E! Canada will be shuttered effective Thursday, December 31, at 11:59 p.m. ET, Soap Opera Network has confirmed, with the specialty channel’s owner, Bell Media, reportedly choosing not to renew its agreement with the brand’s owner, Versant Media.
According to David Friend, Arts reporter for The Toronto Star, who first shared the news in a post on X (formerly Twitter), some of the channel’s current programming will move to other Bell Media-owned channels, though he did not reveal any specifics on which shows and which channels they would land on.
“Beyond the Gates,” which joined the channel’s lineup in January after previously airing on sister specialty channel CTV Drama, could potentially find yet another new TV home, though it’s also possible Crave, which landed the streaming rights last year, might become the exclusive home for Canadian viewers of the soap opera going forward. In recent months, the service took over as the exclusive streaming home for all CTV programming, including “The Bold and the Beautiful” and “The Rookie,” among others, with the website for Canada’s most-watched broadcaster redirecting visitors to Crave’s website.
Cable provider Hay Communications confirmed the demise of E! Canada in a statement, saying, “Bell Media has notified us that they will cease distribution of the specialty channel E! effective December 31, 2026 at 11:59 pm EST. The channel will be removed from our channel line-up and any packages at that time.”
Launched on September 10, 1999, E! Canada has been the home to unique profiles of the world’s biggest stars, featuring up-to-the-minute entertainment news and live red carpet coverage from Canada and around the world, and over its more than 27-year run it spotlighted a variety of programming including hit reality series and music competition series.
Besides E! Canada, other Versant Media-owned brands licensed to Bell Media include USA Network and Oxygen, though at press time there was no news on whether any licensing issues were on the table that would impact those channels.
