The Canada Media Fund (CMF) will pull its Cancon YouTube channel Encore+ at the end of November, five years after its launch.

The channel was created in 2017 as a pilot project to restore and share older Canadian series, such as Due South, Degrassi Junior High and its sequel series, and Ready or Not, and films and documentaries, including The Corporation, directed by Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbott. A French-language version, Encore Plus, launched in 2021.

CMF announced the end of Encore+ on Thursday (Nov. 17), with content on the English- and French-language channels available until Nov. 30. The channel has nearly 200,000 subscribers and more than 50 million views as of press time, according to statistics available from YouTube.

Programming and operations lead Paulina Abarca-Cantin moved on from the Encore+ project in September, according to CMF in the news release.

The funder added that it is “exploring many other avenues, including possible new platforms and partnerships with festivals and non-profit organizations,” and is “confident that Canadian producers and distributors will find new homes for digitized legacy content.”

Over 3,000 pieces of Canadian content were digitized and restored through the project, according to CMF, which the funder said was made possible through a collaboration between CMF, Telefilm Canada, producers, creators, unions and guilds, and distributors. The program also included a partnership with Deluxe Canada, which took on 40% of digitization costs.

The project also resulted in relicensing opportunities for classic titles, including series Are You Afraid of the Dark and Slings & Arrows, and Patricia Rozema’s film I’ve Heard the Mermaids Singing.

Photo of Degrassi: The Next Generation courtesy of WildBrain