The Week That Was In Worldwide Media - September 7, 2025

Welcome to my new weekly series called "The Week That Was In Worldwide Media", recapping the 3 biggest stories that happened in worldwide media in that particular week, and in this 1st edition, we recap the closures of 5 Corus pay-TV channels and 2 Elmnt FM radio stations, the debut of France's newest TV channel Novo19, and the retirement of another ESPN announcer, this time it's Cliff Drysdale!

Here's the breakdown of the top 3 stories of what happened this week in worldwide media:

Story #1: The closure of 5 Corus pay-TV channels and 2 Elmnt FM radio stations at the same time

On September 1st. 2025 at 12am ET (this past Monday), Corus shut down pay-TV channels ABC Spark, Disney Jr., Disney XD, La Chaîne Disney, and Nickelodeon citing "financial pressure" within the company, as well as Elmnt FM radio stations in Toronto (CFPT-FM, 106.5) and Ottawa (CFPO-FM, 95.7), also due to financial losses.

Both compaines have struggled financially over the years, and it leaves 95.7 FM Ottawa vacant again, while for GTA listeners, the 106.5 FM slot that was occupied by CFPT-FM has been replaced by WYRK from Buffalo, NY, meaning that the station is loud and clear for most of the GTA again.

As a result of the 5 Corus pay-TV channels closing down, the channel spaces created by ABC Spark and Nickelodeon Canada in 2001 as Scream and Discovery Kids respectively, ceased to exist.

The next Canadian TV closures will be WildBrain, which will shut down all 4 linear TV channels in the next few months.

Story #2: France's newest TV channel Novo19 debuts, completing the DTT channel reshuffle

Groupe SIPA Ouest-France's TV channel Novo19 debuted this past Monday at 6pm CEST, officially completing the DTT channel reshuffle that started on June 6th.

The channel's headquarters are based in Rennes (in which the newspaper's HQ is also located), unlike most TV channels which are based in the Greater Paris area.

The plan for a TV channel from Ouest-France started in July 2024, when Arcom announced the closure of C8 and NRJ12 on February 28, 2025.

But on June 6th, the holding slide for the new channel started to air on Channel 19, marking the first time since Culturebox moved from 19 to 14 in May 2021 that DTT channel 19 in France was activated.

DTT Channel 19 in France started with the now-defunct France Ô in June 2010, but closed down in August 2020, but Culturebox replaced France Ô in February 2021 in response to theaters, concerts, museums and other places of culture were closed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, but Channel 19 became vacant again in May 2021 when Culturebox moved to Channel 14, sharing time with France 4 for the next 4 years until France 4 moved to Channel 4 on June 6th.

And after the slot being vacant for 4 years, it seems that the new TV channel from Ouest-France might have a big showing across Metropolitan France!

Story #3: Cliff Drysdale retires from ESPN after an incredible 46-year run with the network

After calling a US Open women's singles semifinal between Aryna Sabalenka and Jessica Pegula, former tennis player Cliff Drysdale has retried from the long-standing sports network after 46 years working with ESPN, 5 days after the legendary Lee Corso said goodbye from the panel of ESPN's College GameDay.

Drysdale started working with ESPN during its second week on the air in September 1979, 1 week after the channel first hit the airwaves.

Following the retirement of Bob Ley in June 2019, Drysdale became the longest serving commentator at ESPN.

The network gave him a nice send-off after the hometown Jessica Pegula was ousted by Aryna Sabalenka in the Women's singles semifinals.

We'll wish him a happy retirement to the legendary Drysdale after 46 years at ESPN.

Canadian TV audience rankings for August 2025, from Numeris

1. CTV - 19.5% (up from 19% in July)

2. Global - 14.5% (down from 18.5% in July)

3. CBC - 10.5% (down from 10.8% in July)

4. Citytv - 8% (up from 6.5 in July)

Honorable Mentions

On August 29th, the country format at CIMX-FM Windsor, ON reverted back to a rock format, and also reviving the long-standing 89X brand that debuted in 1991.

And this past Friday, 4-time Stanley Cup champion in the 1970s and federal Liberal MP Ken Dryden passed away at the age of 78, the exact same day as longtime goalie & fan favourite Carey Price got traded to the San Jose Sharks in exchange for D Gannon Laroque.

And that's a wrap on the 1st edition of "The Week That Was In Worldwide Media", come back next week where we'll recap the top stories that happened in worldwide media!