CBC to air Murdoch Mysteries instead of election

Toronto fans of the television show “Murdoch Mysteries” can rest easy knowing that their regularly-scheduled programing will not be interrupted on election night.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has decided to not run live coverage of Toronto’s Oct. 22 election on local television, but will be posting constant updates online and across a range of social media platforms and broadcasting results live on radio after the polls close.

Chuck Thompson, head of public affairs for the national public broadcaster, sent a short statement in response to a question about coverage.

“In planning our election night coverage, we considered a variety of options to best address competing priorities and we know through research that audiences want the results on mobile and digital,” said Thompson.

“Murdoch Mysteries” starts at 8 p.m., the same time polls close, followed by “Frankie Drake Mysteries” at 9 p.m. and “The National” at 10 p.m. Special election coverage on local CBC television will start at 11 p.m.

Live election updates will be posted every 30 seconds on the city’s website, starting at 8 p.m.

Daniel Bernhard, spokesperson for Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, said the decision to not show results further reveals the CBC’s dependence on advertising dollars and demonstrates a failure by the federal government to properly support the public broadcaster.