CTV television network
Encyclopedia
CTV Television Network is a Canadian English language
television network
and is owned by Bell Media. It is Canada
's largest privately-owned network, and has consistently placed as Canada's top-rated
network in total viewers and in key demographics since 2002, after several years trailing the rival Global Television Network
in key markets.
Bell Media also operates additional CTV-branded channels including CTV's 24-hour national cable news channel, CTV News Channel and the secondary CTV Two .
There has never been a full name for the initials "CTV". However, many people take them to mean "Canadian Television", which was used in a promotional campaign by the network in 1998.
John Diefenbaker
's government passed a new Broadcasting Act, establishing the Board of Broadcast Governors
(forerunner to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission) as the governing body of Canadian broadcasting, thus ending the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
's (CBC) dual role as regulator and broadcaster. The new board's first act was to take applications for "second" television stations in Halifax, Montreal
(in both English and French
), Ottawa
, Toronto
, Winnipeg
, Calgary
, Edmonton
and Vancouver
in response to an outcry for an alternative to the CBC's television service
. Calgary and Edmonton were served by privately owned CBC affiliates; the other six by owned-and-operated CBC stations.
The nine winners, in order of their first sign-on, were:
The first eight stations were privately owned; the Edmonton station was a CBC owned-and-operated station
, meaning that the existing station in that city, CFRN-TV, would lose its CBC affiliation once CBXT signed on.
Even before his station was licensed, John Bassett
, the chief executive of the ultimately-successful Toronto applicant Baton Aldred Rogers Broadcasting, had expressed interest in participating in the creation of a second television network, "of which we see the Toronto station as anchor". Indeed, Baton had already begun quietly contacting the successful applicants in other cities to gauge their interest in forming a cooperative group to share Canadian programming among the stations. This led to the July 1960 formation of the Independent Television Organization (ITO), consisting of all eight of the newly-licensed private stations, plus CFRN. Each station would have a single vote in the ITO's operations, regardless of the size of the station's audience. (CFTM, being a French-language station and thus having little reason to collaborate with the other stations, would soon withdraw from the group; it would later emerge as the flagship of the first private French-language network, TVA
.) The ITO soon resolved to apply for a network licence to link these second stations.
However, the ITO faced opposition from Spence Caldwell, a former CBC executive and one of the unsuccessful applicants for the Toronto licence, who had first approached the BBG in April 1960 to pitch a second-station network proposal of his own. Under his plan, at least 51% of the shares of the network would be owned by various prominent Bay Street
investors who had previously backed his Toronto station bid; only 49% would be reserved for the network's affiliates to purchase, if they wished. The BBG – and particularly its chair Andrew Stewart (who at the time also served as the president of the University of Alberta
) – was not in favour of a station-owned network, fearing that the Toronto station would eventually come to dominate it. Although it did not immediately approve Caldwell's proposal, it soon set several conditions on such a network that effectively made Caldwell's group the only feasible applicant.
That fall, the Caldwell group (now named the Canadian Television Network, or CTN) and the ITO faced off in a series of meetings with the BBG. The ITO decided not to follow through with a formal network application, but the stations – particularly Baton, which said it had no interest in participating in CTN, and believed it could still be successful without one – continued to indicate various concerns with the viability of Caldwell's proposal. Ultimately the BBG granted a licence to CTN, conditional on securing the affiliation of six of the eight ITO stations.
Baton's opposition to the CTN reversed in early 1961, soon after CFTO won the broadcast rights to the Canadian Football League
Eastern Conference
for the 1961 and 1962 seasons. Baton's original plan was to operate a temporary network to distribute the games incorporating CFTO, other independent stations, and CBC affiliates in smaller markets (assuming the public network released its affiliates to carry the game). Although the plan was never officially rejected (or approved), various uncertainties eventually led John Bassett to decide to sign an affiliation agreement with CTN instead to ensure the games would air. Most of the other second stations followed suit, with the exception of CHAN in Vancouver, which agreed to carry several network programs but never officially signed on as an affiliate for the duration of the Caldwell era.
The CTV network's first night on-air began with Harry Rasky
's promotional documentary on the new network. That was followed by a fall season preview program.
CTV's initial 1961–1962 season began with the following programs, five of which were Canadian productions:
Other series such as Telepoll
and A Kin to Win
were introduced later in the inaugural season.
At first, flagship CFTO was the only station that carried programming live. During CBC's off-hours, CTV used CBC's microwave system to send programming to the rest of the country on tape delay. Eventually, a second microwave channel opened up, enabling live programming from coast to coast.
The Caldwell-led management team immediately ran into financial trouble, and relations between the network and its stations were not smooth at first since CTV had essentially been the product of a forced marriage. For example, most of the rights to American programming rested with the ITO, not CTV. In many cases, CTV found itself competing with its own stations for the rights to programming.
, CKCO-TV in Kitchener
and CHAB/CHRE in Moose Jaw/Regina
) sought permission to buy the network and run it as a cooperative
. The board readily approved the proposal, and by the start of the 1966-67 season, the stations owned their network.
On September 1, 1966, CTV began colour television broadcasting.
By the mid-1970s, CTV had expanded its footprint across Canada, mostly by twinstick
arrangements in smaller cities and with CBC affiliates switching to CTV once the CBC opened its own stations or added rebroadcasters of nearby O&O stations. In a unique twist, the original Saskatchewan
affiliate, CHAB/CHRE, was bought by the CBC in 1968 (and eventually recalled CBKT), allowing Regina's original station, CKCK-TV, to join CTV. In 1994, CTV converted from a cooperative to a corporation, with the station owners as shareholders. Shares were distributed based on how much of Canada each owner covered.
CTV made a name for itself in news coverage when it convinced star CBC news anchor Lloyd Robertson
to switch networks in 1976. Robertson has been the network's main anchorman ever since. The network also has the country's longest-running national morning news show, Canada AM
. Its weekly newsmagazine series, W-FIVE
has been a fixture on the network since 1966, predating the similar American program 60 Minutes
by two years.
In the late 1970s, CTV often bought rights to pop and rock songs to serve as theme music for its programming, rather than commissioning original themes. Most notably, W5 used an instrumental portion of Supertramp
's "Fool's Overture
", Canada AM
used an instrumental version of The Moody Blues
' "Ride My See-Saw", and the game show Definition
used Quincy Jones
' "Soul Bossa Nova
" (later seasons of Definition used another theme).
in 1971. Baton purchased the following stations between 1986 and 1990:
One caveat, however, was the "one owner, one vote" provision of the cooperative's bylaws. Any acquisition of one station by an existing station owner triggered an automatic redistribution of the acquired station's shares among the other owners. As a result, even though it owned 11 of CTV's 24 affiliates, Baton only had one vote out of eight. Nor were there any retroactive changes when CTV was restructured in 1994 (although Newfoundland Broadcasting, owner of CJON, decided to effectively relinquish its vote, reducing the number of votes to seven).
In 1996, Baton acquired CFCN from Rogers Communications
. Significantly, Baton also acquired Rogers' CTV vote. It also started a joint venture with Electrohome
, owner of CFRN and CKCO. Electrohome allowed Baton to control its vote. The following year, Baton acquired both Electrohome's share of the joint venture and CHUM Limited
's CTV-affiliated system in the Maritimes, ATV
. This gave Baton controlling interest in the network, triggering a put option
allowing the remaining affiliates to sell their CTV shares without selling their stations, which they did. Baton was now full owner of the CTV network and immediately began plastering the CTV brand across its stations, even on non-network programming, and dropped its secondary Baton Broadcast System
(BBS) brand. The company changed its name to CTV Inc. in 1998, and eventually acquired two of the final three large-market stations, CKY and CFCF (it replaced the third, CHAN, as discussed below).
trend at the time, Bell Canada
acquired CTV, NetStar Communications and The Globe and Mail
newspaper, combining them into a media division known as Bell Globemedia
. BGM also subsequently acquired a minority share in the French-language network TQS, which broadcasts in Quebec
.
CTV has legally been a "television service" in the eyes of the CRTC since 2000, when it allowed its network licence to expire. CBC, Radio-Canada, TVA
and Aboriginal Peoples Television Network
are the only official television networks in Canada.
CTV lost significant coverage in British Columbia
and Newfoundland and Labrador
at the beginning of the 21st century, starting with a major TV realignment in Vancouver. In 2000, Canwest Global bought the television stations of Western International Communications
, which owned charter CTV affiliates CHAN in Vancouver and CHEK-TV in Victoria
. A year later, after its CTV contract ran out, Canwest made CHAN the Global
owned-and-operated station for BC, taking advantage of CHAN's massive network of repeaters that cover 97% of the province. CTV shifted its programming to CIVT-TV, an independent station it already owned. Unlike CHAN, CIVT has only one transmitter covering the metropolitan areas of Vancouver and Victoria and has to rely on cable and satellite to reach the rest of the province. CIVT is not available or is carried on a higher channel number in the Mountain Time Zone portion of British Columbia, where CTV relies on CFCN or CFRN as its main affiliates.
Meanwhile, in 2002, CJON-TV (NTV) in St. John's
dropped its CTV affiliation after CTV attempted to alter its affiliation agreement in a way that Geoff Stirling
and Newfoundland Broadcasting found unfair. For 38 years, CJON had aired the base CTV schedule essentially for free since CTV paid it for the airtime. The station then bought additional CTV programming and sold all advertising. However, CTV tried to make CJON pay for the base schedule as well, with no possibility of airtime payments. It also increased the fees for additional CTV programming beyond what CJON claimed it could pay. Newfoundland Broadcasting also didn't want to continue to carry CTV's national advertising during these programs. At the start of the 2002-03 season, CJON became an independent station and dropped most CTV programming except for CTV's national newscasts; in exchange it provides news coverage of Newfoundland and Labrador events to CTV. In recent years, all of CTV's non-news programming has disappeared from the station, and since then virtually all primetime programs aired on that station are from rival Global
. CTV does not currently have a de facto affiliate in that province, restricting some of its programming to cable and satellite only.
CTV has attracted some controversy in the past because of cutbacks to its small-market stations. In the late 1990s, cuts were made to the news staff and productions at CTV's two small-market Saskatchewan stations, CICC-TV
in Yorkton and CIPA-TV
in Prince Albert
. Today, the stations now simulcast supper-hour and late-night news from CKCK and CFQC respectively, placing local inserts into the newscasts. Similarly, the four Maritime stations, known collectively as CTV Atlantic
(then known as ATV), and the four Northern Ontario
stations, known collectively as CTV Northern Ontario
(then known as MCTV), each had their local news production cut back in the early 2000s to one centrally produced single newscast for each region, with only brief inserts for news of strictly local interest. This was a controversial move in all of the affected communities, especially in Northern Ontario where MCTV's newscasts were the only locally oriented news programs in those markets.
In September 2005, CTV announced an alliance with MTV Networks
that saw the launch of MTV Canada.
In July 2006, CTV parent Bell Globemedia announced plans to acquire CHUM Limited
, itself a former partner in CTV (via ATV), and presently one of Canada's largest broadcasters. While CTVglobemedia kept CHUM's radio stations along with the A-Channel television stations and all of CHUM's specialty channels, the Citytv
stations were sold off as a sale required by the conditions the CRTC placed upon CTV when approving the CHUM purchase.
Bell Globemedia was renamed CTVglobemedia on January 1, 2007. In March 2009, CTV became the first Canadian television network to offer its programming online
in high definition
.
CTV affiliate CHFD in Thunder Bay, Ontario
left the network on February 12, 2010 after being unable to reach agreement on new affiliation terms; thus CHFD became a full-time Global affiliate. CFTO began to be offered as part of the basic package to Thunder Bay cable subscribers following the disaffiliation, however it is not yet clear if this change will be permanent.
, The Big Bang Theory
, Blue Bloods
, Castle
, CSI
, CSI: Miami
, CSI: NY
, Dancing with the Stars, Desperate Housewives
, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
, Fringe
, Grey’s Anatomy, The Mentalist
, Unforgettable
and The X Factor
), but they have also had success with Canadian-made shows such as Due South
, Power Play, Degrassi: The Next Generation
, Corner Gas
, Instant Star
, The Eleventh Hour, Flashpoint
, The Listener
and Canadian Idol
. CTV also regularly produces and airs Canadian-made television movies, often based on stories from Canadian news or Canadian history, under the banners CTV Signature Series or CTV Movie
.
News programming consists of the nightly CTV National News
, morning program Canada AM
, local newscasts branded as CTV News
and newsmagazines W-Five
and Question Period
, which interviews politicians and recaps political events during the week.
As well, in recent years, CTV has purchased Canadian broadcast rights to a number of American cable
series, such as The Sopranos
, Nip/Tuck
, Punk'd
, The Daily Show
, The Colbert Report and The Osbournes
. In many cases, CTV has been one of the few conventional broadcast networks in the world to air these series in prime time
, which has attracted some controversy from Canadian media watchdogs and parents groups who object to the profanity, violence and sexual content of Nip/Tuck, The Sopranos and The Osbournes — which, unlike originating broadcaster MTV
, CTV aired uncensored. It has broadcast MTV programming live, starting with the MTV's New Year of Music special during New Year's 2005/2006.
In late 2003, CTV started broadcasting select American programmes in 16:9 (widescreen) HDTV. It later began airing Canadian programs in this format, such as Degrassi. Currently only CFTO and CIVT have dedicated HDTV feeds (sometimes marketed as CTV HD East and West respectively), but both are available nationally via cable and satellite, and do not differ otherwise from their analog counterparts.
In early 2005, CTV was part of the consortium that won the Canadian broadcast rights to Canada's Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics
and the London 2012 Summer Olympics
. CBC had consistently won Olympic broadcast rights from the 1996 Summer Olympics
through to the 2008 Summer Olympics
. CTV and V (formerly TQS) were the primary broadcasters, with TSN
, RDS
and Sportsnet providing supplementary coverage. CTV has promised to broadcast 22 hours per day during the 2012 Olympics.
On July 2, 2005, CTV broadcast 20 hours of the Live 8
concerts, which was watched by over 10.5 million people — nearly one-third the country's population — at some point during the day; however, the average audience was much lower. According to at least one source, it was the most-watched program by this standard in Canadian history.
On May 22, 2007, it was announced that CTV had acquired the broadcast rights to the National Football League
early-afternoon Sunday games, the full NFL playoffs, and the Super Bowl
, starting with the 2007 NFL season
, effectively ending a lengthy association between the NFL and Global
. TSN, a sports channel co-owned with CTV, airs prime-time NFL games and produces the CTV broadcasts in tandem with CBS
and Fox
.
On June 27, 2007, CTV and The Comedy Network
gained exclusive Canadian rights to the entire Comedy Central
library of past and current programs on all electronic platforms, under a multi-year agreement with Viacom
, expanding on past programming agreements between the two channels. Canadian users attempting to visit Comedy Central websites will be redirected to TCN's website, and vice versa for American users. The Canadian channel will keep its own brand name, but the agreement is otherwise very similar to the earlier CTV/Viacom deal for MTV Canada.
On September 10, 2010, Bell Canada Enterprises
announced it would purchase the remaining shares of CTVglobemedia for $1.3 billion (CAD). On April 1, 2011, CTVglobemedia was officially renamed Bell Media.
The following CTV stations are available in high-definition and digital over-the-air:
On November 19, 2003
, CTV launched an HD
simulcast of its Toronto station CFTO, with the over-the-air feed going on the air in 2005
. CTV has since launched HD simulcasts of (CIVT Vancouver) on June 1, 2004
(the OTA feed followed suit in 2006
), (CFCN Calgary) on January 8, 2009
, (CFCF Montreal) on December 1, 2009 (OTA feed followed suit on January 28, 2011), (CJOH Ottawa) on December 1, 2009 (BDU only), (CFRN Edmonton) in January 2011, (CKY Winnipeg) in February 2011, (CJCH Halifax) on May 11, 2011.
as part of the takeover of CHUM Limited
, in 2007, media analysts had speculated that CTV may potentially extend its market-leading CTV brand to that network.
On May 30, 2011, Bell Media officially announced that the A network would be relaunched as CTV Two which took place on August 29, 2011.
CTV Two currently consists of four over-the-air owned-and-operated
television stations (O&Os) in Ontario
and one in British Columbia
, as well as a regional cable-only channel in Atlantic Canada
and a regional cable-only educational channel in Alberta
and provides complementary programming which have smaller audiences than those on the mainline CTV network.
The network's original logo was an oval-shaped letter "C", the inside shaped like a television tube. Contained within the C were the initials "CTV". In 1966, colour programming was ushered in with a new logo, depicting a red circle containing the initial "C", a blue square with "T", and a green inverted triangle with "V". This logo has been used, albeit with minor variations, ever since. For the 1967-68 season, the letters "CTV" were rounded and easier to see, with the "base/TV" graphic added later.
In 1998, CTV introduced a new "ribbons" identity that has remained in use, with various minor adjustments, ever since. Initially, CTV used the three colored ribbons and shapes of its logo to represent its different divisions. In network branding, the red ribbon and sphere represented entertainment programming, the blue ribbon and cube represented news programming, and the green ribbon and cone referred to sports programming.
Following the acquisition of TSN in 2001, sports programming on CTV adopted a variant of TSN's then-new ESPN-style branding, which was predominantly a darker red. The green colour has not been used for a specific purpose since then, apart from some pre-2001 network identifications that are re-used for specific occasions (such as a golf-themed ident typically used on Father's Day). The ribbons were given a 3D appearance on August 2011.
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
television network
Television network
A television network is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, whereby a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay TV providers. Until the mid-1980s, television programming in most countries of the world was dominated by a small...
and is owned by Bell Media. It is Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
's largest privately-owned network, and has consistently placed as Canada's top-rated
Audience measurement
Audience measurement measures how many people are in an audience, usually in relation to radio listenership and television viewership, but also in relation to newspaper and magazine readership and, increasingly, web traffic on websites...
network in total viewers and in key demographics since 2002, after several years trailing the rival Global Television Network
Global Television Network
Global Television Network is an English language privately owned television network in Canada, owned by Calgary-based Shaw Communications, as part of its Shaw Media division...
in key markets.
Bell Media also operates additional CTV-branded channels including CTV's 24-hour national cable news channel, CTV News Channel and the secondary CTV Two .
There has never been a full name for the initials "CTV". However, many people take them to mean "Canadian Television", which was used in a promotional campaign by the network in 1998.
History
Formation
In 1958, Prime MinisterPrime Minister of Canada
The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...
John Diefenbaker
John Diefenbaker
John George Diefenbaker, PC, CH, QC was the 13th Prime Minister of Canada, serving from June 21, 1957, to April 22, 1963...
's government passed a new Broadcasting Act, establishing the Board of Broadcast Governors
Board of Broadcast Governors
The Board of Broadcast Governors was a Canadian arms-length government agency created in 1958 to regulate television and radio broadcasting, originally taking over that function from the CBC. It was replaced by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission in 1968....
(forerunner to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission) as the governing body of Canadian broadcasting, thus ending the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...
's (CBC) dual role as regulator and broadcaster. The new board's first act was to take applications for "second" television stations in Halifax, Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
(in both English and French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
), Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
, Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, Winnipeg
Winnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...
, Calgary
Calgary
Calgary is a city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies...
, Edmonton
Edmonton
Edmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta and is the province's second-largest city. Edmonton is located on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Capital Region, which is surrounded by the central region of the province.The city and its census...
and Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
in response to an outcry for an alternative to the CBC's television service
CBC Television
CBC Television is a Canadian television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster.Although the CBC is supported by public funding, the television network supplements this funding with commercial advertising revenue, in contrast to CBC Radio which are...
. Calgary and Edmonton were served by privately owned CBC affiliates; the other six by owned-and-operated CBC stations.
The nine winners, in order of their first sign-on, were:
- CFCN-TV Calgary (September 9, 1960)
- CHAN-TV Vancouver (October 31, 1960)
- CJAY-TV Winnipeg (November 12, 1960)
- CFTO-TV Toronto (January 1, 1961)
- CJCH-TV Halifax (January 1, 1961)
- CFCF-TV Montreal (English) (January 20, 1961)
- CFTM-TV Montreal (French) (February 19, 1961)
- CJOH-TV Ottawa (March 12, 1961)
- CBXT-TV Edmonton (October 1, 1961)
The first eight stations were privately owned; the Edmonton station was a CBC owned-and-operated station
Owned-and-operated station
In the broadcasting industry , an owned-and-operated station usually refers to a television station or radio station that is owned by the network with which it is associated...
, meaning that the existing station in that city, CFRN-TV, would lose its CBC affiliation once CBXT signed on.
Even before his station was licensed, John Bassett
John Bassett
John White Hughes Bassett, was a Canadian publisher and media baron.Born in Ottawa, Ontario, he was the son of John Bassett , publisher of the Montreal Gazette, and Margaret Avery. Bassett attended Ashbury College and graduated from Bishop's University with a BA in 1936...
, the chief executive of the ultimately-successful Toronto applicant Baton Aldred Rogers Broadcasting, had expressed interest in participating in the creation of a second television network, "of which we see the Toronto station as anchor". Indeed, Baton had already begun quietly contacting the successful applicants in other cities to gauge their interest in forming a cooperative group to share Canadian programming among the stations. This led to the July 1960 formation of the Independent Television Organization (ITO), consisting of all eight of the newly-licensed private stations, plus CFRN. Each station would have a single vote in the ITO's operations, regardless of the size of the station's audience. (CFTM, being a French-language station and thus having little reason to collaborate with the other stations, would soon withdraw from the group; it would later emerge as the flagship of the first private French-language network, TVA
TVA (TV network)
TVA is a privately owned French language television network in Canada. The network is currently owned by Groupe TVA Inc. , a publicly traded subsidiary of Quebecor Media...
.) The ITO soon resolved to apply for a network licence to link these second stations.
However, the ITO faced opposition from Spence Caldwell, a former CBC executive and one of the unsuccessful applicants for the Toronto licence, who had first approached the BBG in April 1960 to pitch a second-station network proposal of his own. Under his plan, at least 51% of the shares of the network would be owned by various prominent Bay Street
Bay Street
Bay Street, originally known as Bear Street, is a major thoroughfare in Downtown Toronto. It is the centre of Toronto's Financial District and is often used by metonymy to refer to Canada's financial industry since succeeding Montreal's St. James Street in that role in the 1970s...
investors who had previously backed his Toronto station bid; only 49% would be reserved for the network's affiliates to purchase, if they wished. The BBG – and particularly its chair Andrew Stewart (who at the time also served as the president of the University of Alberta
University of Alberta
The University of Alberta is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta and Henry Marshall Tory, its first president, it is widely recognized as one of the best universities in Canada...
) – was not in favour of a station-owned network, fearing that the Toronto station would eventually come to dominate it. Although it did not immediately approve Caldwell's proposal, it soon set several conditions on such a network that effectively made Caldwell's group the only feasible applicant.
That fall, the Caldwell group (now named the Canadian Television Network, or CTN) and the ITO faced off in a series of meetings with the BBG. The ITO decided not to follow through with a formal network application, but the stations – particularly Baton, which said it had no interest in participating in CTN, and believed it could still be successful without one – continued to indicate various concerns with the viability of Caldwell's proposal. Ultimately the BBG granted a licence to CTN, conditional on securing the affiliation of six of the eight ITO stations.
Baton's opposition to the CTN reversed in early 1961, soon after CFTO won the broadcast rights to the Canadian Football League
Canadian Football League
The Canadian Football League or CFL is a professional sports league located in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football, a form of gridiron football closely related to American football....
Eastern Conference
Canadian Football League East Division
The East Division is one of the two regional divisions of the Canadian Football League. Although the CFL was not founded until 1958, the East Division and its clubs are descended from earlier leagues.- Pre-1907 :...
for the 1961 and 1962 seasons. Baton's original plan was to operate a temporary network to distribute the games incorporating CFTO, other independent stations, and CBC affiliates in smaller markets (assuming the public network released its affiliates to carry the game). Although the plan was never officially rejected (or approved), various uncertainties eventually led John Bassett to decide to sign an affiliation agreement with CTN instead to ensure the games would air. Most of the other second stations followed suit, with the exception of CHAN in Vancouver, which agreed to carry several network programs but never officially signed on as an affiliate for the duration of the Caldwell era.
Early years
The network finally launched as the CTV Television Network on October 1, 1961. The CBC had objected to the network's initial name, apparently claiming it had exclusive rights to the term "Canadian", and therefore the letters "CTV" have no official expanded meaning.The CTV network's first night on-air began with Harry Rasky
Harry Rasky
Harry Rasky, CM, O.Ont was a Canadian documentary film producer.He was born in Toronto into a Jewish family, where he completed studies at University College. He participated in CBC Television's first four years writing and producing CBC Newsmagazine . He also produced a documentary for the 1961...
's promotional documentary on the new network. That was followed by a fall season preview program.
CTV's initial 1961–1962 season began with the following programs, five of which were Canadian productions:
- The Andy Griffith ShowThe Andy Griffith ShowThe Andy Griffith Show is an American sitcom first televised by CBS between October 3, 1960, and April 1, 1968. Andy Griffith portrays a widowed sheriff in the fictional small community of Mayberry, North Carolina...
(United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, CBSCBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
) - CheckmateCheckmate (TV series)Checkmate is an American detective television series starring Anthony George, Sebastian Cabot, and Doug McClure. The show aired on CBS Television from 1960 to 1962 for a total of 70 episodes and was produced by Jack Benny's production company, "JaMco Productions" in co-operation with Revue...
(United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, CBSCBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
) - Cross Canada BarndanceCross Canada BarndanceCross Canada Barndance was a Canadian television variety show, which aired on CTV during that network's inaugural season in 1961-62.Produced by Sydney Banks and hosted by Evan Kemp, the show aired live performances by country musicians taped at various CTV affiliate stations. The show aired...
(CanadaCanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
) - MaigretMaigret (1960 TV series)Maigret is a British television series made by the BBC and which ran for 52 episodes from 1960 to 1963.Based on the Maigret stories of Georges Simenon, the series starred Rupert Davies as the Sûreté detective Commissaire Jules Maigret, and featured Ewen Solon as Lucas, Helen Shingler as Madame...
(United KingdomUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, BBC) - The RiflemanThe RiflemanThe Rifleman is an American Western television program that starred Chuck Connors as homesteader Lucas McCain and Johnny Crawford as his son, Mark McCain. It was set in the 1880s in the town of North Fork, New Mexico Territory. The show, filmed in black-and-white with a half hour running time, ran...
(United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, ABCAmerican Broadcasting CompanyThe American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
) - ShowdownShowdown (TV series)Showdown was a Canadian television game show, which aired on CTV in the network's inaugural 1961-62 season.Hosted by Hamilton radio broadcaster Paul Hanover, the program featured contestants competing to answer general knowledge questions on music...
(CanadaCanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
) - Sing Along With MitchMitch MillerMitchell William "Mitch" Miller was an American musician, singer, conductor, record producer, A&R man and record company executive...
(United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
NBCNBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
) - Take a Chance, a quiz show by Roy Ward DicksonRoy Ward DicksonRoy Ward Dickson was a pioneering Canadian television producer, writer, and emcee. Dubbed King of Quiz by an Edmonton journalist, Dickson invented the game show...
adapted from radio (CanadaCanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
) - Top CatTop CatTop Cat is a Hanna-Barbera prime time animated television series which ran from September 27, 1961 to April 18, 1962 for a run of 30 episodes on the ABC network. Reruns are played on Cartoon Network's classic animation network Boomerang.-History:...
(United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, ABCAmerican Broadcasting CompanyThe American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
) - Twenty QuestionsTwenty Questions (Canadian TV series)Twenty Questions was a Canadian television game show, which aired on CTV in the 1961-62 television season. Produced by CJAY-TV in Winnipeg and hosted by Stewart Macpherson, the show was an adaptation of the earlier American game show Twenty Questions....
(CanadaCanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
) - West CoastWest Coast (TV series)West Coast is a Canadian variety show television series which debuted on the CTV television network in 1961.The show was produced at the studios of CHAN-TV in Vancouver and mixed studio segments with filmed location footage from around British Columbia. Airing at 7:30-8:00 PM on Friday nights, it...
(CanadaCanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
) - WhiplashWhiplash (TV series)Whiplash is a British/Australian television series made by the Seven Network and ATV and ITC Entertainment. Filmed in 1959-60, the series was first broadcast September 1960 in the United Kingdom followed by Australia in February 1961 and had opening titles featuring the Australian locale and...
(AustraliaAustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, ATN-7ATN-Medicine:*Acute tubular necrosis, a medical condition involving the death of tubular cells that form the tubule that transports urine to the ureters*Asymmetric tonic neck reflex*Atypical trigeminal neuralgia-Television:...
)
Other series such as Telepoll
Telepoll
Telepoll was a Canadian talk show television series which aired on CTV between 1961 and 1965. It was hosted by Royce Frith.-Premise:Each week, a guest panel was invited to discuss a current event. Pre-selected viewers were also polled and their responses were tabulated and presented on the next show...
and A Kin to Win
A Kin to Win
A Kin to Win was a Canadian television game show initially produced in Montreal in 1961 then aired on the CTV network in 1962. Jimmy Tapp was the programme's host.-Production:...
were introduced later in the inaugural season.
At first, flagship CFTO was the only station that carried programming live. During CBC's off-hours, CTV used CBC's microwave system to send programming to the rest of the country on tape delay. Eventually, a second microwave channel opened up, enabling live programming from coast to coast.
The Caldwell-led management team immediately ran into financial trouble, and relations between the network and its stations were not smooth at first since CTV had essentially been the product of a forced marriage. For example, most of the rights to American programming rested with the ITO, not CTV. In many cases, CTV found itself competing with its own stations for the rights to programming.
Becoming a broadcasting powerhouse
Caldwell's departure in 1965 did little to alleviate the situation, and CTV soon found itself of the verge of bankruptcy. In 1966, the network's affiliates (which by this time included CJON-TV in St. John'sSt. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador
St. John's is the capital and largest city in Newfoundland and Labrador, and is the oldest English-founded city in North America. It is located on the eastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland. With a population of 192,326 as of July 1, 2010, the St...
, CKCO-TV in Kitchener
Kitchener, Ontario
The City of Kitchener is a city in Southern Ontario, Canada. It was the Town of Berlin from 1854 until 1912 and the City of Berlin from 1912 until 1916. The city had a population of 204,668 in the Canada 2006 Census...
and CHAB/CHRE in Moose Jaw/Regina
Regina, Saskatchewan
Regina is the capital city of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The city is the second-largest in the province and a cultural and commercial centre for southern Saskatchewan. It is governed by Regina City Council. Regina is the cathedral city of the Roman Catholic and Romanian Orthodox...
) sought permission to buy the network and run it as a cooperative
Cooperative
A cooperative is a business organization owned and operated by a group of individuals for their mutual benefit...
. The board readily approved the proposal, and by the start of the 1966-67 season, the stations owned their network.
On September 1, 1966, CTV began colour television broadcasting.
By the mid-1970s, CTV had expanded its footprint across Canada, mostly by twinstick
Twinstick
A twinstick, in Canadian broadcasting, is a term for two television stations, broadcasting in the same market, which are owned by the same company...
arrangements in smaller cities and with CBC affiliates switching to CTV once the CBC opened its own stations or added rebroadcasters of nearby O&O stations. In a unique twist, the original Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....
affiliate, CHAB/CHRE, was bought by the CBC in 1968 (and eventually recalled CBKT), allowing Regina's original station, CKCK-TV, to join CTV. In 1994, CTV converted from a cooperative to a corporation, with the station owners as shareholders. Shares were distributed based on how much of Canada each owner covered.
CTV made a name for itself in news coverage when it convinced star CBC news anchor Lloyd Robertson
Lloyd Robertson
Lloyd Robertson, OC is the currently the co-host of CTV's weekly magazine series, W5. Robertson previously served as the chief anchor and senior editor of CTV's national evening newscast, CTV News with Lloyd Robertson, until September, 2011, when he retired from the CTV National News...
to switch networks in 1976. Robertson has been the network's main anchorman ever since. The network also has the country's longest-running national morning news show, Canada AM
Canada AM
Canada AM is a Canadian breakfast television news show, which has aired on the CTV Television Network since 1972. It is currently hosted by Beverly Thomson and Seamus O'Regan, with Marci Ien reporting from the headline news desk and Jeff Hutcheson presenting the weather forecast and sports...
. Its weekly newsmagazine series, W-FIVE
W-FIVE
W5 is a Canadian news magazine television series produced by CTV News. The program is currently initially broadcast Saturday nights at 7 p.m...
has been a fixture on the network since 1966, predating the similar American program 60 Minutes
60 Minutes
60 Minutes is an American television news magazine, which has run on CBS since 1968. The program was created by producer Don Hewitt who set it apart by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation....
by two years.
Supertramp
Supertramp are a British rock band formed in 1969 under the name Daddy before renaming to Supertramp in early 1970. Though their music was initially categorised as progressive rock, they have since incorporated a combination of traditional rock and art rock into their music...
's "Fool's Overture
Fool's Overture
"Fool's Overture" is the closing track from Supertramp's 1977 album Even in the Quietest Moments. Written and sung by guitarist, keyboard player, singer and songwriter Roger Hodgson, the song tells about World War II Britain and the lessons learned from it. The song, which is over 10 minutes long,...
", Canada AM
Canada AM
Canada AM is a Canadian breakfast television news show, which has aired on the CTV Television Network since 1972. It is currently hosted by Beverly Thomson and Seamus O'Regan, with Marci Ien reporting from the headline news desk and Jeff Hutcheson presenting the weather forecast and sports...
used an instrumental version of The Moody Blues
The Moody Blues
The Moody Blues are an English rock band. Among their innovations was a fusion with classical music, most notably in their 1967 album Days of Future Passed....
' "Ride My See-Saw", and the game show Definition
Definition (TV series)
Definition was a Canadian television game show, which aired on CTV from 1974 to 1989, and filmed at its flagship studio of CFTO-TV in the former Scarborough, Ontario . For most of its run, it was hosted by Jim Perry....
used Quincy Jones
Quincy Jones
Quincy Delightt Jones, Jr. is an American record producer and musician. A conductor, musical arranger, film composer, television producer, and trumpeter. His career spans five decades in the entertainment industry and a record 79 Grammy Award nominations, 27 Grammys, including a Grammy Legend...
' "Soul Bossa Nova
Soul Bossa Nova
"Soul Bossa Nova" is a popular instrumental title, composed by and first performed by American impresario, jazz composer, arranger and record producer Quincy Jones. It first appeared on his 1962 Big Band Bossa Nova big band album on Mercury Records. Multi-reed player Rahsaan Roland Kirk played the...
" (later seasons of Definition used another theme).
Baton takes over
In the mid-1980s, Baton Broadcasting, owners of flagship CFTO in Toronto, began a drive to take over CTV by buying as many affiliates as possible. It had already bought CFQC-TV in SaskatoonSaskatoon
Saskatoon is a city in central Saskatchewan, Canada, on the South Saskatchewan River. Residents of the city of Saskatoon are called Saskatonians. The city is surrounded by the Rural Municipality of Corman Park No. 344....
in 1971. Baton purchased the following stations between 1986 and 1990:
- 1986: CKCK Regina; CICC-TVCICC-TVCICC-TV, channel 10 is a Canadian television station, broadcasting in Yorkton, Saskatchewan. It is an affiliate of CTV Television Network....
Yorkton, SaskatchewanSaskatchewanSaskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....
; CIPA-TVCIPA-TVCIPA-TV is a Canadian television station, broadcasting in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. It is an affiliate of CTV Television Network. CIPA began transmission in 1987...
Prince Albert, SaskatchewanPrince Albert, SaskatchewanPrince Albert is the third-largest city in Saskatchewan, Canada. It is situated in the centre of the province on the banks of the North Saskatchewan River. The city is known as the "Gateway to the North" because it is the last major centre along the route to the resources of northern Saskatchewan... - 1988: CJOH Ottawa
- 1990: MCTVCTV Northern OntarioCTV Northern Ontario, formerly known as MCTV, is a system of four television stations in Northern Ontario, Canada, owned and operated by the CTV Television Network, a division of Bell Media.These stations are:...
in northern Ontario (CICI-TVCICI-TVCICI-TV is a Canadian television station, broadcasting in Sudbury, Ontario. It is an owned-and-operated station of the CTV Television Network, and is the flagship station of that network's system in northern Ontario, CTV Northern Ontario....
Sudbury, CKNY-TVCKNY-TVCKNY is a Canadian television station, broadcasting in North Bay, Ontario. It is an owned-and-operated station of CTV.-History:...
North BayNorth Bay, OntarioNorth Bay is a city in Northeastern Ontario, Canada. It is the seat of Nipissing District, and takes its name from its position on the shore of Lake Nipissing.-History:...
, CITO-TVCITO-TVCITO is a Canadian television station, broadcasting in Timmins, Ontario. It is an O&O of CTV. CITO also broadcasts on channel 10 in Kapuskasing, channel 11 in Kirkland Lake, channel 4 in Hearst and channel 9 in Chapleau.-History:CITO was established in 1971 as CKSO-TV-2, originally rebroadcasting...
TimminsTimminsTimmins is a city in northeastern Ontario, Canada on the Mattagami River. At the time of the Canada 2006 Census, Timmins' population was 42,997...
, CHBX-TVCHBX-TVCHBX is a Canadian television station, broadcasting in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. It is an O&O of CTV. The station's signal also reaches the eastern portion of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and the station can be seen over the air as far south as Gaylord, Michigan.CHBX is essentially a...
Sault Ste. MarieSault Ste. Marie, OntarioSault Ste. Marie is a city on the St. Marys River in Algoma District, Ontario, Canada. It is the third largest city in Northern Ontario, after Sudbury and Thunder Bay, with a population of 74,948. The community was founded as a French religious mission: Sault either means "jump" or "rapids" in...
)
One caveat, however, was the "one owner, one vote" provision of the cooperative's bylaws. Any acquisition of one station by an existing station owner triggered an automatic redistribution of the acquired station's shares among the other owners. As a result, even though it owned 11 of CTV's 24 affiliates, Baton only had one vote out of eight. Nor were there any retroactive changes when CTV was restructured in 1994 (although Newfoundland Broadcasting, owner of CJON, decided to effectively relinquish its vote, reducing the number of votes to seven).
In 1996, Baton acquired CFCN from Rogers Communications
Rogers Communications
Rogers Communications Inc. is one of Canada's largest communications companies, particularly in the field of wireless communications, cable television, home phone and internet with additional telecommunications and mass media assets...
. Significantly, Baton also acquired Rogers' CTV vote. It also started a joint venture with Electrohome
Electrohome
Electrohome was one of Canada's largest manufacturers of television sets from 1949 to 1984. The company was also involved in television broadcasting....
, owner of CFRN and CKCO. Electrohome allowed Baton to control its vote. The following year, Baton acquired both Electrohome's share of the joint venture and CHUM Limited
CHUM Limited
CHUM Limited was a media company based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada from 1945 to 2007. Immediately prior to its acquisition, it held full or joint control of two Canadian television systems — Citytv and A-Channel — comprising 11 local stations, and one CBC Television affiliate, one...
's CTV-affiliated system in the Maritimes, ATV
CTV Atlantic
CTV Atlantic is a system of four television stations in the Canadian Maritimes, owned and operated by the CTV Television Network, a division of Bell Media...
. This gave Baton controlling interest in the network, triggering a put option
Put option
A put or put option is a contract between two parties to exchange an asset, the underlying, at a specified price, the strike, by a predetermined date, the expiry or maturity...
allowing the remaining affiliates to sell their CTV shares without selling their stations, which they did. Baton was now full owner of the CTV network and immediately began plastering the CTV brand across its stations, even on non-network programming, and dropped its secondary Baton Broadcast System
Baton Broadcast System
ONT was initiated in 1991, consisting of eight CTV affiliates - seven owned by Baton and Electrohome's CKCO. Initially providing 10.5 hours of common programming each week, this was soon expanded to 35 hours....
(BBS) brand. The company changed its name to CTV Inc. in 1998, and eventually acquired two of the final three large-market stations, CKY and CFCF (it replaced the third, CHAN, as discussed below).
Recent history
In 2000, typical of the ownership consolidationConcentration of media ownership
Concentration of media ownership refers to a process whereby progressively fewer individuals or organizations control increasing shares of the mass media...
trend at the time, Bell Canada
Bell Canada
Bell Canada is a major Canadian telecommunications company. Including its subsidiaries such as Bell Aliant, Northwestel, Télébec, and NorthernTel, it is the incumbent local exchange carrier for telephone and DSL Internet services in most of Canada east of Manitoba and in the northern territories,...
acquired CTV, NetStar Communications and The Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail is a nationally distributed Canadian newspaper, based in Toronto and printed in six cities across the country. With a weekly readership of approximately 1 million, it is Canada's largest-circulation national newspaper and second-largest daily newspaper after the Toronto Star...
newspaper, combining them into a media division known as Bell Globemedia
CTVglobemedia
CTVglobemedia , was one of Canada's largest private media companies. Its operations include newspaper publishing , television broadcasting and production , radio broadcasting , and their respective Internet properties.Originally established by BCE and the Thomson family in 2001 combining CTV Inc.,...
. BGM also subsequently acquired a minority share in the French-language network TQS, which broadcasts in Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
.
CTV has legally been a "television service" in the eyes of the CRTC since 2000, when it allowed its network licence to expire. CBC, Radio-Canada, TVA
TVA (TV network)
TVA is a privately owned French language television network in Canada. The network is currently owned by Groupe TVA Inc. , a publicly traded subsidiary of Quebecor Media...
and Aboriginal Peoples Television Network
Aboriginal Peoples Television Network
Aboriginal Peoples Television Network is a Canadian broadcast and cable television network. APTN airs and produces programs made by, for and about Aboriginal Peoples...
are the only official television networks in Canada.
CTV lost significant coverage in British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
and Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada. Situated in the country's Atlantic region, it incorporates the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador with a combined area of . As of April 2011, the province's estimated population is 508,400...
at the beginning of the 21st century, starting with a major TV realignment in Vancouver. In 2000, Canwest Global bought the television stations of Western International Communications
Western International Communications
WIC Western International Communications Ltd.The apparent occurrence of "RAS syndrome" here was in fact part of the company's legal name. was a Canadian media company that operated from 1982 to 2000, with operations including broadcast and specialty television, radio, and satellite distribution via...
, which owned charter CTV affiliates CHAN in Vancouver and CHEK-TV in Victoria
Victoria, British Columbia
Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...
. A year later, after its CTV contract ran out, Canwest made CHAN the Global
Global Television Network
Global Television Network is an English language privately owned television network in Canada, owned by Calgary-based Shaw Communications, as part of its Shaw Media division...
owned-and-operated station for BC, taking advantage of CHAN's massive network of repeaters that cover 97% of the province. CTV shifted its programming to CIVT-TV, an independent station it already owned. Unlike CHAN, CIVT has only one transmitter covering the metropolitan areas of Vancouver and Victoria and has to rely on cable and satellite to reach the rest of the province. CIVT is not available or is carried on a higher channel number in the Mountain Time Zone portion of British Columbia, where CTV relies on CFCN or CFRN as its main affiliates.
Meanwhile, in 2002, CJON-TV (NTV) in St. John's
St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador
St. John's is the capital and largest city in Newfoundland and Labrador, and is the oldest English-founded city in North America. It is located on the eastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland. With a population of 192,326 as of July 1, 2010, the St...
dropped its CTV affiliation after CTV attempted to alter its affiliation agreement in a way that Geoff Stirling
Geoff Stirling
Geoffrey William Stirling is a Canadian businessman. Stirling, along with other members of his family, owns several media outlets in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador under the corporate brand Stirling Communications International...
and Newfoundland Broadcasting found unfair. For 38 years, CJON had aired the base CTV schedule essentially for free since CTV paid it for the airtime. The station then bought additional CTV programming and sold all advertising. However, CTV tried to make CJON pay for the base schedule as well, with no possibility of airtime payments. It also increased the fees for additional CTV programming beyond what CJON claimed it could pay. Newfoundland Broadcasting also didn't want to continue to carry CTV's national advertising during these programs. At the start of the 2002-03 season, CJON became an independent station and dropped most CTV programming except for CTV's national newscasts; in exchange it provides news coverage of Newfoundland and Labrador events to CTV. In recent years, all of CTV's non-news programming has disappeared from the station, and since then virtually all primetime programs aired on that station are from rival Global
Global Television Network
Global Television Network is an English language privately owned television network in Canada, owned by Calgary-based Shaw Communications, as part of its Shaw Media division...
. CTV does not currently have a de facto affiliate in that province, restricting some of its programming to cable and satellite only.
CTV has attracted some controversy in the past because of cutbacks to its small-market stations. In the late 1990s, cuts were made to the news staff and productions at CTV's two small-market Saskatchewan stations, CICC-TV
CICC-TV
CICC-TV, channel 10 is a Canadian television station, broadcasting in Yorkton, Saskatchewan. It is an affiliate of CTV Television Network....
in Yorkton and CIPA-TV
CIPA-TV
CIPA-TV is a Canadian television station, broadcasting in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. It is an affiliate of CTV Television Network. CIPA began transmission in 1987...
in Prince Albert
Prince Albert, Saskatchewan
Prince Albert is the third-largest city in Saskatchewan, Canada. It is situated in the centre of the province on the banks of the North Saskatchewan River. The city is known as the "Gateway to the North" because it is the last major centre along the route to the resources of northern Saskatchewan...
. Today, the stations now simulcast supper-hour and late-night news from CKCK and CFQC respectively, placing local inserts into the newscasts. Similarly, the four Maritime stations, known collectively as CTV Atlantic
CTV Atlantic
CTV Atlantic is a system of four television stations in the Canadian Maritimes, owned and operated by the CTV Television Network, a division of Bell Media...
(then known as ATV), and the four Northern Ontario
Northern Ontario
Northern Ontario is a region of the Canadian province of Ontario which lies north of Lake Huron , the French River and Lake Nipissing. The region has a land area of 802,000 km2 and constitutes 87% of the land area of Ontario, although it contains only about 6% of the population...
stations, known collectively as CTV Northern Ontario
CTV Northern Ontario
CTV Northern Ontario, formerly known as MCTV, is a system of four television stations in Northern Ontario, Canada, owned and operated by the CTV Television Network, a division of Bell Media.These stations are:...
(then known as MCTV), each had their local news production cut back in the early 2000s to one centrally produced single newscast for each region, with only brief inserts for news of strictly local interest. This was a controversial move in all of the affected communities, especially in Northern Ontario where MCTV's newscasts were the only locally oriented news programs in those markets.
In September 2005, CTV announced an alliance with MTV Networks
MTV Networks
MTV Networks is a division of media conglomerate Viacom that oversees the operations of many television channels and Internet brands, including the original MTV channel in the United States...
that saw the launch of MTV Canada.
In July 2006, CTV parent Bell Globemedia announced plans to acquire CHUM Limited
CHUM Limited
CHUM Limited was a media company based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada from 1945 to 2007. Immediately prior to its acquisition, it held full or joint control of two Canadian television systems — Citytv and A-Channel — comprising 11 local stations, and one CBC Television affiliate, one...
, itself a former partner in CTV (via ATV), and presently one of Canada's largest broadcasters. While CTVglobemedia kept CHUM's radio stations along with the A-Channel television stations and all of CHUM's specialty channels, the Citytv
Citytv
Citytv is a Canadian English language television system owned and operated by Rogers Communications under its Rogers Broadcasting Ltd. division...
stations were sold off as a sale required by the conditions the CRTC placed upon CTV when approving the CHUM purchase.
Bell Globemedia was renamed CTVglobemedia on January 1, 2007. In March 2009, CTV became the first Canadian television network to offer its programming online
ONLINE
ONLINE is a magazine for information systems first published in 1977. The publisher Online, Inc. was founded the year before. In May 2002, Information Today, Inc. acquired the assets of Online Inc....
in high definition
High-definition television
High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
.
CTV affiliate CHFD in Thunder Bay, Ontario
Thunder Bay, Ontario
Thunder Bay is a city in and the seat of Thunder Bay District, Ontario, Canada. It is the most populous municipality in Northwestern Ontario, and the second most populous in Northern Ontario after Greater Sudbury...
left the network on February 12, 2010 after being unable to reach agreement on new affiliation terms; thus CHFD became a full-time Global affiliate. CFTO began to be offered as part of the basic package to Thunder Bay cable subscribers following the disaffiliation, however it is not yet clear if this change will be permanent.
Programming
The network's programming consists mainly of hit American series (such as The Amazing RaceThe Amazing Race (U.S. TV series)
The Amazing Race is an American reality game show in which teams of two or four race around the world against other teams, with the first-place team winning $1,000,000. As the original version of the Amazing Race franchise, the CBS program has been running since 2001 and is airing its nineteenth...
, The Big Bang Theory
The Big Bang Theory
The Big Bang Theory is an American sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, both of whom serve as executive producers on the show, along with Steven Molaro. All three also serve as head writers...
, Blue Bloods
Blue Bloods
The Blue Bloods was the name of the professional wrestling stable in World Championship Wrestling that consisted of "Lord" Steven Regal, "Earl" Robert Eaton, and "Squire" David Taylor, along with their butler Jeeves, that operated in the middle to late 1990s....
, Castle
Castle (TV series)
Castle is an American comedy-drama television series, which premiered on ABC on March 9, 2009. The series is produced by Beacon Pictures and ABC Studios. On January 10, 2011, Castle was renewed for a fourth season...
, CSI
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is an American crime drama television series, which premiered on CBS on October 6, 2000. The show was created by Anthony E. Zuiker and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer...
, CSI: Miami
CSI: Miami
CSI: Miami is an American police procedural television series, which premiered on September 23, 2002 on CBS. The series is a spin-off of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation....
, CSI: NY
CSI: NY
CSI: NY is an American police procedural television series that premiered on September 22, 2004, on CBS. The show follows the investigations of a team of NYPD forensic scientists and police officers as they unveil the circumstances behind mysterious and unusual deaths as well as other crimes...
, Dancing with the Stars, Desperate Housewives
Desperate Housewives
Desperate Housewives is an American television comedy-drama series created by Marc Cherry and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. Executive producer Cherry serves as Showrunner. Other executive producers since the fourth season include Marc Cherry, Bob Daily, George W...
, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is a reality television series providing home renovations for less fortunate families and community schools etc...
, Fringe
Fringe (TV series)
Fringe is an American science fiction television series created by J. J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci. The series follows a Federal Bureau of Investigation "Fringe Division" team based in Boston, Massachusetts under the supervision of Homeland Security...
, Grey’s Anatomy, The Mentalist
The Mentalist
The Mentalist is an American police procedural television series which debuted on September 23, 2008, on CBS. The show was created by Bruno Heller, who is also the show's executive producer...
, Unforgettable
Unforgettable (TV series)
Unforgettable is an American crime/mystery television series about a police detective with an unusually detailed memory. The hour-long program, which is based on J...
and The X Factor
The X Factor (U.S.)
The X Factor is an American television music competition to find new singing talent. The show is produced by creator Simon Cowell's company SYCOtv. It premiered on September 21, 2011 on Fox....
), but they have also had success with Canadian-made shows such as Due South
Due South
Due South is a Canadian crime drama series with elements of comedy. The series was created by Paul Haggis, produced by Alliance Communications, and stars Paul Gross, David Marciano, and latterly Callum Keith Rennie...
, Power Play, Degrassi: The Next Generation
Degrassi: The Next Generation
Degrassi: The Next Generation is a Canadian teen drama television series set in the Degrassi universe, which was created by Linda Schuyler and Kit Hood in 1979. Degrassi is the fourth fictional series in the Degrassi franchise, and follows The Kids of Degrassi Street, Degrassi Junior High, and...
, Corner Gas
Corner Gas
Corner Gas is a Canadian television sitcom created by Brent Butt. The series ran for six seasons from 2004 to 2009. Re-runs still air on CTV and The Comedy Network in Canada; it formerly aired on WGN America in the United States....
, Instant Star
Instant Star
Instant Star was a Canadian television program which aired from September 2004 to June 2008. The series starred Alexz Johnson as adolescent music competition winner Jude Harrison. The show chronicles Harrison's experience in the recording industry whilst focusing upon character development.Linda...
, The Eleventh Hour, Flashpoint
Flashpoint (TV series)
Flashpoint is a Canadian police drama television series that debuted on July 11, 2008, on CTV in Canada and ran on CBS in the United States for its first three and a half seasons. In 2011, Ion Television began airing new episodes of the series in the United States...
, The Listener
The Listener (TV series)
The Listener is a Canadian science fiction drama set in Toronto about a young paramedic named Toby Logan with the ability to listen to people's minds. The series premiered on Fox International Channels beginning with the Arabic-speaking area of northern Africa and south-western Asia on March 1, 2009...
and Canadian Idol
Canadian Idol
Canadian Idol is a Canadian reality television competition show which aired on CTV, based on the British show Pop Idol. The show was a competition to find the most talented young singer in Canada, and was hosted by Ben Mulroney. Jon Dore was the "roving reporter" for the first three seasons...
. CTV also regularly produces and airs Canadian-made television movies, often based on stories from Canadian news or Canadian history, under the banners CTV Signature Series or CTV Movie
CTV Movie
CTV Movie is a Canadian made-for-tv movie programming block featuring movies broadcast either in the evening or after midnight on CTV, the title is also used for movies on CTV Two....
.
News programming consists of the nightly CTV National News
CTV National News
CTV National News is CTV's flagship newscast, which airs at 11:00 p.m. local time on the CTV stations across Canada, and live at 10:00pm ET, with repeats hourly up until 2 a.m. ET on CTV News Channel, CTV's 24-hour cable news television channel, and the previous day's can be seen on the Internet. ...
, morning program Canada AM
Canada AM
Canada AM is a Canadian breakfast television news show, which has aired on the CTV Television Network since 1972. It is currently hosted by Beverly Thomson and Seamus O'Regan, with Marci Ien reporting from the headline news desk and Jeff Hutcheson presenting the weather forecast and sports...
, local newscasts branded as CTV News
CTV News
CTV News is the news division of the CTV Television Network in Canada. The name CTV News is also applied as the title of local and regional newscasts on the network's owned-and-operated stations , which are closely tied to the national news division...
and newsmagazines W-Five
W-FIVE
W5 is a Canadian news magazine television series produced by CTV News. The program is currently initially broadcast Saturday nights at 7 p.m...
and Question Period
Question Period (TV series)
Question Period is a Canadian television newsmagazine which airs weekly, currently excluding the summer months, on CTV at 11:00 AM ET in Ontario and east, and 4:00 PM local on stations in Western Canada. It also airs on the CTV News Channel at 5:00 PM EST...
, which interviews politicians and recaps political events during the week.
As well, in recent years, CTV has purchased Canadian broadcast rights to a number of American cable
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
series, such as The Sopranos
The Sopranos
The Sopranos is an American television drama series created by David Chase that revolves around the New Jersey-based Italian-American mobster Tony Soprano and the difficulties he faces as he tries to balance the often conflicting requirements of his home life and the criminal organization he heads...
, Nip/Tuck
Nip/Tuck
Nip/Tuck is an American drama series created by Ryan Murphy, which aired on FX in the United States. The series focuses on McNamara/Troy, a plastic surgery practice, and follows its founders, Sean McNamara and Christian Troy...
, Punk'd
Punk'd
Punk'd is an American hidden camera/practical joke reality television series that first aired on MTV in 2003 and was created by Ashton Kutcher and Jason Goldberg, produced and hosted by Ashton Kutcher. It bore a resemblance to both the classic hidden camera show Candid Camera and to TV's Bloopers...
, The Daily Show
The Daily Show
The Daily Show , is an American late night satirical television program airing each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central. The half-hour long show premiered on July 21, 1996, and was hosted by Craig Kilborn until December 1998...
, The Colbert Report and The Osbournes
The Osbournes
The Osbournes is an American reality television program featuring the domestic life of heavy metal singer Ozzy Osbourne and his family. The series premiered on MTV on March 5, 2002, and in its first season, was cited as the most-viewed series ever on MTV...
. In many cases, CTV has been one of the few conventional broadcast networks in the world to air these series in prime time
Prime time
Prime time or primetime is the block of broadcast programming during the middle of the evening for television programing.The term prime time is often defined in terms of a fixed time period—for example, from 19:00 to 22:00 or 20:00 to 23:00 Prime time or primetime is the block of broadcast...
, which has attracted some controversy from Canadian media watchdogs and parents groups who object to the profanity, violence and sexual content of Nip/Tuck, The Sopranos and The Osbournes — which, unlike originating broadcaster MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
, CTV aired uncensored. It has broadcast MTV programming live, starting with the MTV's New Year of Music special during New Year's 2005/2006.
In late 2003, CTV started broadcasting select American programmes in 16:9 (widescreen) HDTV. It later began airing Canadian programs in this format, such as Degrassi. Currently only CFTO and CIVT have dedicated HDTV feeds (sometimes marketed as CTV HD East and West respectively), but both are available nationally via cable and satellite, and do not differ otherwise from their analog counterparts.
In early 2005, CTV was part of the consortium that won the Canadian broadcast rights to Canada's Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics
2010 Winter Olympics
The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially the XXI Olympic Winter Games or the 21st Winter Olympics, were a major international multi-sport event held from February 12–28, 2010, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with some events held in the suburbs of Richmond, West Vancouver and the University...
and the London 2012 Summer Olympics
2012 Summer Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the "London 2012 Olympic Games", are scheduled to take place in London, England, United Kingdom from 27 July to 12 August 2012...
. CBC had consistently won Olympic broadcast rights from the 1996 Summer Olympics
1996 Summer Olympics
The 1996 Summer Olympics of Atlanta, officially known as the Games of the XXVI Olympiad and unofficially known as the Centennial Olympics, was an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in 1996 in Atlanta, Georgia, United States....
through to the 2008 Summer Olympics
2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...
. CTV and V (formerly TQS) were the primary broadcasters, with TSN
The Sports Network
The Sports Network, commonly abbreviated as TSN, is a Canadian English language Category C specialty channel and is Canada's leading English language sports TV channel. TSN premiered in 1984, in the first group of Canadian specialty cable channels...
, RDS
Réseau des sports
Réseau des sports , is a Canadian French language Category C specialty channel showing sports and sport-related shows. It is available in 2.5 million homes, and is owned by CTV Specialty Television Inc....
and Sportsnet providing supplementary coverage. CTV has promised to broadcast 22 hours per day during the 2012 Olympics.
On July 2, 2005, CTV broadcast 20 hours of the Live 8
Live 8
Live 8 was a string of benefit concerts that took place on 2 July 2005, in the G8 states and in South Africa. They were timed to precede the G8 Conference and summit held at the Gleneagles Hotel in Auchterarder, Scotland from 6–8 July 2005; they also coincided with the 20th anniversary of Live Aid...
concerts, which was watched by over 10.5 million people — nearly one-third the country's population — at some point during the day; however, the average audience was much lower. According to at least one source, it was the most-watched program by this standard in Canadian history.
On May 22, 2007, it was announced that CTV had acquired the broadcast rights to the National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
early-afternoon Sunday games, the full NFL playoffs, and the Super Bowl
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather...
, starting with the 2007 NFL season
2007 NFL season
The 2007 NFL season was the 88th regular season of the National Football League.Regular-season play was held from September 6 to December 30....
, effectively ending a lengthy association between the NFL and Global
Global Television Network
Global Television Network is an English language privately owned television network in Canada, owned by Calgary-based Shaw Communications, as part of its Shaw Media division...
. TSN, a sports channel co-owned with CTV, airs prime-time NFL games and produces the CTV broadcasts in tandem with CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
and Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
.
On June 27, 2007, CTV and The Comedy Network
The Comedy Network
The Comedy Network a Canadian English language Category A specialty channel owned by Bell Media specializing in comedy programming.The channel operates two time shifted feeds, East and West ....
gained exclusive Canadian rights to the entire Comedy Central
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....
library of past and current programs on all electronic platforms, under a multi-year agreement with Viacom
Viacom
Viacom Inc. , short for "Video & Audio Communications", is an American media conglomerate with interests primarily in, but not limited to, cinema and cable television...
, expanding on past programming agreements between the two channels. Canadian users attempting to visit Comedy Central websites will be redirected to TCN's website, and vice versa for American users. The Canadian channel will keep its own brand name, but the agreement is otherwise very similar to the earlier CTV/Viacom deal for MTV Canada.
On September 10, 2010, Bell Canada Enterprises
Bell Canada
Bell Canada is a major Canadian telecommunications company. Including its subsidiaries such as Bell Aliant, Northwestel, Télébec, and NorthernTel, it is the incumbent local exchange carrier for telephone and DSL Internet services in most of Canada east of Manitoba and in the northern territories,...
announced it would purchase the remaining shares of CTVglobemedia for $1.3 billion (CAD). On April 1, 2011, CTVglobemedia was officially renamed Bell Media.
CTV high-definition and digital transition
| Station | City | Current digital OTA channel | Digital OTA launch date | Post-Transition OTA channel | BDU Carriage launch date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CFTO-TV | Toronto | 40 (9.1) | 2005 | 40 (9.1) | November 19, 2003 | Nationally on satellite |
| CIVT-TV | Vancouver | 33 (32.1) | 2006 | 32 (32.1) | June 1, 2004 | Nationally on Bell TV |
| CFCN-TV | Calgary | 36 (4.1) | January 8, 2009 | 29 (4.1) | Shaw: January 8, 2009 | Also available on Bell TV |
| CFCF-TV | Montreal | 51 (12.1) | January 28, 2011 | 12 (12.1) | Vidéotron: December 1, 2009 | Also available on Bell TV |
| CJOH-TV | Ottawa | ─ | ─ | 13 (13.1) | Vidéotron: December 1, 2009 | |
| CFRN-TV | Edmonton | ─ | ─ | 47 (3.1) | MTS: January 2010 | |
| CKY-TV | Winnipeg | ─ | ─ | 7 (7.1) | Telus TV: February 2011 | Also available on Bell TV |
| CJCH-TV | Halifax | ─ | September 1,2011 | 48 (5.1) | Eastlink: May 12, 2011 | Also available on Bell TV |
On November 19, 2003
2003 in Canadian television
- Events :- Debuts :- Ending this year :-1950s:*Country Canada *Hockey Night in Canada *The National -1960s:*CTV National News...
, CTV launched an HD
High-definition television
High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
simulcast of its Toronto station CFTO, with the over-the-air feed going on the air in 2005
2005 in Canadian television
- Events :- Debuts :- Ending this year :-1950s:*Country Canada *Hockey Night in Canada *The National -1960s:*CTV National News...
. CTV has since launched HD simulcasts of (CIVT Vancouver) on June 1, 2004
2004 in Canadian television
- Events :- Debuts :-1950s:*Country Canada *Hockey Night in Canada *The National -1960s:*CTV National News *Land and Sea...
(the OTA feed followed suit in 2006
2006 in Canadian television
- Events :- Debuts :- Ending this year :-1950s:*Country Canada *Hockey Night in Canada *The National -1960s:*CTV National News...
), (CFCN Calgary) on January 8, 2009
2009 in Canadian television
- Events :- Debuts :- Ending this year :- Television shows :-1950s:*Hockey Night in Canada *The National -1960s:...
, (CFCF Montreal) on December 1, 2009 (OTA feed followed suit on January 28, 2011), (CJOH Ottawa) on December 1, 2009 (BDU only), (CFRN Edmonton) in January 2011, (CKY Winnipeg) in February 2011, (CJCH Halifax) on May 11, 2011.
Local newscasts in high definition
Effective May 12, 2009, CFTO-TV became the first station in the CTV network to broadcast its local newscasts in high definition. The first station in Canada to broadcast its local newscasts in high definition was CITY-TV. CTV-owned CIVT-TV followed, becoming the second station in the CTV network to broadcast its local newscasts in high definition as of November 23, 2009.CTV-owned
As of mid-October 2005, all CTV-owned and operated stations have adopted a single on-air brand of CTV, rather than use their official callsigns or channel numbers on-air (although some stations, most notably CIVT, promote their cable channel number). When further differentiation is needed, for example during regional programming, the city or region they serve (e.g., CTV Ottawa, CTV British Columbia) may be used as well. Under CRTC regulations, however, the callsign is still the station's legal name.Special cases
- St. John'sSt. John's, Newfoundland and LabradorSt. John's is the capital and largest city in Newfoundland and Labrador, and is the oldest English-founded city in North America. It is located on the eastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland. With a population of 192,326 as of July 1, 2010, the St...
, Newfoundland and LabradorNewfoundland and LabradorNewfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada. Situated in the country's Atlantic region, it incorporates the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador with a combined area of . As of April 2011, the province's estimated population is 508,400...
- CJON (NTV): no longer affiliated with CTV, but still carries CTV's newscasts. - Oldsmar, FloridaOldsmar, FloridaOldsmar is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. The population was 11,910 at the 2000 census. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates the population to be 13,401 as of 2008....
, United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
- WZRA-CAWZRA-CAWZRA-CA is the Tampa Bay area's first ethnic channel, reaching to ethnic groups in Pinellas, southwestern Pasco and northwestern Hillsborough counties.In Pinellas County, WZRA is available on Knology cable TV channel 122 and on Bright House digital channel 948...
: low-powered station in the Tampa BayTampa, FloridaTampa is a city in the U.S. state of Florida. It serves as the county seat for Hillsborough County. Tampa is located on the west coast of Florida. The population of Tampa in 2010 was 335,709....
area that carries CTV news programming.
CTV Two
Since the acquisition of A-Channel by CTVglobemediaCTVglobemedia
CTVglobemedia , was one of Canada's largest private media companies. Its operations include newspaper publishing , television broadcasting and production , radio broadcasting , and their respective Internet properties.Originally established by BCE and the Thomson family in 2001 combining CTV Inc.,...
as part of the takeover of CHUM Limited
CHUM Limited
CHUM Limited was a media company based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada from 1945 to 2007. Immediately prior to its acquisition, it held full or joint control of two Canadian television systems — Citytv and A-Channel — comprising 11 local stations, and one CBC Television affiliate, one...
, in 2007, media analysts had speculated that CTV may potentially extend its market-leading CTV brand to that network.
On May 30, 2011, Bell Media officially announced that the A network would be relaunched as CTV Two which took place on August 29, 2011.
CTV Two currently consists of four over-the-air owned-and-operated
Owned-and-operated station
In the broadcasting industry , an owned-and-operated station usually refers to a television station or radio station that is owned by the network with which it is associated...
television stations (O&Os) in Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
and one in British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
, as well as a regional cable-only channel in Atlantic Canada
Atlantic Canada
Atlantic Canada is the region of Canada comprising the four provinces located on the Atlantic coast, excluding Quebec: the three Maritime provinces – New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia – and Newfoundland and Labrador...
and a regional cable-only educational channel in Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
and provides complementary programming which have smaller audiences than those on the mainline CTV network.
Slogans and logos
- 1961-1966: "This is CTV"
- 1966-1967: "The Colour Network"
- 1967-1974: "It's Happening on CTV"
- 1968-1969: "Pleasure Isle" (TV promos only)
- 1974-1985: "For Those Who Want It All"
- 1985-1987: "CTV Entertains You"
- 1987-1988: "You'll See it All on CTV"
- 1988-1989: "The Choice of Canadians"
- 1989-1990: "Watch Yourself on CTV"
- 1990-1994: "Tuned In To You"
- 1994-1997: "This Is CTV"
- 1997-2005: "Canadian Television"
- 2003-2005: "Canada's Watching" (alternate slogan)
- 2005-2009: "Canada's #1 Network"
- 2009–2010: "Canada's Olympic Network"
- 2010–present: "Naturally CTV"
The network's original logo was an oval-shaped letter "C", the inside shaped like a television tube. Contained within the C were the initials "CTV". In 1966, colour programming was ushered in with a new logo, depicting a red circle containing the initial "C", a blue square with "T", and a green inverted triangle with "V". This logo has been used, albeit with minor variations, ever since. For the 1967-68 season, the letters "CTV" were rounded and easier to see, with the "base/TV" graphic added later.
In 1998, CTV introduced a new "ribbons" identity that has remained in use, with various minor adjustments, ever since. Initially, CTV used the three colored ribbons and shapes of its logo to represent its different divisions. In network branding, the red ribbon and sphere represented entertainment programming, the blue ribbon and cube represented news programming, and the green ribbon and cone referred to sports programming.
Following the acquisition of TSN in 2001, sports programming on CTV adopted a variant of TSN's then-new ESPN-style branding, which was predominantly a darker red. The green colour has not been used for a specific purpose since then, apart from some pre-2001 network identifications that are re-used for specific occasions (such as a golf-themed ident typically used on Father's Day). The ribbons were given a 3D appearance on August 2011.
See also
- Simultaneous substitutionSimultaneous substitutionSimultaneous substitution is a practice mandated by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission requiring Canadian cable, direct broadcast satellite and multichannel multipoint distribution service television distribution companies to substitute the signal of a foreign or...
- List of CTV prime time schedules by decade
- List of CTV personalities
- Media in CanadaMedia in CanadaCanada has a well-developed media sector, but its cultural output — particularly in English films, television shows, and magazines — is often overshadowed by imports from the United States. Television, magazines, and newspapers are primarily for-profit corporations based on advertising,...
- CTV SportsCTV SportsCTV Sports was the division of the CTV Television Network responsible for sports broadcasting. The division existed in its own right from 1961 to 2001; between 1998 and 2001, CTV Sports also operated a cable sports channel, CTV Sportsnet, now owned by Rogers Media and known simply as...
- CTV News Channel (Canada)
- CTV Two