least CTV throwback has 25+ titles to choose from and complete series runs. Yeah it's mostly (if not all) Sony titles but it's way better than DejaView's offerings and at least it's on demand. Heck even CHCH has better selection and they change the shows out after their complete run. FYI, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, History 2 and Nickelodeon should absolutely be in the conversation for shuttering. I know Adult Swim just launched but I have no idea why they bothered. I could even see the Disney channels on the chopping block (mainly because I doubt Disney plans to license these to Corus long term). If people are paying $9/month for Disney+, why would they bother with the linear channels?