Where can I watch Food Network programming in Canada in 2025?

Food Network launched in 1993 in the United States, and was approved for carriage on Canadian cable systems in 1997. Three years later, a Canadian version of the channel was approved, which replaced the American version on Canadian TV service providers. In both countries, the channel helped make household names of personalities including Emeril Lagasse, Guy Fieri, and Anna Olson, among many others.

In December 2024 and January 2025, there will be significant changes to how Canadians can access Food Network programming:

• On Monday, December 30, 2024, the previous Food Network Canada owned by Corus Entertainment relaunched as Flavour Network, due to the channel losing its rights to the Food Network brand on December 31. However, it will continue to air new seasons of Canadian programming that had aired previously on Food Network Canada, including Carnival Eats and Great Chocolate Showdown, as well as new American and international programming.
   
  As far as we know, Flavour Network remains on the same channel positions as was the Corus-operated version of Food Network, such as Rogers channel 56 in the Toronto area. For those without access to Flavour Network through a TV package, its programming will also be available to stream on StackTV.
   
• On Wednesday, January 1, 2025, a new Food Network launched under Rogers Communications ownership. To our knowledge, only Rogers Cable and its subsidiaries (including Shaw Direct and the former Shaw Cable) carried this new version at launch. Most American programming from the old Food Network, like Chopped, the various Baking Championship series, and Guy's Grocery Games, will ultimately move to this new channel. It’s likely that Canadian programs will show up here too, but different from those on Flavour Network.
   
  Rogers subscribers should check this page for more information on channel placement, while Shaw Direct customers will be able to find the new Food Network on channel 399. It may eventually be available through other providers, but they have not reached agreements to carry it yet. For those that do not have a cable/satellite package with the new version of Food Network, its programs will also be streaming on Citytv+, and most U.S.-produced Food Network programs will also remain available on Discovery+.

Information about the transition is continuing to slowly trickle in, but we'll explain what we know below. We will endeavour to update this post as more information becomes available.

Why is this happening?

While some American cable channels are directly imported to Canadian cable and satellite providers — including the likes of CNN and TLC — this has not been the case for Food Network in Canada since October 2000, when Alliance Atlantis Communications and Corus Entertainment partnered with the U.S. channel, controlled at the time by the E.W. Scripps Company, to launch a Canadian version.

This was important because the American version of Food Network had become popular since launching in Canada in 1997, but like other American channels available in Canada, it could not sell localized advertising or air separate programming specifically for Canadian audiences. But in exchange for being able to start getting some Canadian ad revenue, Scripps gave up the ability to fully control the Food Network schedule seen in Canada, since under Canadian media ownership regulations, an American media company cannot directly operate its own Canadian version of its channel brands.

By 2024, following multiple mergers and other transactions that separately affected the U.S. and Canadian channels, the Food Network brand came to be controlled by American media conglomerate Warner Bros. Discovery (or WBD), while the aforementioned Corus Entertainment ended up with majority control of Food Network Canada.

The relationship between Corus and WBD seemed to be a healthy one until June 2024, when Corus announced that WBD had informed Corus that some of its programming and brand licences would be ending at the end of that year.

Days later, rival media company Rogers Communications said it had reached an agreement with WBD to take over the Canadian rights to its lifestyle brands, including HGTV, Food Network, Magnolia Network, Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, and more, all effective January 1, 2025. And that led to the situation we are in now.

As noted above, Corus has said that on Monday, December 30, 2024, it will relaunch the current Food Network Canada channel under the new Flavour Network moniker (of course, this being Canada, it is "Flavour" with a U, and not "Flavor Network"). Rogers has also confirmed that two days later, on Wednesday, January 1, 2025, it intends to launch a new Canadian cable channel under the Food Network brand.

So why did WBD decide to move all these brands to Rogers? For now we’re still not entirely sure, and can only speculate. Perhaps WBD wanted all of these lifestyle brands moved under one umbrella in Canada, and Rogers made the best financial offer to do just that.

It likely wasn’t unnoticed by WBD, though, that Corus—like many media companies, and especially those not part of a larger telecom conglomerate like Bell or Rogers—has had significant financial difficulties in recent years, leading to a significant drop in Corus share prices (to be clear, WBD has experienced many of the same difficulties itself). Those issues potentially put into doubt Corus’ ability to fully pay its debts to WBD and others. Indeed, the announcement it would lose rights to these WBD brands only exacerbated the matter.

Which programs from the old Food Network will go to the new Food Network? Which ones will go to Flavour Network?

In general, you should expect that Food Network programming filmed primarily in the United States and featuring primarily American personalities, with new seasons starting on or after January 1, 2025, will air on the new Rogers-owned Food Network. Some older seasons of these programs will also start airing in repeats on the new Food Network immediately, while more recent seasons should eventually move to this channel as well. Again, the programs question include the likes of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives; Tournament of Champions; and Wildcard Kitchen.

On the other hand, most Canadian programs that have aired on the channel were commissioned (and in some cases produced) directly by Corus Entertainment, some featuring long-standing personalities like Anna Olsen whose ties are to Corus, not to WBD. Thus, series like Carnival Eats and Great Chocolate Showdown will henceforth air on Flavour Network, not the new Rogers-owned version of Food Network. These programs will be supplemented with programs from third-party American, British, and Australian producers; these may include programs from Corus' other programming partners like Peacock. You can read more about Flavour Network's relaunch programming plans here.

A few programs will have split custody for a period of time. Corus has said that some Food Network U.S. programming that began new seasons in late 2024 — including Chopped and Beat Bobby Flay — will continue to air new episodes on Flavour Network into early 2025. But the Rogers-run Food Network will immediately begin airing repeats of past seasons of these shows.

What about Top Chef?

The American reality cooking competition series Top Chef and its spinoffs had long aired on Food Network Canada, but it is originated by the Bravo network in the United States. As part of Rogers' separate agreement with Bravo that came into effect in fall 2024, new seasons of the original Top Chef now air on the new Bravo Canada, for consistency with their U.S. broadcasts.

Because Rogers will own the new Canadian version of Food Network, it's possible that that channel will also air Top Chef in the future, but as of now, Bravo is its primary Canadian home.

Corus' Food Network Canada separately aired season 11 of Top Chef Canada in fall 2024, and casting is underway for a future season 12 on Flavour Network. Reruns of the Canadian series, which was commissioned directly by Corus, should air on Flavour Network as well.

I'm not a Rogers customer. Will I have to subscribe to Rogers Cable to get the new version of Food Network?

If you are an existing subscriber to a Rogers-owned TV service — including "classic" Rogers Digital Cable, Rogers Xfinity TV (previously known as Ignite TV), or Shaw Direct satellite TV — and subscribe to a tier that had the old Food Network, we expect you should get Rogers' new version of Food Network, but specific packaging details have not yet been announced. If you subscribed to the old Food Network as an individual à la carte channel, you may need to add the new version separately.

For subscribers of other TV providers, as of December 2024, the situation seems to be up in the air.

Rogers said in its original announcement about the WBD deal that it would "work with Canadian distribution partners to make the [WBD] content widely available". In short, much as existing Rogers-owned channels like Sportsnet and FX are available on other providers like Bell Fibe TV, Cogeco, and Eastlink, Rogers said it is willing to let other providers carry its new channels, including Food Network.

But that carriage is subject to negotiations between Rogers and each provider — and it's not a foregone conclusion that every provider will agree to carry the new channels. Telus, for example, recently decided to drop the former OLN entirely, and not carry its replacement, the newly-launched Rogers-owned version of Bravo.

Even providers that have specifically said they intend to carry the new Rogers-operated Food Network, like Hay Communications, have noted they may not have a contract in place in time for launch — suggesting that Rogers may ultimately launch the channel only on its own cable and satellite services on January 1, with other providers following weeks or months later.

In the event your service provider does not carry the new version of Food Network — or if you do not (and do not want) to subscribe to a traditional cable-style TV service, and perhaps have been getting Food Network programming through Corus’ StackTV — Rogers has said that all programming on its new Food Network will also be available on Citytv+, its streaming package available on Amazon Prime Video Channels.

At last check in December 2024, Citytv+ cost $4.99 per month (plus applicable taxes), on top of the price of Amazon Prime itself (currently $9.99 per month or $99.00 per year). [All prices in this article are in Canadian dollars before applicable sales taxes, which vary by province, and are subject to change without notice.]

Which other providers have announced that they will (or will not) carry the new Food Network?

As of December 30, 2024, the majority of providers, other than Rogers itself, that have made statements related to this transition have indicated they will continue to carry Flavour Network, the former Corus-operated version of Food Network, but have not announced plans to carry the new Rogers-operated version of Food Network. This doesn't rule out the possibility of picking up the channel at a later date, but it is unlikely these providers will carry the new Food Network immediately upon launch.

This includes Bell Canada itself, which operates a national satellite TV service as well as Fibe TV across much of the country; Vidéotron in Quebec; Eastlink which operates in various areas across the country; SaskTel and Access Communications in Saskatchewan; Cogeco which serves parts of Ontario and Quebec; Tbaytel, which offers TV service in and around Thunder Bay, Ontario; and Rally, a competitive IPTV-based provider primarily operating in the Toronto area.

Telus Optik TV (B.C. and Alberta) and Telus-owned Start.ca TV (Ontario) have also said they will keep the current Food Network Canada / Flavour Network. However in their case, it appears very unlikely they will pick up the new version of Food Network in the near future, as they had previously dropped Rogers' OLN/Bravo (as noted above).

Hay Communications, which operates in rural southwestern Ontario, originally stated in November that "[w]e will do our best to keep popular channels and content, for example Food [...] in their current position," without stating whether they would continue to carry the Corus-operated version of Food Network in its new iteration as Flavour Network. A subsequent update indicated they intend to pick up the new Food Network once they can reach an agreement with Rogers, but at least in the meantime it will offer Flavour Network.

If there are updates about other major providers that are (or aren't) carrying the new Rogers version of Food Network, we will endeavour to add them to this article.

Why can't (or won't) Rogers just take over the existing Food Network?

While Rogers will be acquiring Canadian rights to the Food Network brand, neither Rogers nor WBD can force Corus to sell the existing Food Network Canada channel or any other associated assets. Thus, Corus has the right to do what it wishes with the channel (within the CRTC's rules), and for the time being it will attempt to repurpose that channel licence as a fully-controlled channel called Flavour Network, as noted above.

That said, in many ways it's easier for Rogers to launch Food Network as a new service rather than simply taking over the old one. If it did, it'd have to pay extra money to Corus to buy the assets of the channel, and then money on top of that to a CRTC-mandated benefits package typically required during ownership transfers, to take over the existing channel. As it stands, Rogers can leverage the well-known Food brand to help its service quickly build a subscriber base, without paying to acquire an existing channel licence.

Wasn’t Corus owned by Shaw, which Rogers bought?

Not quite. Corus Entertainment was spun off from Shaw Communications in 1999. From then until 2023, the Shaw family owned the majority of voting shares in both companies, and it’s fair to say the two companies had fairly close relations during that time.

But Rogers’ merger with Shaw Communications, completed in early 2023, did not affect the ownership of Corus, which remains a separate company controlled by the Shaw family. (The Shaw family did, however, gain a significant number of non-voting shares in Rogers as part of the merger.)

Will I need to look up a new channel number for the new Food Network?

Yes. We originally thought that Rogers Cable might just put the new Food Network channel in the same channel positions as the Corus-owned version (e.g. channel 56 on Rogers' Toronto cable systems). And in general, TV providers have the right to organize their channels in whatever way they see fit, subject to CRTC-mandated change notice requirements and any clauses in their agreements with channel operators.

But Corus made clear it would "assert[] the rights of [Corus'] channels to continue to be on the air, on cable, on satellite, in the position they’ve always been." And in mid-December, it became clear that while Rogers had intended to substitute its new Food Network into the channel slots occupied by Corus, the CRTC would not allow it, at least in the short term (see the next section for further information about the disputes between Rogers and Corus).

So as of now, Flavour Network has taken over the same locations previously occupied by that channel when it was known as Food Network. The new Rogers-owned version of Food Network will launch on a different channel number (including, at least as of this writing for the Toronto area, channel 87 on Rogers Digital Cable and channel 49 on Rogers Ignite/Xfinity), for the providers that agree to carry it.

If my provider carries the new Food Network, will I also still get Flavour Network?

For now, it appears that all (or nearly all) providers, including Rogers, will continue to carry Flavour Network.

We don't know the specifics of Corus' agreements with the various TV providers across Canada, though we doubt that most of those agreements would all simultaneously expire at the end of the year. In other words, we currently expect that most providers that carry the current Food Network will carry the rebranded Flavour Network for some time to come, even if it ends up being on a different channel number.

However, industry publication Cartt.ca revealed in November 2024 that Rogers has been trying to remove Corus channels like Flavour Network from its main packages, but has been blocked from doing so thus far under the CRTC's so-called "standstill" procedures. Cartt also reported that Rogers' overall distribution deals with Corus expire at the end of 2024, but the standstill situation might still block Rogers from dropping Corus channels immediately.

In short, even if Rogers carries both the new Food Network and Flavour Network for a short period of time, it's not guaranteed that Flavour Network will remain available on Rogers for long. This may also end up true of other providers.

If your provider does end up not carrying (or dropping) Flavour Network, your best bet would likely be to subscribe to StackTV, Corus' over-the-top streaming package. For most Canadians, the most straightforward way to get Stack TV is as an add-on channel on the Amazon Prime Video streaming platform, where it currently costs $12.99 per month (again, on top of the cost of Amazon Prime itself).

Has the CRTC approved this? Could they stop it?

Rogers does not require any explicit approval from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), Canada's media and telecommunications regulator, to proceed with the launch of its new version of Food Network, for a couple of key reasons.

First, since its "Let's Talk TV" policy was released in 2015, the CRTC has not enforced most kinds of genre protection policies that were commonplace in years past, which might have otherwise blocked the launch of another service in the exact same category as an existing Canadian channel.

In short, if Rogers or anyone else wants to launch a new version of Food Network — or any similar channel with a similar programming focus under a different brand — they are free to do so, and any complaints Corus might have on that launch would likely end up being ignored (or summarily dismissed) by the CRTC. For that matter, Rogers could also take an existing specialty channel and reformat it as Food Network (as Rogers did recently with OLN / Bravo) and there would be no repercussions.

As for the brand itself, that is purely a contractual matter between Corus, WBD, and Rogers. If Corus thinks there are any issues with that move, it would be up to them to seek a resolution through the courts (as Bell did when it argued it had protections against Rogers from using the Discovery Channel brand). Corus has filed for court injunctions related to some of the other legal matters discussed earlier in this article. But Corus has not, to our knowledge, sought any court intervention related to the Food Network brand licence as of this writing, which suggests that they do not believe there's a case related to that matter they could win.

Second, if Rogers chooses not to use an existing channel licence — a likely possibility given the relatively small number of channels it operates directly right now — it won't need to apply to the CRTC in advance of the channel launching. Under that same 2015 policy, any Canadian company can launch a new channel without CRTC approval, and does not need to apply for a licence until it reaches 200,000 subscribers.

The new Food Network may very well exceed that threshold the moment it launches, but the point is that Rogers can launch the service, then apply and wait for the CRTC to take as much time as it wants to give it full approval — and not the other way around.

Again, however, the CRTC has gotten involved in other aspects of the transition, such as Rogers' carriage and channel placements of Flavour Network. In these situations, as discussed above, the commission has a standstill policy that tends to result in the status quo remaining in place until it can adjudicate the matters. However, the "status quo" in this case only refers to the carriage and packaging of the existing channel license owned by Corus, not to the use of the Food Network brand.

Significant revisions

In the interests of efficiency, this article was heavily based on a similar post we previously published concerning HGTV and Home Network.

• January 1, 2025 – minor updates reflecting the new Food Network having launched
• December 31, 2024 – updated channel placement information
• December 30, 2024 – various updates, including the rebranding of Corus' Flavour Network having taken place and Rogers' channel placements for its new Food Network
• December 8, 2024 — initial publication