Television programming or broadcast programming refers to the practice of organizing scheduled shows on a daily, weekly, or season-long system. This way of scheduling allows programs to attract and retain an audience and allow advertisers to effectively target to those audience members. At first, the programming was only meant for a few hours during the day, but as air time increased, so did the need for a bigger schedule.

It was on this day, September 6, 1952, that Television programming began in Canada. Montreal had its CBFT station and Toronto had its CBLT station. The development was different than that of the United States because Canada’s social, political, and economic situation shaped television in the country. Interestingly though, television in Canada actually pre-dated telecasts coming from the country because TV sets were able to receive U.S.-based signals.

Since its creation, television programming rapidly grew in the country. Pay-TV and direct-to-home satellite services in the 1980s and 1990s accelerated the exponential growth, and nowadays, the TV industry in Canada resembles that of Britain or Australia.