Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation , often referred to as simply CBC , is a national television network in Canada , and is akin to the BBC in that it is primarily publicly - funded . The notable difference between the two stations is that , unlike the BBC , the CBC airs commercials and Canadians are not required to pay a licence fee . Prior to relocating to the UK where he created series such as " The Avengers " and " Doctor Who " , Sydney Newman , a Canadian , worked for the CBC . In 1965 , the CBC became the first North America n broadcaster of " Doctor Who " when it began airing the early William Hartnell - era stories , but the network cancelled its broadcasts after the first 26 episodes . In 2005 , history repeated itself when the CBC hosted the North American broadcast premiere of the revived series , initially broadcasting the show only a couple of weeks after its UK telecast ( and many months before American broadcasts of the revived series began ) . The CBC also received screen credit for contributing development funds towards the new series . Graeme Burk , writing in the June 2009 issue of " Enlightenment " ( # 151 ) , however , states that it wasn ' t a traditional co - production so much as it was an acquisition deal ( it was credited as a co - production because the funding was given in advance of the series being produced ) . Burk writes that a more traditional co - production model can be found with the the CBC ' s involvement in the Showtime cable series " The Tudors " , where they not only provided funding but also creative input . There was " no real weight " with the CBC ' s co - producer credit on " Doctor Who " . The 2005 broadcasts were sponsored by " TV Guide " magazine , and ( in accordance with a CBC practice at the time to have evening programming hosted by a personality from a CBC program ) Christopher Eccleston videotaped a series of introductions and " bumpers " in which he discussed the series and its characters and also promoted a contest run by " TV Guide " and the CBC , the first prize being a trip to Wales to visit the set of " Doctor Who " . One phrase coined during one of the bumpers , " Hands off the TARDIS - Doctor Who will return " , continued to be used on commercial bumpers into the 2008 season ( albeit spoken by an announcer and no longer by Eccleston ) . Most broadcasts of the 2005 season ended with a brief , " Doctor Who Confidential " - style look behind the scenes , and the CBC also compiled its own version of " Confidential " for its website entitled " Planet of the Doctor " . ( It was during one of these webcasts that the unofficial title " Out of the Ashes " was attributed to the 1996 TV movie . ) During the first season , the CBC was criticised for editing episodes for length ( due to the need to fit in commercials ) and for editing out the cliffhanger resolution at the beginning of " World War Three " , which the CBC acknowledged as an error ( which was rectified in subsequent rebroadcasts ) . On 26 December 2005 , the CBC aired " The Christmas Invasion " , one day after its UK showing . For this occasion , Billie Piper recorded special introductions and bumpers , wearing an outfit with the Canadian - iconic " Roots " logo . This was the last time the CBC ' s broadcasts of the series came close to coinciding with that of the BBC . The CBC also discontinued the practice of recruiting the show ' s stars to record promotional material such as bumpers after airing " The Christmas Invasion " . ( Additionally the network discontinued the practice of hosting evening programming around this time ) . In 2005 , it was also announced that the CBC would co - produce the first season of " Torchwood " in much the same capacity as it did " Doctor Who " . Beginning in 2006 , broadcasts of " Doctor Who " became less timely on the CBC , as the broadcaster chose not to air the series until well after its broadcast in the UK , but still before the US broadcast . The second series was also interrupted ( in - between the two - parter " The Impossible Planet " and " The Satan Pit " ) by a lengthly mid - season break . As a result , the Canadian release of the 2nd Series DVD set actually occurred the week " before " the CBC broadcast the series finale . As a result of the mid - season break , the 2006 Christmas special , " The Runaway Bride " was not aired during the holiday season . In the summer of 2007 , the CBC aired the third series of Doctor Who , with the episodes beginning a couple of weeks prior to the season finale airing in the UK . In an unusual decision , the Christmas special , " The Runaway Bride " aired in an after - midnight time slot several hours " after " the season premiere , " Smith and Jones " . This was , however , a consequence of a last - minute scheduling change ; originally scheduled to air in prime time on 11 June 2007 , " The Runaway Bride " was bumped due to the Stanley Cup hockey finals running overtime . The CBC later replayed " The Runaway Bride " in a prime time timeslot in only certain Canadian provinces . Meanwhile , nearly a full year after it had aired in the UK , broadcast of the first series of " Torchwood " on the CBC occurred in the fall of 2007 , after the third series of " Doctor Who " , even though the season finale of " Torchwood " led into the third season finale of " Doctor Who " . The CBC aired the more adult - oriented " Torchwood " generally intact , except for censoring certain words of dialogue ( mainly the F - word ) and making the expected cuts for commercial time . Since first - season " Torchwood " episodes ran 50 minutes without commercial interruption in the UK ( as opposed to 45 minutes for " Doctor Who " ) , more extensive editing for commercials was required than the parent program Ironically , the 2005 through 2007 series were all scheduled following the CBC ' s broadcasts of " Coronation Street " , which was an ongoing ratings nemesis of the original series in the 1980s . In 2008 , it was announced that the CBC would no longer be funding " Torchwood " and would not air the second series ( it was subsequently aired by a competing network , Space , about five months after its UK broadcast ) . It was rumoured that the CBC had also dropped its funding for series 4 of " Doctor Who " , which was supported by the fact the CBC no longer received screen credit on series 4 episodes , but the CBC later reassured them it was still supporting the series . In May 2008 , after months of speculation by Canadian fans , the CBC announced it would belatedly air the fourth series starting on 19 September 2008 in the same Friday night timeslot formerly occupied by " Torchwood " , months after the broadcast of the series in both the UK and US . Although there was initial speculation that the network would split the series into two halves as it did with series 2 , ultimately the series was shown over 13 consecutive weeks to its conclusion in December . The series was no longer paired with " Coronation Street " in its new timeslot , instead it followed reruns of " The Rick Mercer Report " , a Canadian variant on Jon Stewart ' s " Daily Show " . Controversially , the network chose not to broadcast the 2007 Christmas special , " Voyage of the Damned " , meaning Canadian viewers were not given a resolution to the previous season ' s cliffhanger , and the CBC ultimately never broadcast this programme . On 18 November 2008 , the DVD box set of the fourth season was released in Canada , even though the CBC broadcasts still had 4 episodes remaining . ( The CBC either did not attempt to , or they were unsuccessful in , delaying the Canadian release of the set ; unlike Space which was able to delay the Canadian release of " Torchwood " series 2 on DVD until after its broadcasts of the show had concluded . ) A major fan controversy erupted when the CBC ' s broadcast of the season 4 finale " Journey ' s End " on 12 December 2008 used an international print of the episode that had been severely edited to approximately 44 minutes from the original 63 minutes in order to fit a standard 60 - minute timeslot , with commercial breaks . This resulted in major narrative scenes being deleted , with reviewers commenting it rendered the episode hard to follow . The CBC made the uncut episode available for a brief time in streaming format on its website . Despite series 4 concluding just before the Christmas holidays , the CBC did not broadcast the 2008 Christmas special , " The Next Doctor " . Despite calls on fan forums and in blogs in the wake of the " Journey ' s End " controversy and non - broadcast of " The Next Doctor " for Space to take over broadcasts of " Doctor Who " from the CBC as it had " Torchwood " , in January 2009 the network said it had no plans to do so . However , Space subsequently announced that it would indeed broadcast the skipped 2008 Christmas special " The Next Doctor " on 14 March 2009 , leading to speculation the CBC would be dropping the programme altogether . This appeared to be confirmed a few weeks later with an informal announcement that Space would air the second special " Planet of the Dead " in June 2009 , followed by the remaining specials and series 5 in 2010 . On 1 June 2009 , Space officially announced that it had taken over Canadian broadcasts of new episodes of " Doctor Who " , retroactively beginning with " The Next Doctor " , continuing with " Planet of the Dead " airing in late July , and continuing on with the remaining specials and the 2010 season . In March 2010 , Space also obtained the rights to air the first four seasons of the revived series , with the exception of " Voyage of the Damned " , which became available to Space in April 2010 . Space subsequently announced it would air " Voyage " for the first time on English - language television on 24 July 2010 , more than two and a half years after its original UK broadcast . The CBC continued to air reruns of " Doctor Who " in a late - night timeslot on Sunday s , but discontinued these broadcasts as of 20 September 2009 . Criticism . An example of the criticism levelled towards the CBC and its recent handling of " Doctor Who " can be found in the article " National Dreams " by Graeme Burk , published in the June 2009 issue of " Enlightenment " ( # 151 ) , a fanzine published by the Canadian Doctor Who Information Network . In his critique of the situation , Burk notes that after a strong first season in 2005 , which involved large amounts of promotion , the network seemed to forget that it had a hit series . Burk alleges that changes in management at the network , coupled with company politics , resulted in loss of interest , and that the network missed out on numerous opportunities to promote the series , such as in 2008 when John Barrowman was in the country for several weeks co - hosting the CBC production of the competition series " How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria ? " , yet the network never attempted to recruit the actor to help promote the pending fourth season of " Doctor Who " in which Barrowman appeared . Burk cited an earlier article in " Enlightenment " wherein the organiser of the Canadian fan awards the Constellations found after talking with a number of officials at the CBC , that many CBC staffers weren ' t even aware the network had a co - producer credit and simply regarded the series as a foreign acquisition . CBC Bold . A secondary CBC - sponsored broadcast of " Doctor Who " began in the fall of 2008 when the the CBC - sponsored digital cable channel Bold began airing reruns of series 3 , with Series 4 reruns commencing in January 2009 ( however , Bold aired " The Runaway Bride " instead of " Voyage of the Damned " ) . Bold ' s rebroadcasts of " Doctor Who " were expected to conclude by the time Space began airing Season 5 , however Bold as of July 2010 has continued to air episodes once a week . On 28 July 2010 the network announced the CBC premiere of " Voyage of the Damned " , several days after the Space Channel showing , but pulled it at the last minute in order to broadcast highlights from a comedy festival .