The Week That Was In Worldwide Media - October 26, 2025


On this week's edition on "The Week That Was In Worldwide Media", we breakdown the closings of 4 WildBrain TV channels, massive TV changes for the NBA season in the United States, and some big TV viewership numbers for the 7th game of the ALCS here in Canada!


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


Story #1: WildBrain exits the linear TV business in Canada

WildBrain has officially exited the linear TV business here in Canada, after the closures of the Family Channel, Family Jr., WildBrainTV, and Télémagino happened on October 23rd at 6am Eastern (midnight for some providers).

The closures were announced on August 25th, over a month after Corus Entertainment announced too that they'll close ABC Spark, Disney Junior, Disney XD, La Chaîne Disney and Nickelodeon on September 1st, and 2 years after Family's former sister channel, Vrak, closed down due to Videotron dropped the channel in August alongside sister channel Z, as well as "challenges" in the broadcasting sector, lack of viewers and regulatory affairs deemed "outdated" by Bell Media.

These channels had their master controls at the Blue Ant Media headquarters on Atlantic Avenue in Toronto when these channels closed for good.

It is unknown when the rest of the programming for these channels will be moved, but Lana Longbeard, a cartoon that debuted on the Family Channel back in January, will be airing on CBC Television, starting November 8th.


Story #2: Big changes for U.S. TV viewers, as the NBA season tips off

On October 21st, the NBA returned to NBC for the first time in 8,532 days, as the defending champions Oklahoma City Thunder got past Kevin Durant's new team, the Houston Rockets 125-124 in double overtime, while the Golden State Warriors defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 119-109 in the nightcap.

As a result of the NBA returning to NBC for the first time since 2002, the Roundball Rock theme composed by John Tesh was also revived, alongside Jim Fagan as voiceover, but the voiceover is deepfaked due to Fagan's death in 2017.

1 day before the NBA returned to NBC, the 2 stations that are part of the Sinclair Broadcast Group moved to new homes, as WEAR-TV's 2nd subchannel in Mobile, AL/Pensacola, FL became the new home of the network after 29 years on WPMI-TV, while over in Reno, NV, KRXI-TV's 2nd subchannel also became the new home of NBC after 62 years on KRNV-DT, displacing the network since the station's inagural broadcast as KCRL in 1962.

Then on October 22nd, the Inside the NBA crew was moved from TNT to ESPN, as part of Warner Bros. Discovery enterting a sublicensing agreement with The Walt Disney Company to broadcast the show on ESPN and ABC.

The theme song and hosts are still intact during the TNT days, but the TNT logo was replaced by the ESPN logo while the show is still produced in Atlanta.

Finally, on October 24th, the NBA debuted on Prime Video, as the New York Knicks hammered the Boston Celtics 105-95, while the Los Angeles Lakers got past the Minnesota Timberwolves 128-110 in the nightcap.

These changes are part of the league's 11-year media deals with ESPN, NBC, and Prime Video, which will last until the 2035-36 season.


Story #3: Big viewership numbers for the 7th game of the ALCS in the United States and Canada

6 million Canadian viewers watched the Toronto Blue Jays defeat the Seattle Mariners in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series, which was the most watched Toronto Blue Jays broadcast ever in Canada.

Over in the United States, 9 million viewers watched the same game on Fox, peaked at 12.5 million, making it the largest ALCS audience in the United States since the Houston Astros and the New York Yankees went to 7 games in 2017.

Game 7 audiences peaked at 8.3 million around 11 p.m. ET when Jeff Hoffman struck out Julio Rodriguez for the game’s final out.

An average 1.9 million Canadian viewers watched the pregame show before Game 7, while an average of 2.8 million fans stayed tuned into postgame to watch Vladimir Guerrero Jr. get crowned MVP of the series and pop champagne in the clubhouse.

The 2025 World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers continues on Sportsnet and Sportsnet all week long.


My observations for the week ahead

Halloween is on Friday, horror-themed shows and movies are playing on most streaming services

For the 2nd time in the 2025-26 NHL season, all 32 teams will be in action on Tuesday, October 28th as part of the Frozen Frenzy, most games will be streamed on Sportsnet+, subject to blackouts outside the team's viewing area.


And that concludes this 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!

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