Windsor, Ontario is the fourth-largest border city media market in Canada, after Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal.
Thus, it is considered part of the Detroit television and radio market for purposes of territorial programming rights.
Since Windsor is considered part of one large American media market (Detroit) and close to two others (Cleveland and Toledo), the city's media outlets (radio and television stations, and newspaper) have a special status designated by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, exempting them from many of the Canadian content ("CanCon") requirements that most other broadcasters in Canada are legally required to follow.
[1] The CRTC formally established this exemption in 1993, when the commission allowed CHUM Limited to acquire the radio stations owned by competitor CUC Broadcasting.
Additionally, the commercial networks air a large amount of American programming, and would be forced to black most of it out in Windsor to protect the broadcast rights of the Detroit stations.
Windsor was previously served by CBEFT, a local Radio-Canada outlet that later became a repeater of CBLFT in Toronto.
No Cleveland stations (in either analog or digital) push past Cottam, Ontario outside of tropospheric skip events, let alone reaching downtown Windsor, over the air (mainly due to adjacent channel interference from the Detroit channels), and Toledo stations barely make it over the air to downtown Windsor.
While not listed in TV guides, the northern edge of Essex County and most of Windsor were within reception range of Flint's WCMZ-TV (thanks to its transmitter's relatively close location in southern Genesee County, Michigan) prior to it going off the air on April 23, 2018, and the October 16, 2009 issue of The Windsor Star had stated readers in the Belle River area were able to add Flint's WJRT-TV to their lineups, albeit with very weak signal strength.
In place of WCMZ-TV, the southern edge of Essex County, including Leamington, receives WUAB from Cleveland.
Until the 2014-15 season, CBET also chose to prioritize Hockey Night in Canada regional games involving the Detroit Red Wings over the default game for Ontario (typically the Toronto Maple Leafs) if they were playing a Canadian team or were in a playoff series allotted to CBC.
The 2000 film Borderline Normal, featuring Robin Dunne, Stephanie Zimbalist, Corbin Bernsen and Michael Ironside, is set in Windsor.
The studio segments of the 2009 NBC and Global comedy series Howie Do It were taped at Caesars Windsor.
In addition to tradition media formats, Windsor is served by a number of online-only news publications.