Saturday Night Live Global Television is set to leave its longtime Canadian home in favor of rival CTV and Crave streamer, starting with its 52nd season later this year.
The deal between Bell Media, CTV’s parent company, and NBCUniversal Global TV Distribution will see the NBC sitcom shift to CTV and Crave, which already own the library SNL Episodes on its platform. The change of Canadian rights holders also follows NBCU’s Peacock as a direct-to-consumer streaming platform that continues to focus on the US market and strike deals for its studio programming with Canadian broadcasters.
“The series has been a proven hit for more than 50 years and has always been at the forefront of popular culture, setting the tone for modern humor. We’ll be entertained alongside viewers when the new season premieres on Crave and CTV,” Justin Stockman, vice president of global content at Bell Media, said in a statement Monday.
Canadian rights SNL The shift north of the US border from Corus Entertainment comes as long-time local media giants continue to play musical chairs with major US TV brands amid streaming competition. In May 2025, Warner Bros. Discovery deals to take popular lifestyle and entertainment brands such as HGTV, Food Network, Cooking Channel, Magnolia Network and OWN from Corus Entertainment to compete with Rogers Sports and Media.
WBD also transitioned other entertainment brands such as Discovery, Motor Trend, Science, Animal Planet and ID from their old homes at Bell Media to Rogers. The realignment of top U.S. channels and series is intended to allow local broadcasters to continue to pursue online TV viewers, targeting Canadians, where possible, who increasingly prefer U.S. streaming platforms Netflix and Prime Video.
The biggest loser in this Canadian TV horse race is Corus, a major buyer of U.S. series from major Hollywood studio suppliers, but hamstrung by a recapitalization plan to stay in the business that has yet to receive final approval from the CRTC, the country’s television watchdog. Corus attracts Canadian prime-time television viewers with American series such as Survivor and NCIS privileges, FBI, CIA and 9-1-1 series, but he has given up now SNL It addresses the continuing decline in linear television advertising in Canada.
