The CRTC has adopted the same digital television standard for Canadian stations as the United States. The CRTC decided not to enforce a single date for transitioning to digital broadcasts, opting to let the economy decide when the switchover will occur.

CITY Toronto was the first Canadian station to provide digital terrestrial service. As of 2005, other digital stations on-air include the CBC and Radio-Canada stations in Toronto and Montreal, as well as CTV's CFTO Toronto and CIVT Vancouver, and CKXT (Toronto 1). This list is not necessarily exhaustive and other station launches are pending, although all are in the major markets of Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal. Also, this does not include digital or high definition versions of specialty services.