Three dates can describe different events
Access Communications’ own customer notice says Documentary Channel ceased broadcasting on August 31,2026. CRTC decision 2026-229 records a licence revocation effective September 1,2026. The decision itself is dated September 2. These statements describe different events rather than a simple contradiction.
Keep the label beside each date in a note. “The decision was published September 2” is not the same claim as “the final programme aired September 2.” A search result’s publication date should not silently replace the event date inside the source.
Read the named service and requested action
The CRTC record identifies The Documentary Channel and its licensee partnership. Its scope is that named English-language discretionary service. It does not announce the end of every documentary, every CBC programme or every partner organization involved.
Start with the actual service and action before drawing a wider conclusion. An operator can have several media products with related names. Conversely, a later product can use documentary branding without automatically providing the old service’s complete programme selection, recordings or access rights.
Another decision shows a different date relationship
CRTC’s A.Side decision was published in December 2022 and specified a January 2023 effective date. That is the opposite ordering from assuming that every dated decision describes an event already completed when it was published. Read the actual effective wording.
This matters when reviewing an old guide screenshot. A page could have been accurate for its capture date and later become obsolete. Preserve the screenshot’s date and context rather than treating every surviving logo as proof of a current unchanged channel or every future-effective announcement as an immediate closure.
Use the record to make a precise correction
For a stale favourite, note the exact former service and what the current interface shows. State whether the problem is historical branding, an unavailable retired service or a programme expectation. Do not ask a guide maintainer to restore a current schedule that the evidence identifies as ended.
If the goal is one documentary, retain its title and production information and consult current official programme routes separately. The closure record does not establish where every film moved. This article uses the cited dates to identify a historical service accurately; it is not a statement that the old broadcast and a possible successor share identical programmes or account access.
Related questions
Must publication and effective dates match?
The cited records show that they can describe different dates.
Does this closure end all CBC documentary programming?
The decision’s stated scope is the named discretionary service; broader conclusions do not follow from that alone.
Sources and scope
Scope notes distinguish published documentation, supplied information and editorial methods. They do not report a hands-on service test.
- Access: Documentary Channel termination notice — First-party distributor’s August 31,2026 final-broadcast customer notice, not an account-specific instruction.
- CRTC 2026-229 — Primary named-service revocation effectiveSeptember 1 and publicationSeptember 2,2026; no successor programme rights inferred.
- CRTC 2022-338: A.Side — Primary example of a decision published before its future effective date; no final programme timestamp invented.
