CityNews Channel
Encyclopedia
CityNews Channel is a Canadian
English language
local news and information channel for the Greater Toronto Area
(GTA). Owned by Rogers Media
and licenced as a Category B digital cable
specialty channel
, it is currently available in Ontario
and broadcasts a single feed in high definition
which is also accessible through standard definition
televisions.
The channel's branding is shared with its Rogers-owned conventional television system, Citytv
, and its news brand CityNews
. The channel broadcasts from 33 Dundas Street East in Downtown Toronto
which also houses studios for Citytv Toronto
, OMNI.1 and OMNI.2.
station in Toronto, 680 News
, as well as two of Citytv Toronto
's local newscasts, CityNews at Five and Breakfast Television
.
The station also airs simulcasts of all Citytv Toronto-produced local programming, including morning news program Breakfast Television and late-evening newscast CityNews Tonight, each of which features an additional half-hour only seen on CityNews Channel. During the overnight hours between 12am to 5:30am EST
, the station airs an audio simulcast of 680 News, along with live traffic camera feeds from around the Toronto area.
The channel contains a large news ticker
consisting of news headlines, weather, sports scores, and advertisements.
In addition to sharing branding and content with Citytv and content from 680 News, the channel airs content and features from several other Rogers-owned outlets including Maclean's
, Sportsnet, MoneySense
, Today's Parent and HELLO! Canada.
, Citytv previously operated CP24, another Toronto-based local news channel, from 1998 to 2007. However, CHUM Limited was purchased in 2007 by Bell Globemedia (later renamed CTVglobemedia
, and again renamed Bell Media in 2011 following its purchase by Bell Canada
), which then sold the Citytv stations to Rogers Media
but CTV retained ownership of CHUM's cable channels, including CP24, which was paired with CTV
's CFTO-DT instead of Citytv.
Rogers was granted approval for a television broadcast licence for CityNews Channel by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) on December 10, 2008. The channel was then tentatively known as CITY News (Toronto), and was initially set to launch in late 2009. However, the launch was delayed due to economic conditions, as well as the reconstruction of Citytv's new headquarters at 33 Dundas Street East.
On May 30, 2011, during Citytv's fall schedule announcement, Rogers officially announced plans to launch the new channel in the fall of the same year. The channel launched on October 3, 2011 as CityNews Channel in HD.
When the channel launched in October 2011, Rogers Cable carried the channel on its digital channel 1 in the GTA. However, on November 22, 2011, the channel was also allocated to Rogers Digital Cable channel 15 in the GTA, which was the former channel number of the over-the-air Toronto station, CKXT, which had shut down on November 1, 2011 and had its licence revoked by the CRTC on November 18, 2011. Rogers customers in the GTA without a digital set-top box will see PBS on cable 15.
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...
English language
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...
local news and information channel for the Greater Toronto Area
Greater Toronto Area
The Greater Toronto Area is the largest metropolitan area in Canada, with a 2006 census population of 5.5 million. The Greater Toronto Area is usually defined as the central city of Toronto, along with four regional municipalities surrounding it: Durham, Halton, Peel, and York...
(GTA). Owned by Rogers Media
Rogers Media
Rogers Media Inc is a subsidiary of Rogers Communications Inc., which owns Canada's largest publishing company, Rogers Publishing Limited, which has more than 70 consumer and business publications. Rogers Media Inc...
and licenced as a Category B digital cable
Digital cable
Digital cable is a generic term for any type of cable television distribution using digital video compression or distribution. The technology was originally developed by Motorola.-Background:...
specialty channel
Specialty channel
A specialty channel can be a commercial broadcasting or non-commercial television channel which consists of television programming focused on a single genre, subject or targeted television market at a specific demographic....
, it is currently available 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 broadcasts a single feed 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...
which is also accessible through standard definition
Standard-definition television
Sorete-definition television is a television system that uses a resolution that is not considered to be either enhanced-definition television or high-definition television . The term is usually used in reference to digital television, in particular when broadcasting at the same resolution as...
televisions.
The channel's branding is shared with its Rogers-owned conventional television system, Citytv
Citytv
Citytv is a Canadian English language television system owned and operated by Rogers Communications under its Rogers Broadcasting Ltd. division...
, and its news brand CityNews
CityNews
CityNews is the title of local television newscasts currently seen on CITY-TV Toronto, Canada. It premiered on September 12, 1977 under the name CityPulse, then spread to Citytv stations in other cities across Canada. Due to severe financial issues, as of January 19, 2010, the only station that...
. The channel broadcasts from 33 Dundas Street East in Downtown Toronto
Downtown Toronto
Downtown Toronto is the central business district of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is approximately bounded by Bloor Street to the north, Lake Ontario to the south, the Don River to the east, and Bathurst Street to the west...
which also houses studios for Citytv Toronto
CITY-TV
CITY-DT, Channel 57 , is a television station based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada owned and operated by Rogers Media...
, OMNI.1 and OMNI.2.
Format
CityNews Channel broadcasts as an all news format, consisting of local news and information from the GTA, and national and international news. It operates on a 24-hour news wheel as seen on the screen, with traffic and weather reports every 10 minutes on the :1s, sports news at :15 and :45 past the hour, and CityBiz, business news at :26 and :56 past the hour, a similar format used on Rogers-owned all-news radioAll-news radio
All-news radio is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcast of news.All-news radio is available in both local and syndicated forms, and is carried in some form on both major US satellite radio networks...
station in Toronto, 680 News
CFTR (AM)
CFTR, broadcasting under the brand 680News, is an all-news radio station based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, which broadcasts live 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 680 kHz on the AM dial...
, as well as two of Citytv Toronto
CITY-TV
CITY-DT, Channel 57 , is a television station based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada owned and operated by Rogers Media...
's local newscasts, CityNews at Five and Breakfast Television
Breakfast Television (Citytv Toronto)
Breakfast Television, also known as BT, is a Canadian morning news and entertainment program produced by Citytv Toronto.Four other Citytv stations use the name and the format , creating content relevant to their own local audiences...
.
The station also airs simulcasts of all Citytv Toronto-produced local programming, including morning news program Breakfast Television and late-evening newscast CityNews Tonight, each of which features an additional half-hour only seen on CityNews Channel. During the overnight hours between 12am to 5:30am EST
Eastern Time Zone
The Eastern Time Zone of the United States and Canada is a time zone that falls mostly along the east coast of North America. Its UTC time offset is −5 hrs during standard time and −4 hrs during daylight saving time...
, the station airs an audio simulcast of 680 News, along with live traffic camera feeds from around the Toronto area.
The channel contains a large news ticker
News ticker
A news ticker resides in the lower third of the television screen space on television news networks dedicated to presenting headlines or minor pieces of news. It may also refer to a long, thin scoreboard-style display seen around the front of some offices or public buildings...
consisting of news headlines, weather, sports scores, and advertisements.
In addition to sharing branding and content with Citytv and content from 680 News, the channel airs content and features from several other Rogers-owned outlets including Maclean's
Maclean's
Maclean's is a Canadian weekly news magazine, reporting on Canadian issues such as politics, pop culture, and current events.-History:Founded in 1905 by Toronto journalist/entrepreneur Lt.-Col. John Bayne Maclean, a 43-year-old trade magazine publisher who purchased an advertising agency's in-house...
, Sportsnet, MoneySense
MoneySense
MoneySense is a Canadian financial magazine owned by Rogers Communications.-External links:*...
, Today's Parent and HELLO! Canada.
History
Under the ownership of CHUM LimitedCHUM 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...
, Citytv previously operated CP24, another Toronto-based local news channel, from 1998 to 2007. However, CHUM Limited was purchased in 2007 by Bell Globemedia (later renamed CTVglobemedia
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.,...
, and again renamed Bell Media in 2011 following its purchase by 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,...
), which then sold the Citytv stations to Rogers Media
Rogers Media
Rogers Media Inc is a subsidiary of Rogers Communications Inc., which owns Canada's largest publishing company, Rogers Publishing Limited, which has more than 70 consumer and business publications. Rogers Media Inc...
but CTV retained ownership of CHUM's cable channels, including CP24, which was paired with CTV
CTV television network
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...
's CFTO-DT instead of Citytv.
Rogers was granted approval for a television broadcast licence for CityNews Channel by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) on December 10, 2008. The channel was then tentatively known as CITY News (Toronto), and was initially set to launch in late 2009. However, the launch was delayed due to economic conditions, as well as the reconstruction of Citytv's new headquarters at 33 Dundas Street East.
On May 30, 2011, during Citytv's fall schedule announcement, Rogers officially announced plans to launch the new channel in the fall of the same year. The channel launched on October 3, 2011 as CityNews Channel in HD.
When the channel launched in October 2011, Rogers Cable carried the channel on its digital channel 1 in the GTA. However, on November 22, 2011, the channel was also allocated to Rogers Digital Cable channel 15 in the GTA, which was the former channel number of the over-the-air Toronto station, CKXT, which had shut down on November 1, 2011 and had its licence revoked by the CRTC on November 18, 2011. Rogers customers in the GTA without a digital set-top box will see PBS on cable 15.