Why a canary cannot just sleep through the television
Canaries are day-length birds. Light regulates their sleep, song, breeding condition, and moult, and they need roughly ten to twelve hours of genuine darkness and quiet to rest properly. A cage in the corner of a television room fails on both counts: screen light flickers across the bird well into the night, and dialogue, music, and sudden loud scenes keep a light sleeper surfacing instead of resting. One late evening does no harm, but a canary kept to the family's viewing schedule night after night becomes a tired bird, and tired canaries sing less and moult poorly.
Option one: a sleep cage in a dark room
The most reliable fix is a small sleep cage kept permanently in a spare bedroom, hallway alcove, or any room that goes dark and stays quiet in the evening. At the chosen hour, move the canary in its sleep cage, or transfer it calmly if it is hand-tame, settle it with a small piece of green food, and close the door on the household noise. In the morning the bird returns to its day cage in the living space for company, light, and activity. This pattern also protects the canary from cooking fumes and late visitors, and most birds learn the shuttle within days and hop to the cage door at bedtime.
Option two: covering in place, done properly
If no second room exists, a cover can work, but only with discipline. Use a breathable, dark cover that wraps the cage fully without trailing near heaters, and put it on at the same time each evening. The television then needs to respect the arrangement: volume moderate, no shouting at the football, lamps rather than overhead glare. A cover blocks light far better than it blocks sound, so this option suits quieter households. Never use a cover to stretch the bird's day artificially with bright room light before covering; the darkness hours are counted from lights-dim, not from cover-on in a bright room.
Setting the bedtime and holding it
Choose a lights-out time that delivers the full darkness window before the household's morning starts, and hold it within about half an hour every day, weekends included. Canaries wake at first light regardless of your lie-in, so a bird covered at eleven and uncovered at seven has had eight lit, restless hours, not twelve dark ones. Dim the room or cover before the bird gets overtired and frantic, and avoid checking under the cover after settling, which resets the whole process. During the moult and in winter, err toward the longer end of the darkness range.
Getting the whole family to keep the routine
The routine usually fails at the human end: one person covers early, another uncovers to show a guest, a teenager's late film keeps the room lit. Writing the bedtime, the sleep-cage location, and the no-peeking rule where everyone can see them ends most of that drift. KinsLe Family Sharing helps because your canary's evening routine sits on its shared profile for every family member, so whoever is home first starts bedtime at the right hour and the darkness hours survive the family's television habits.