CKY-DT (channel 7) is a
television station
A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth's s ...
in
Winnipeg
Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...
, Manitoba, Canada, part of the
CTV Television Network
The CTV Television Network, commonly known as CTV, is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language terrestrial television network. Launched in 1961 and acquired by BCE Inc. in 2000, CTV is Canada's largest privately owned List of Canadian ...
. The station is
owned and operated
In the broadcasting industry, an owned-and-operated station (frequently abbreviated as an O&O) usually refers to a television or radio station owned by the network with which it is associated. This distinguishes such a station from an affiliate ...
by network parent
Bell Media
Bell Media Inc. (Canadian French, French: ) is a Canadian media conglomerate that is the mass media subsidiary of BCE Inc. (also known as Bell Canada Enterprises, the owner of telecommunications company Bell Canada). Its operations include nati ...
, and maintains studios on Graham Avenue (adjacent to the
Canada Life Centre
Canada Life Centre (formerly Bell MTS Place) is an indoor arena in downtown Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It is the home of the National Hockey League's Winnipeg Jets and their American Hockey League affiliate, the Manitoba Moose.
The arena stand ...
) in
Downtown Winnipeg
Downtown Winnipeg is an area of Winnipeg located near the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. It is the oldest urban area in Winnipeg, and is home to the city's commercial core, city hall, the ...
; its transmitter is located near Lord Selkirk Highway/
Highway 75 in
Ritchot.
History
Beginning in 1954, Winnipeg had one television station, government-owned
CBWT
CBWT-DT (channel 6) is a CBC Television station in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It has common ownership with Ici Radio-Canada Télé station CBWFT-DT (channel 3). The two stations share studios on Portage Avenue and Young Street in Downtown Winni ...
(channel 4). In January 1960, the Canadian
Board of Broadcast Governors
The Board of Broadcast Governors (BBG) was an arms-length Government of Canada agency. It was created in 1958 by amending the ''Broadcast Act'' to regulate television and radio broadcasting, originally taking over that function from the CBC.
T ...
(BBG) held public hearings in Winnipeg in response to three applications which had been submitted to operate a commercial television station on channel 7. These applications were presented by
R. S. Misener and Associates, a group associated with radio stations
CKY–Winnipeg, CFAM–
Altona and
CKSB–
St. Boniface; Perimeter Television Broadcasters Ltd., a group associated with Winnipeg radio station
CJOB
CJOB (680 AM) is a commercial radio station in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It is owned and operated by Corus Entertainment and airs a news/ talk format with news and sports programs. CJOB and its sister stations, CFPG-FM, CJKR-FM, and CKND-D ...
; and the Red River Television Association, a group associated with the ''
Winnipeg Free Press
The ''Free Press'' (or FP; founded as the ''Manitoba Free Press''; previously known as the ''Winnipeg Free Press'') is a daily (excluding Sunday) broadsheet newspaper in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It provides coverage of local, provincial, natio ...
'' newspaper and radio station
CKRC.
The Misener application was subsequently approved by the BBG, and the TV station was founded as
independent station
An independent station is a broadcast station, usually a television station, not affiliated with a larger broadcast television network, network. As such, it only broadcasts broadcast syndication, syndicated programs it has purchased; brokered pr ...
CJAY-TV on November 12, 1960. It joined the
CTV Television Network
The CTV Television Network, commonly known as CTV, is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language terrestrial television network. Launched in 1961 and acquired by BCE Inc. in 2000, CTV is Canada's largest privately owned List of Canadian ...
when it launched on October 1, 1961.
On June 1, 1973, after Moffat bought controlling interest in the station, its
call sign
In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally as ...
was changed to CKY-TV to match Moffat's AM and FM stations, making it one of the only two Canadian television stations, the other being the now-defunct
CKX-TV
CKX-TV (channel 5) was a television station in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada, which served as a private affiliate of CBC Television. Owned by CTVglobemedia, it was the first privately owned television station in Manitoba. It shared its call letters ...
, with a three-letter call sign. (From 2007 to 2009, CKY-TV and CKX-TV were
sister station
In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement.
Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...
s following CTVglobemedia's buyout of
CHUM Limited
CHUM Limited was a Canadian media company based in Toronto, Ontario in operation from 1945 to 2007. The company was founded in 1945 as York Broadcasters Limited when it launched CHUM (AM), CHUM-AM 1050 but was acquired by salesman Allan Waters in ...
.)
The CJAY call letters are now used on a
Calgary
Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...
rock station now owned by CTV's owner
Bell Media
Bell Media Inc. (Canadian French, French: ) is a Canadian media conglomerate that is the mass media subsidiary of BCE Inc. (also known as Bell Canada Enterprises, the owner of telecommunications company Bell Canada). Its operations include nati ...
. In 1992, Moffat sold CKY (AM) and CKY-FM (subsequently
CITI-FM
CITI-FM (92.1 MHz) is a commercial radio station broadcasting in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Owned by Rogers Radio, a division of Rogers Sports & Media, the station broadcasts a mainstream rock format branded as ''92.1 CITI''. Its studios are lo ...
) to
Rogers Media
Rogers Media Inc., operating as Rogers Sports & Media, is a Canadian subsidiary of Rogers Communications that owns the company's mass media and sports properties.
Operations
Current television brands owned by Rogers include two television sys ...
while maintaining ownership of the television station.
In August 1992, general manager Vaughn Tozer hired Jim Wicks, a Canadian-American broadcaster, to be the main news anchor and managing editor. Tozer and Wicks reorganized the newsroom and the on-air team to help accomplish their goal. Within three ratings periods, the newscast had climbed from third place to first place, replacing CBWT's ''24 Hours'' as the highest-rated newscast in Winnipeg. At one point, the newscast was advertised on billboards throughout the city as "Wicks at 6". The on-air chemistry between Wicks and sports director Steve Vogelsang added to the popularity of the program.
Although the personalities have since changed on several occasions, the station's newscast has remained Manitoba's highest-rated newscast. As of today, CKY-TV is the oldest private television station in Manitoba since CKX-TV's demise.
In 2001, Moffat Broadcasting was purchased by
Shaw Cablesystems, which was not interested in CKY-TV or its co-owned cable channel, WTN. CKY-TV was purchased by Bell Globemedia, while WTN was purchased by
Corus Entertainment
Corus Entertainment Inc. (often simply known as Corus) is a Canadian mass media and television production company. The company was founded in 1987 as Shaw Radio Ltd. as a subsidiary of Shaw Communications and was spun-off from Shaw in 1999. It h ...
, moving to Toronto, and becoming the
W Network
W Network (often shortened to W) is a Canadian English language discretionary specialty channel owned by Corus Entertainment. The channel primarily broadcasts general entertainment programming oriented towards a female audience.
W Network was ...
. Now a CTV
owned-and-operated station
In the broadcasting industry, an owned-and-operated station (frequently abbreviated as an O&O) usually refers to a television or radio station owned by the network with which it is associated. This distinguishes such a station from an network af ...
, promos on CKY-TV became similar to the other CTV owned-and-operated stations. However, Shaw returned to the television station business five years later, acquiring
CJBN-TV
CJBN-TV, VHF analogue channel 13, was a Global- affiliated television station licensed to Kenora, Ontario, Canada. The station was owned by Shaw Communications under its cable systems unit, and was not part of the Shaw Media unit which was so ...
, a now defunct
Global Television Network
The Global Television Network (more commonly called Global, or occasionally Global TV) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English language, English-language terrestrial television, terrestrial television network. It is currently Canada's se ...
affiliate
Affiliation or affiliate may refer to:
* Affiliate (commerce), a legal form of entity relationship used in Business Law
* Affiliation (family law), a legal form of family relationship
* Affiliate marketing
* Affiliate network or affiliation platfo ...
, in nearby
Kenora, Ontario
Kenora (), previously named Rat Portage (), is a city situated on the Lake of the Woods in Ontario, Canada, close to the Manitoba boundary, and about east of Winnipeg by road. It is the seat of Kenora District.
The history of the name exten ...
.
On May 15, 2006, the station's studios moved to a new facility near Winnipeg's
Bell MTS Place
Canada Life Centre (formerly Bell MTS Place) is an indoor arena in downtown Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It is the home of the National Hockey League's Winnipeg Jets and their American Hockey League affiliate, the Manitoba Moose.
The arena stand ...
. This move was prompted by economic development in the area, including the
Polo Park Shopping Centre, and the likelihood that CKY-TV's studios would be bought off by developers to use the property for additional retail space. The demolition of
Winnipeg Arena
Winnipeg Arena was an indoor arena located in the Polo Park district of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
The arena was the city's premier ice hockey venue from 1955 to 2004 and is best remembered as the home of the first Winnipeg Jets franchise, whi ...
and the possible development of a new football stadium to replace
Canad Inns Stadium
Winnipeg Stadium (also known as Canad Inns Stadium) was a Multi-purpose stadium, multipurpose stadium in Winnipeg, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
The stadium was located at the corner of St. James Street (Winnipeg), St. James Street and Maroons Road ...
would have likely placed the broadcasting facility in a position of being surrounded by retail developments.
CKY-TV's new studios use state-of-the-art technology, and little was moved from the old studios to the new facility. The existing news set was moved to
CFQC, the CTV owned-and-operated station in
Saskatoon
Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Hig ...
, and some technical equipment was sent to CTV's
Quebec City
Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...
bureau. In addition, the master control of the station was moved to
9 Channel Nine Court
9 Channel Nine Court (alternatively known as the CTV Toronto Studios, CFTO-TV Studios, Glen Warren Studios or Bell Media Agincourt and temporarily known as 9 Dave Devall Way) is an office and studio complex owned by Bell Media (formerly CTVglobem ...
, home of
flagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of navy, naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically ...
CTV station
CFTO-TV
CFTO-DT (channel 9) is a television station in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, serving as the flagship station of the CTV Television Network. It is owned and operated by network parent Bell Media alongside Barrie-based CTV 2 flagship CKVR-DT, channel ...
in
Toronto
Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
.
Another likely reason for the move is that CKY-TV had more space than it needed. With WTN, CITI-FM and CKY-FM moving to new studios in recent years, plus the reduction of local, in-studio programming on CKY-TV since 1991, a new, although smaller, facility suited CKY-TV's needs. In recent years, CKY-TV has allowed studio space to be rented for third-party productions, including the locally produced film ''
Blue State
Starting with the 2000 United States presidential election, the terms "red state" and "blue state" have referred to US states whose voters vote predominantly for one party—the Republican Party in red states and the Democratic Party in bl ...
''.
CKY-TV marked its 50th anniversary in 2010.
Programming
Scheduling
As Manitoba is in the
Central Time Zone
The North American Central Time Zone (CT) is a time zone in parts of Canada, the United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It ...
, CKY-TV generally abides by the U.S. practice of airing prime time programming simultaneously with its counterparts in the
Eastern Time Zone
The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 U.S. states, states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, and the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico.
* Eastern Standard Time (EST) is five ...
, meaning one hour "earlier" in terms of local time than Eastern Time stations (e.g. "8 p.m., 7 Central"). This is primarily to maintain
simultaneous substitution
Simultaneous substitution (also known as simsubbing or signal substitution) is a practice mandated by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) requiring pay television, broadcast distribution undertakings (BDUs) in ...
rights with the American network affiliates aired on cable in Winnipeg. However, the station's daytime and late night schedule is otherwise generally the same as other CTV stations in terms of local airtimes, such as local news from 6 to 7 p.m., and ''
CTV National News
''CTV National News'' is the flagship newscast of CTV News, the news division of the CTV Television Network, which airs at 11:00 pm local time on the CTV stations across Canada, and is produced from CTV's facilities at 9 Channel Nine Court in Sc ...
'' at 11 p.m. (whereas U.S. stations in the Central Time Zone typically air late news at 10 p.m.). To accommodate both practices, programs that air in the 7 p.m. hour on most CTV stations, such as ''
etalk'' and repeats of ''
The Big Bang Theory
''The Big Bang Theory'' is an American television sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady for CBS. It aired from September 24, 2007, to May 16, 2019, running for 12 seasons and 279 episodes.
The show originally centered on five charact ...
'', are generally moved to the 10 p.m. hour on CKY-TV.
Prior to CTV's purchase of the station in 2001, this shifting of prime time programming normally extended to the 7 ET/6 CT hour on Sundays, in line with the practice of American broadcast networks. This meant a local newscast would air at 5:30, followed by prime time, then an extra local newscast at 10 p.m. From 2001 to 2024, CKY-TV has usually aired local news at 6 p.m. seven nights a week, including Sundays, regardless of the station's ability to simsub at that hour, with programming rescheduled as needed to air within the 7–11 p.m. CT block.
News operation
CKY-DT presently broadcasts 25 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with five hours each weekday). When CKY-TV launched as CJAY, its broadcast day ran from 5:30 p.m. until around midnight daily. Its local newscasts were originally broadcast from 7:15 to 7:30, and 10:30 to 10:55 p.m. each weeknight. The early newscast was part of a longer program known as ''Panorama 7'', which ran from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. and consisted of cartoons and other children's features, a weather report and news. As of October 3, 2005, the newscasts on CKY-TV are branded as ''
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 (O&Os), which are closely tied to the nationa ...
''.
On June 6, 2011, it was announced the longtime CKY-TV personality Sylvia Kuzyk would step down in the fall of 2011, and Colleen Bready was named her replacement. On July 26, 2011, it was announced that CKY-DT would debut a new three-hour weekday morning newscast called ''CTV Morning Live'' starting September 26, 2011, and would air from 6 to 9 a.m. from CKY-DT's studios, with the newscast anchored by Kris Laudien (formerly of Vancouver's
CKVU-DT
CKVU-DT (channel 10) is a television station in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, serving as the West Coast flagship of the Citytv network. It is owned and operated by network parent Rogers Sports & Media alongside Omni Television station ...
and Edmonton's
CKEM-DT
CKEM-DT (channel 51) is a television station in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, part of the Citytv network. It is owned and operated by Rogers Sports & Media alongside Omni Television station CJEO-DT (channel 56). The two stations share studios with ...
) and current CKY-DT reporter Eleanor Coopsammy.
Notable former on-air staff
*
Ashleigh Banfield
Ashleigh Dennistoun Banfield (born December 29, 1967) is a Canadian-American journalist and host of ''Banfield'' on the NewsNation network. She is a former host of ''Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield'' and '' Early Start'' on CNN.
Education ...
– researcher/reporter for the CKY evening news (1988–1989)
*
Rod Black
Rod Black (born September 28, 1962) is a Canadian sports announcer best known for his work with CTV Sports and TSN from 1990 to 2021. He is now a host and brand ambassador for NorthStar Bets, a brand of NorthStar Gaming.
Education
Black was b ...
– sports anchor (former TSN and CTV sports announcer)
*
Darren Dreger
Darren Dreger (born June 13, 1968) is a Canadian sportscaster for TSN, and is one of TSN's Hockey Insiders. He had previously hosted '' Leafs Lunch'' on CFMJ AM640 Toronto Radio.
Broadcasting career
After graduating from the Western Academy B ...
– sports anchor (current TSN hockey analyst)
*
Janet Stewart – anchor (2001–2006)
*
Jack Wells – sports anchor (?–1974)
Technical information
Subchannel
Analogue-to-digital conversion
At midnight on September 1, 2011, the day after Canadian television stations in CRTC-designated mandatory
markets
Market is a term used to describe concepts such as:
*Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand
*Market economy
*Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market
*Marketing, the act of sat ...
transitioned from analogue to
digital broadcasts, CKY-TV
flash cut
A flash cut, also called a flash cutover, is an immediate change in a complex system, with no phase-in period.
In the United States, some telephone area codes were split or overlaid immediately, rather than being phased in with a permissive di ...
its digital signal into operation on
VHF channel 7.
The station's high definition feed is now offered on
Bell Satellite TV
Bell Satellite TV (; formerly known as Bell ExpressVu, Dish Network Canada and ExpressVu Dish Network and not to be confused with Bell's IPTV Bell Fibe TV, Fibe TV service) is the division of BCE Inc. that provides satellite television service a ...
via channel 1091 as of September 12, 2011.
Former transmitters
These transmitters are no longer operating as of January 29, 2025.
* CKYA-TV
Fisher Branch
* CKYB-TV
Brandon
* CKYB-TV-1
McCreary
McCreary is a surname. It is derived from the Irish and Scottish Gaelic surnames '' Mac Ruidhrí'' and '' Mac Ruaidhrí''. Hanks; Coates; McClure (2016) p. 1755.
People with the surname
* Aaron McCreary, American college baseball coach
*Bear McC ...
* CKYD-TV
Dauphin
* CKYF-TV
Flin Flon
Flin Flon (pop. 5,185 in 2016 census; 4,982 in Manitoba and 203 in Saskatchewan) is a mining city, located on a correction line on the border of the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan, with the majority of the city located withi ...
* CKYP-TV
The Pas
The Pas ( , ) is a town in Manitoba, Canada, at the confluence of the Pasquia River and the Saskatchewan River and surrounded by the unorganized Northern Region of the province. It is approximately northwest of the provincial capital, Winn ...
* CKYS-TV
Snow Lake
* CKYT-TV
Thompson
;Notes:
On February 11, 2016, Bell Media applied for its regular license renewals, which included applications to delete a long list of transmitters, including CKYB-TV-1 and CKYS-TV. Bell Media's rationale for deleting these analog repeaters is below:
We are electing to delete these analog transmitters from the main licence with which they are associated. These analog transmitters generate no incremental revenue, attract little to no viewership given the growth of BDU or DTH subscriptions and are costly to maintain, repair or replace. In addition, none of the highlighted transmitters offer any programming that differs from the main channels. The Commission has determined that broadcasters may elect to shut down transmitters but will lose certain regulatory privileges (distribution on the basic service, the ability to request simultaneous substitution) as noted in Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2015–24, Over-the-air transmission of television signals and local programming. We are fully aware of the loss of these regulatory privileges as a result of any transmitter shutdown.
At the same time, Bell Media applied to convert the licenses of
CTV Two Atlantic (formerly ASN) and
CTV Two Alberta
CTV 2 Alberta is a Canadian English language entertainment and former educational television channel in the province of Alberta. Owned by the Bell Media subsidiary of BCE Inc., it operates as a ''de facto'' owned-and-operated station of its s ...
(formerly ACCESS) from satellite-to-cable undertakings into television stations without transmitters (similar to cable-only network affiliates in the United States), and to reduce the level of educational content on CTV Two Alberta.
On July 30, 2019, Bell Media was granted permission to shut down four analogue retransmitters by July 16, 2021, in the following locales: CKYA (
Fisher Branch), CKYD (
Dauphin), CKYF (
Flin Flon
Flin Flon (pop. 5,185 in 2016 census; 4,982 in Manitoba and 203 in Saskatchewan) is a mining city, located on a correction line on the border of the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan, with the majority of the city located withi ...
), CKYP (
The Pas
The Pas ( , ) is a town in Manitoba, Canada, at the confluence of the Pasquia River and the Saskatchewan River and surrounded by the unorganized Northern Region of the province. It is approximately northwest of the provincial capital, Winn ...
).
On April 27, 2021, analogue transmitter CKYT in
Thompson was shut down, leaving the town with no access to over-the-air TV.
On January 29, 2025, Bell Media was granted permission to shut down analogue transmitter CKYB in
Brandon. The transmitter had already been off the air since 2024.
References
External links
CTV WinnipegCKY-DTat The History of Canadian Broadcasting by the
Canadian Communications Foundation
The Canadian Communications Foundation (CCF) was a Canadian nonprofit organization which documented the history of broadcasting in Canada, particularly radio and television networks, programs and broadcasters. The organization was established in ...
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cky-Dt
1960 establishments in Manitoba
KY-DT
Television channels and stations established in 1960
KY-DT