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The CTV Television Network, commonly known as CTV, is a
Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
English-language terrestrial television network. Launched in 1961 and acquired by
BCE Inc. BCE Inc., formerly Bell Canada Enterprises Inc., is a publicly traded Canadian holding company for Bell Canada, which includes telecommunications providers and various mass media assets under its subsidiary Bell Media Inc. Founded through a c ...
in 2000, CTV is Canada's largest privately owned
television network A television network or television broadcaster is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, where a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay television providers. Until the mid- ...
and is now a division of the
Bell Media Bell Media Inc. (French: ) is a Canadian company formed by the amalgamation of several companies. Establishment (2011–13) On December 9, 2011, the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan announced the sale of its majority stake in Maple Leaf Sports ...
subsidiary of BCE. It is Canada's largest privately or commercially owned network consisting of 22 owned-and-operated stations nationwide and two privately owned affiliates, and has consistently been placed as Canada's top- rated network in total viewers and in key
demographic Demography () is the statistical study of populations, especially human beings. Demographic analysis examines and measures the dimensions and dynamics of populations; it can cover whole societies or groups defined by criteria such as edu ...
s since 2002, after several years trailing the rival
Global Television Network The Global Television Network (more commonly called Global, or occasionally Global TV) is a Canadian English-language terrestrial television network. It is currently Canada's second most-watched private terrestrial television network after CT ...
in key markets. Bell Media also operates additional CTV-branded properties, including the 24-hour national cable news network CTV News Channel and the secondary CTV Two television system. There has never been an official full name corresponding to the initials "CTV"; prior to CTV's launch in 1961, it was given the proposed branding of "Canadian Television Network" (CTN). However, that branding was dropped before the network's launch when the
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the governme ...
(CBC) objected to it, claiming exclusive rights to the term "Canadian".


History


Formation

In 1958, Prime Minister
John Diefenbaker John George Diefenbaker ( ; September 18, 1895 – August 16, 1979) was the 13th prime minister of Canada, serving from 1957 to 1963. He was the only Progressive Conservative party leader between 1930 and 1979 to lead the party to an electio ...
's government passed the '' Broadcasting Act'', which established the Board of Broadcast Governors (BBG), a forerunner to the
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC; french: Conseil de la radiodiffusion et des télécommunications canadiennes, links=) is a public organization in Canada with mandate as a regulatory agency for broadcasti ...
(CRTC), as the governing body of Canadian broadcasting, effectively ending the
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the governme ...
'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 ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...
(in both English and
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
),
Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...
,
Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...
,
Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749 ...
,
Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, maki ...
,
Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city anc ...
, and
Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. Th ...
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 markets by CBC
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 ...
s (O&Os). 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 (December 31, 1960) * CJCH-TV Halifax (January 1, 1961) * CFCF-TV Montreal (English; January 20, 1961) * CFTM-TV Montreal (French; February 19, 1961) *
CJOH-TV CJOH-DT (channel 13) is a television station in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, part of the CTV Television Network. It is owned and operated by network parent Bell Media alongside Pembroke-licensed CTV 2 outlet CHRO-TV (channel 5). Both stations share ...
Ottawa (March 12, 1961) *
CBXT CBXT-DT (channel 5) is a CBC Television station in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It is part of a twinstick with Ici Radio-Canada Télé station CBXFT-DT (channel 11). Both stations share studios at the Edmonton City Centre (across from Church ...
Edmonton (October 1, 1961) The first eight stations were privately owned; the Edmonton station was a CBC O&O, thus CFRN-TV, the existing local station, would lose its CBC affiliation once CBXT signed on. Even before his station was licensed,
John Bassett John White Hughes Bassett, (August 25, 1915 – April 27, 1998) was a Canadian media proprietor. Born in Ottawa, Ontario, he was the son of John Bassett (1886–1958), publisher of the ''Montreal Gazette'', and Marion Avery (née Wright) ...
, 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". Gittins 1999, p. 26 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 the eight newly licensed private stations and CFRN, each having one vote in the ITO's operations regardless of the size of its audience (CFTM, being a French-language station and therefore 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 The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexander Cameron Ruth ...
) – was not in favour of a station-owned network, fearing that any such network would be dominated by Toronto's CFTO. 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 The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ...
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 neither 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, yet nonetheless would later claim to have been a "charter member" of the network.


Early years

The network finally launched as the CTV Television Network on October 1, 1961. Gittins 1999, p. 72-73 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, CM, O.Ont (9 May 1928 – 9 April 2007) was a Canadian documentary film director. Life and career Rasky was born in Toronto, Ontario into a Jewish family, where he completed studies at Oakwood Collegiate Institute and then Univ ...
'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 Show ''The Andy Griffith Show '' is an American situation comedy television series that aired on CBS from October 3, 1960, to April 1, 1968, with a total of 249 half-hour episodes spanning eight seasons—159 in black and white and 90 in color. Th ...
'' (United States, CBS) * ''
Checkmate Checkmate (often shortened to mate) is any game position in chess and other chess-like games in which a player's king is in check (threatened with ) and there is no possible escape. Checkmating the opponent wins the game. In chess, the king is ...
'' (United States, CBS) * '' Cross Canada Barndance'' (Canada) * '' Maigret'' (United Kingdom, BBC) * ''
The Rifleman ''The Rifleman'' is an American Western television program starring Chuck Connors as rancher Lucas McCain and Johnny Crawford as his son Mark McCain. It was set in the 1880s in the fictional town of North Fork, New Mexico Territory. The show ...
'' (United States, ABC) * '' Showdown'' (Canada) * '' Sing Along With Mitch'' (United States, NBC) * '' Take a Chance'', a quiz show by Roy Ward Dickson adapted from radio (Canada) * '' Top Cat'' (United States, ABC) * '' Twenty Questions'' (Canada) * '' West Coast'' (Canada) * '' Whiplash'' (Australia, ATN-7) 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.


Reorganization and expansion

Caldwell's departure in 1965 did little to alleviate the situation, and CTV soon found itself on the verge of bankruptcy. In 1966, the network's affiliates (which by this time included CJON-TV in St. John's, CKCO-TV in
Kitchener Kitchener may refer to: People * Earl Kitchener, a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom ** Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener (1850–1916), British Field Marshal and 1st Earl Kitchener ** Henry Kitchener, 2nd Earl Kitchener (1846–1937) ...
, CHAB/CHRE in
Moose Jaw Moose Jaw is the fourth largest city in Saskatchewan, Canada. Lying on the Moose Jaw River in the south-central part of the province, it is situated on the Trans-Canada Highway, west of Regina. Residents of Moose Jaw are known as Moose Javians ...
/ Regina, and the network's first and only U.S. affiliate, WNYP-TV in Jamestown, New York) sought permission to buy the network and run it as a cooperative. The BBG was initially skeptical of the proposal. Since CFTO was by far the largest and richest station (it was more than double the size of the next-largest station, Montreal's CFCF-TV), the BBG feared that CFTO would dominate CTV if the stations were allowed to buy the network. To alleviate these concerns, the affiliates promised that each station owner would have one vote regardless of its audience share. The board readily approved the proposal, and by the start of the 1966–67 season, the stations owned their network. Gittins 1999, p. 86 The network also began broadcasting in
colour Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are associ ...
on September 1, 1966. By the mid-1970s, CTV had expanded its footprint across Canada, mostly by
twinstick A duopoly (or twinstick, referring to "stick" as jargon for a radio tower) is a situation in television and radio broadcasting in which two or more stations in the same city or community share common ownership. United States In the United States ...
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 ( ; ) is a province in western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North ...
affiliate, CHAB/CHRE, was bought by the CBC in 1969 (and eventually changed its calls to
CBKT CBKT-DT (channel 9) is a CBC Television station in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. It is part of a twinstick with Ici Radio-Canada Télé station CBKFT-DT (channel 13). The two outlets share studios with sister radio stations CBK and CBK-FM at t ...
, with the Regina station as the main station), allowing Regina's original station, CKCK-TV, to join CTV. Its attempt to expand to the United States ended when Buffalo's three network affiliates threatened legal action, forcing WNYP off the air. CTV made a name for itself in news coverage when it convinced star CBC news anchor Lloyd Robertson to switch networks in 1976. (Robertson served as the network's main anchorman until 2011). Its weekly newsmagazine series, '' W5'', has been a fixture on the network since 1966, predating the similar American program ''
60 Minutes ''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who chose to set it apart from other news programs by using a unique st ...
'' by two years. In the 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 Supertramp were an English rock band that formed in London in 1969. Marked by the individual songwriting of founders Roger Hodgson (vocals, keyboards, and guitars) and Rick Davies (vocals and keyboards), they are distinguished for blending ...
's " Fool's Overture", ''Canada AM'' used an instrumental version of
The Moody Blues The Moody Blues were an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1964, initially consisting of keyboardist Mike Pinder, multi-instrumentalist Ray Thomas, guitarist Denny Laine, drummer Graeme Edge and bassist Clint Warwick. The group c ...
' "Ride My See-Saw", the game show ''
Definition A definition is a statement of the meaning of a term (a word, phrase, or other set of symbols). Definitions can be classified into two large categories: intensional definitions (which try to give the sense of a term), and extensional definitio ...
'' used
Quincy Jones Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (born March 14, 1933) is an American record producer, musician, songwriter, composer, arranger, and film and television producer. His career spans 70 years in the entertainment industry with a record of 80 Grammy Award n ...
' " Soul Bossa Nova" and the ''CTV Movie'' used the Keith Mansfield instrumental "Statement" from the KPM Musichouse library. For most of its first four decades, CTV did not have what could be considered a main schedule outside of news programming. The differences were enough that Ottawa's CJOH used a rebroadcaster in
Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlan ...
to feed cable systems in Montreal from the early 1980s through the mid-1990s despite the presence of CFCF; the CJOH rebroadcaster reaches the western portion of the Montreal area.


Conflict and consolidation

CTV's cooperative structure regularly led to conflicts between the network's owner-affiliates. In particular, the owners of CFCF, CJOH, and especially CHAN felt that
Baton Broadcasting Bell Media Inc. (French: ) is a Canadian company formed by the amalgamation of several companies. Establishment (2011–13) On December 9, 2011, the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan announced the sale of its majority stake in Maple Leaf Sports ...
, owners of
flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of 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 the f ...
CFTO in Toronto, dominated production of network programming. In the mid-1980s, Baton began a drive to take over CTV by buying as many affiliates as possible. Having already bought CFQC-TV in
Saskatoon Saskatoon () is the largest city in the 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 Yellowhead Highway, and has served as ...
in 1971, Baton purchased additional stations in Saskatchewan – including CTV affiliates CKCK-TV Regina, CICC-TV
Yorkton Yorkton is a city located in south-eastern Saskatchewan, Canada. It is about 450 kilometres north-west of Winnipeg and 300 kilometres south-east of Saskatoon and is the sixth largest city in the province. As of 2017 the census population of the ...
, and CIPA-TV
Prince Albert Prince Albert most commonly refers to: *Albert, Prince Consort (1819–1861), consort of Queen Victoria *Albert II, Prince of Monaco (born 1958), present head of state of Monaco Prince Albert may also refer to: Royalty * Albert I of Belgium ...
– in 1986. Baton then purchased CJOH in 1988, followed by the MCTV and Huron Broadcasting stations, which included four CTV affiliates in
Northern Ontario Northern Ontario is a primary geographic and quasi-administrative region of the Canadian province of Ontario, the other primary region being Southern Ontario. Most of the core geographic region is located on part of the Superior Geological Prov ...
, in 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 still had only had one vote out of eight. Around the same time, several CTV owner-affiliates were expanding their holdings outside of the network. CHAN owner
Western International Communications WIC Western International Communications Ltd. (or WIC) was a Canadian media company that operated from 1982 to 2000, with operations including broadcast and specialty television, radio, and satellite distribution via a majority interest in Ca ...
purchased Selkirk Communications and Allarcom, which together owned several independent stations in Alberta and Ontario.
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 1050 but was acquired by salesman Allan Waters in 1954. CH ...
, owner of the CTV-affiliated
ATV ATV may refer to: Broadcasting * Amateur television *Analog television Television stations and companies * Ràdio i Televisió d'Andorra * ATV (Armenia) * ATV (Aruba), NBC affiliate * ATV (Australian TV station), Melbourne * ATV (Austria) * AT ...
system serving the Maritimes, already owned independent station CITY-TV in Toronto, and by this point had begun launching national cable channels like MuchMusic. Even Baton added some stations outside of CTV, with the purchase or launch of three independent stations in southwestern Ontario in 1992–93. It also began competing with the network for some program acquisitions in 1992, and in 1994 launched the Baton Broadcast System (BBS) as a parallel programming brand for both its CTV affiliates and independent stations. After several years of contentious negotiations between the eight remaining owner-affiliates, by late 1992 they had reached an agreement to recapitalize the network, and provide a path for a single company to eventually take control. The restructuring took effect in January 1993, and CTV converted from a cooperative to a corporation. Seven of the owner-affiliates invested equally, yielding a 14.3% stake in the network for each; however, Newfoundland Broadcasting, owner of CJON, decided not to invest further and effectively relinquished its vote, reducing the number of active voting members to seven. As part of the restructuring, the stations also agreed to reduce the number of hours of network programming, allowing Baton and WIC to program more of their stations’ schedules with their own acquisitions. In 1996, Baton acquired CFCN from
Rogers Communications Rogers Communications Inc. is a Telecommunications in Canada, Canadian communications and media company operating primarily in the fields of mobile phone operator, wireless communications, cable television, telephony and Internet access, Intern ...
. Significantly, Baton also acquired Rogers' CTV vote. It also started a joint venture with Electrohome, owner of CFRN and CKCO. As part of the deal, Baton was allowed to vote Electrohome's shares in addition to its own. The following year, Baton acquired Electrohome's share of the joint venture, and separately acquired ATV from CHUM. This gave Baton a 57.2% controlling interest in the network, triggering a put option allowing the remaining affiliates, WIC (which by this time owned both CHAN and CFCF) and
Moffat Moffat ( gd, Mofad) is a burgh and parish in Dumfriesshire, now part of the Dumfries and Galloway local authority area in Scotland. It lies on the River Annan, with a population of around 2,500. It was a centre of the wool trade and a spa town ...
(owner of CKY), to sell their CTV shares to Baton 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 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). 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 Yorkton is a city located in south-eastern Saskatchewan, Canada. It is about 450 kilometres north-west of Winnipeg and 300 kilometres south-east of Saskatoon and is the sixth largest city in the province. As of 2017 the census population of the ...
and CIPA-TV in
Prince Albert Prince Albert most commonly refers to: *Albert, Prince Consort (1819–1861), consort of Queen Victoria *Albert II, Prince of Monaco (born 1958), present head of state of Monaco Prince Albert may also refer to: Royalty * Albert I of Belgium ...
. These stations currently simulcast supper-hour and late-night news from CKCK and CFQC respectively, placing local inserts into the newscasts. Similarly, the four
Maritime Maritime may refer to: Geography * Maritime Alps, a mountain range in the southwestern part of the Alps * Maritime Region, a region in Togo * Maritime Southeast Asia * The Maritimes, the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Pr ...
stations, known collectively as ''
CTV Atlantic CTV Atlantic (formerly known as the Atlantic Television, or ATV) is a system of four television stations in the Maritimes, owned and operated by the CTV Television Network, a division of Bell Media. Despite the name, it is not available on b ...
'' (then known as ATV), and the four
Northern Ontario Northern Ontario is a primary geographic and quasi-administrative region of the Canadian province of Ontario, the other primary region being Southern Ontario. Most of the core geographic region is located on part of the Superior Geological Prov ...
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 single centrally produced 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.


Bell Canada era

In 2000, typical of the ownership consolidation trend at the time,
BCE Inc. BCE Inc., formerly Bell Canada Enterprises Inc., is a publicly traded Canadian holding company for Bell Canada, which includes telecommunications providers and various mass media assets under its subsidiary Bell Media Inc. Founded through a c ...
acquired CTV, Netstar Communications, and '' The Globe and Mail'' newspaper, combining them into a media division known as Bell Globemedia (BGM). BGM also subsequently acquired a minority share in the French-language network TQS, which broadcasts in
Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Government of Canada, Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is ...
. 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 The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...
, TVA and
Aboriginal Peoples Television Network The Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN, stylized aptn) is a Canadian specialty channel. Established in 1992 and maintained by governmental funding to broadcast in Canada's northern territories, APTN acquired a national broadcast licen ...
are the only official television networks in Canada (CTV was issued a separate network licence in 2001 to continue to provide programming to CHFD Thunder Bay, CJBN Kenora, and CITL Lloydminster). CTV lost significant coverage in
British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include ...
and
Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...
at the beginning of the 21st century, starting with a major television realignment in Vancouver. In 2000,
Canwest Canwest Global Communications Corporation, which operated under the corporate name Canwest, was a major Canadian media conglomerate based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, with its head offices at Canwest Place. It held radio, television broadcast ...
Global bought the television stations of
Western International Communications WIC Western International Communications Ltd. (or WIC) was a Canadian media company that operated from 1982 to 2000, with operations including broadcast and specialty television, radio, and satellite distribution via a majority interest in Ca ...
, which owned long-standing CTV affiliates CHAN in Vancouver and CHEK-TV in Victoria. A year later, after its CTV contract ran out, Canwest made CHAN the
Global Global means of or referring to a globe and may also refer to: Entertainment * ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003 * ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007 * ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 1989 * ''Global'' (Todd Rundgren album), 2015 * Bruno ...
owned-and-operated station for British Columbia, 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 An independent station is an independent radio or terrestrial television station which is independent in some way from broadcast networks. The definition of "independence" varies from country to country, reflecting governmental regulations, market ...
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 either carried on a higher channel number or unavailable altogether in the
Mountain Time Zone The Mountain Time Zone of North America keeps time by subtracting seven hours from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) when standard time ( UTC−07:00) is in effect, and by subtracting six hours during daylight saving time ( UTC−06:00). The cl ...
portion of British Columbia, where CTV relies on CFCN-DT or CFRN-DT as its main carriers. Meanwhile, in 2002, CJON-TV (known as "NTV") in St. John's dropped its 38-year CTV affiliation after the network attempted to alter its affiliation agreement in a way that Newfoundland Broadcasting found unfair. Since joining CTV, CJON had aired the base network 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 did not 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 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, with most Newfoundlanders having to rely on cable and satellite (usually from CTV Atlantic) for its programming. In September 2005, CTV announced an agreement with
MTV Networks Paramount Media Networks (formerly known as Warner Cable Communications, Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, MTV Networks, Viacom Media Networks, and ViacomCBS Domestic Media Networks) is an American mass media division of Paramount Global tha ...
that saw the launch of MTV Canada. In July 2006, CTV parent Bell Globemedia announced plans to acquire
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 1050 but was acquired by salesman Allan Waters in 1954. CH ...
, itself a former partner in CTV (via ATV), and at that point one of Canada's largest broadcasters. While CTVglobemedia kept CHUM's radio stations along with the A-Channel television stations and most of CHUM's specialty channels, the Citytv stations were sold off to Rogers as 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 High definition or HD may refer to: Visual technologies *HD DVD, discontinued optical disc format *HD Photo, former name for the JPEG XR image file format *HDV, format for recording high-definition video onto magnetic tape * HiDef, 24 frames-pe ...
. CTV affiliate CHFD in
Thunder Bay 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 (after Greater Sudbury) municipality in Northern Ontario; its populatio ...
, Ontario left the network on February 12, 2010, after being unable to reach an agreement on new affiliation terms; CHFD instead became a full-time Global affiliate. CFTO was offered as part of the basic package to Thunder Bay cable subscribers for the duration of the
2010 Winter Olympics )'' , nations = 82 , athletes = 2,626 , events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = February 12, 2010 , closing = February 28, 2010 , opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean , cauldron = Catriona Le May Doan Nancy GreeneWayne Gr ...
; the station had otherwise been available only on the digital cable timeshifting package, leaving CTV without a presence on basic cable in the market. On September 10, 2010, BCE Inc. announced it would purchase the remaining shares of CTVglobemedia for $1.3 billion (CAD). On April 1, 2011, CTVglobemedia was officially renamed Bell Media. On December 1, 2011, CJBN-TV in
Kenora Kenora (), previously named Rat Portage (french: Portage-aux-Rats), 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 hi ...
, Ontario dropped all CTV programming and became a full Global station, adopting a schedule similar to nearby Global station
CKND-DT CKND-DT (channel 9) is a television station in Winnipeg, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, part of the Global Television Network. The station is owned-and-operated station, owned and operated by network parent Corus Entertainment, with studios on the ...
in Winnipeg. The move left CITL-DT in
Lloydminster Lloydminster is a city in Canada which has the unusual geographic distinction of straddling the provincial border between Alberta and Saskatchewan. The city is incorporated by both provinces as a single city with a single municipal administrat ...
as the sole remaining CTV affiliate not owned by the network until 2014. It was announced in June 2014, that CKPR-DT in Thunder Bay, Ontario would change affiliations from CBC to CTV on September 1, 2014, resulting in Thunder Bay having a CTV affiliate again. On May 20, 2015,
Corus Entertainment Corus Entertainment Inc. is a Canadian mass media company. Formed in 1999 as a spin-off from Shaw Communications, it has prominent holdings in the radio, publishing, and television industries. It is headquartered at Corus Quay in Toronto, Onta ...
announced an agreement with Bell Media to switch its three CBC affiliates in Ontario to CTV: CHEX-DT
Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...
, CHEX-TV-2
Oshawa Oshawa ( , also ; 2021 population 175,383; CMA 415,311) is a city in Ontario, Canada, on the Lake Ontario shoreline. It lies in Southern Ontario, approximately east of Downtown Toronto. It is commonly viewed as the eastern anchor of the ...
, and CKWS-DT
Kingston Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the five most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...
. The affiliation switch went into effect on August 31, 2015.


Programming

The network's programming consists mainly of hit American series (such as ''
The Amazing Race ''The Amazing Race'' is an adventure reality game show franchise in which teams of two people race around the world in competition with other teams. The ''Race'' is split into legs, with teams tasked to deduce clues, navigate themselves in forei ...
'', '' The Big Bang Theory'', '' Blue Bloods'', ''
Castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...
'', '' CSI'', '' The Good Doctor'', ''
Grey's Anatomy ''Grey's Anatomy'' is an American medical drama television series that premiered on March 27, 2005, on ABC as a mid-season replacement. The series focuses on the lives of surgical interns, residents, and attendings as they develop into ...
'', ''The Mentalist'', ''The Michael J. Fox Show'', ''Unforgettable (2011 TV series), Unforgettable'' and ''The X Factor (U.S.), The X Factor''), but it has also had success with Canadian-made shows such as ''Due South'', ''Power Play (1998 TV series), Power Play'', ''Degrassi: The Next Generation'', ''Corner Gas'', ''Instant Star'', ''The Eleventh Hour (Canadian TV series), The Eleventh Hour'', ''Flashpoint (TV series), Flashpoint'', ''The Listener (TV series), The Listener'', ''Canadian Idol'', ''MasterChef Canada'' and ''The Amazing Race Canada''. 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''; national morning program ''Your Morning'' on CTV stations in Eastern Canada; local morning program ''CTV Morning Live'' on CTV stations in Western Canada; local newscasts branded as ''CTV News''; and newsmagazines ''W-Five'' and ''Question Period (TV series), 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 television, 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)
high definition High definition or HD may refer to: Visual technologies *HD DVD, discontinued optical disc format *HD Photo, former name for the JPEG XR image file format *HDV, format for recording high-definition video onto magnetic tape * HiDef, 24 frames-pe ...
. It later began airing Canadian programs in this format, such as ''Degrassi''. Currently, only CFTO and CIVT have dedicated HD 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. 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 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 (2005–present), Viacom, expanding on past programming agreements between the two channels. Canadian users attempting to visit Comedy Central websites are redirected to The Comedy Network's website, and vice versa for American users. The Canadian channel kept its own brand name, but the agreement is otherwise very similar to the earlier CTV/Viacom deal for MTV Canada.


Sports programming

Historically, CTV Sports existed as a stand-alone division; with CTV's purchase of cable network The Sports Network, TSN in 2001, TSN has assumed responsibility for all sports output on CTV since. In early 2005, CTV was part of the consortium that won the Canadian broadcast rights to Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics hosted by Canada itself and the 2012 Summer Olympics, London 2012 Summer Olympics. CBC had consistently won Olympic broadcast rights from the 1996 Summer Olympics through to the 2008 Summer Olympics, the 1996 Summer Olympics being held in their main fiction TV series source, the United States. CTV and V (now Noovo and previously TQS) were the primary broadcasters, with The Sports Network, TSN, Réseau des sports, RDS and Sportsnet providing supplementary coverage. CTV promised to broadcast 22 hours per day of event coverage during the 2012 Olympics; regular CTV programming was reallocated to CTV's secondary television system CTV Two during the Olympics. 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 Global means of or referring to a globe and may also refer to: Entertainment * ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003 * ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007 * ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 1989 * ''Global'' (Todd Rundgren album), 2015 * Bruno ...
. TSN, a sports channel co-owned with CTV, airs primetime NFL games and produces the CTV broadcasts in tandem with CBS and Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox.


CTV high-definition and digital transition

CTV carries its high-definition feed broadcasting at 1080i. The following CTV stations are available in HD on digital terrestrial television (DTT): On November 19, 2003, CTV launched an High-definition television, HD simulcast of its Toronto station CFTO-DT, with the free-to-air feed launching in 2005. CTV has since launched HD simulcasts of CIVT-DT Vancouver on June 1, 2004 (the terrestrial feed followed suit in 2006), CFCN-DT Calgary on January 8, 2009, CFCF-DT Montreal on December 1, 2009 (the free-to-air feed followed suit on January 28, 2011), CJOH-DT Ottawa on December 1, 2009 (BDU only), CFRN-DT Edmonton in January 2011, CKY-DT Winnipeg in February 2011, and CJCH-DT Halifax on May 11, 2011.


Local newscasts in high definition

On May 12, 2009, Toronto's CFTO-DT 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 fellow Toronto station CITY-DT). CTV-owned CIVT-DT in Vancouver followed, becoming the second station in the CTV network to broadcast its local newscasts in high definition as of November 23, 2009. CFCN-DT in
Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, maki ...
began broadcasting its local newscasts in HD in October 2011, while CFRN-DT in
Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city anc ...
upgraded its local news production to HD in October 2012.


CTV stations


CTV owned-and-operated stations

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-DT, CIVT, promote their cable channel number). When further differentiation is needed, for example during regional programming, the city or region they serve (for example, "CTV Ottawa" or "CTV British Columbia") may be used as well. Under CRTC regulations, however, the callsign is still the station's legal name. ''Note:
'' :''1) Italicized channel numbers indicate a digital channel allocated for future use by the
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC; french: Conseil de la radiodiffusion et des télécommunications canadiennes, links=) is a public organization in Canada with mandate as a regulatory agency for broadcasti ...
.''


Regional affiliates

As CTV does not presently operate as a ''de jure'' television network using a CRTC-issued network license, these stations acquire CTV programming from Bell Media by way of program supply agreements, not network affiliate, network affiliation agreements. Although they currently carry the vast majority of CTV programs and generally use a similar schedule to CTV-owned stations, the stations retain all advertising inventory, and have final authority over carriage and scheduling of CTV programming.


Former affiliates


Special cases

* St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador – CJON-DT (NTV): disaffiliated with CTV in 2002, but still carries CTV's newscasts and specials.


Other CTV-branded channels

In addition to CTV News Channel (Canadian TV channel), CTV News Channel, several other spin-offs have been launched under the CTV branding. Former specialty channels that have used the CTV brand (and formerly had ownership stakes by the parent company) include CTV Sportsnet (now Sportsnet) and CTV Travel (now T+E). Following the 2007 acquisition of A-Channel by CTVglobemedia as part of the takeover of CHUM Limited, media analysts had speculated that CTV may potentially extend its market-leading CTV brand to that television network. Bell officially announced on May 30, 2011, that the A-Channel television network would be rebranded as "CTV Two", a change that took effect on August 29, 2011. CTV Two currently consists of four over-the-air O&Os in Ontario and three in
British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include ...
, as well as regional cable-only channels in Atlantic Canada and Alberta, providing complementary programming which have smaller audiences than those on the mainline CTV network. In June 2018, Bell Media announced plans to rename four of its existing specialty channels under the CTV branding. Bravo, The Comedy Network, Gusto, and Space were respectively relaunched as CTV Drama Channel, CTV Comedy Channel, CTV Life Channel, and CTV Sci-Fi Channel on September 12, 2019. In December 2018, Bell launched two ad-supported video on demand (AVOD) services, CTV Movies and CTV Throwback (originally announced as "CTV Vault"), respectively offering second-run feature films and classic TV series. Their programming comes from an agreement with Sony Pictures Television; Sony's video service, Sony Crackle, Crackle, would exit Canada on June 28, 2018, with its content being assumed by the two services. It was also announced that content from CTV, its four genre channels, as well as CTV Movies and CTV Throwback, would be eventually accessible within a unified "super-hub" for streaming video platforms. The new CTV app was released in July 2020, subsuming the TV Everywhere apps for the aforementioned channels. It would also subsume the streaming apps for most other Bell Media networks.


Logos

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 a "T", and a green inverted triangle with a "V". This logo has been used, albeit with minor variations along the way ever since. In 1967, the letters "CTV" were rounded and easier to see, with the "base/TV" graphic added later. In 1975, the shapes were brightened. In 1990, the letters "CTV" were angled and tweaked with any additional designs dropped from it. In 1998, CTV introduced a new "ribbons" identity which lasted until 2018 with various minor adjustments before then. Initially, CTV used the three coloured ribbons and shapes of its logo to represent its different divisions. In the network branding, the red ribbon and circle represented entertainment programming, the blue ribbon and square represented news programming, and the green ribbon and inverted triangle referred to sports programming. For a period, the identity featured bumper idents featuring CTV personalities manipulating the logo's shapes as physical objects. In 2004, the network added colour gradients to the shapes to create a 3D effect. The 3D shapes were then brightened in 2011. On September 24, 2018, CTV introduced a new logo and branding elements with a flatter "digital" appearance, as well as a new promotional campaign, "Get into it". File:CTVoriginallogo.svg, CTV's original logo (1961–1966) File:CTV 1966 Logo.svg, Original version of CTV's geometrical shape logo (1966–1975) File:CTV 1970s.PNG, The logo in use in the 1970s and 1980s added the colours, still in use today, to the shapes, with the letters being rounded and a white half-square representing a television Cathode ray tube, picture tube (1975–1985) File:CTV logo (1985-90).svg, The logo in use in the late 1980s adds three diagonal stripes to the geometrical shape logo (1985–1990) File:CTV flat logo.svg, The version in use from 1990 to 2018 drops any additional designs to the geometrical shape logo with letters being angled and tweaked. In 2004, the network added colour gradients to the shapes to create a 3D effect before brightening the shapes in 2011, although the plain version remained in use in print publications where the colour gradients could not be rendered. File:CTV logo 2018.svg, The 2018 logo switched exclusively to a flat version, with brighter colours and refined letter shapes. (2018–present)


See also

* List of CTV personalities * Television in Canada * Media in Canada * Simultaneous substitution


Footnotes


References


Bibliography

* *


External links

*
CTV News

History of CTV Television Network
– Canadian Communications Foundation
Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2011-444
Bell Media Inc. – Group-based licence renewals, ''CRTC'', July 27, 2011 {{DEFAULTSORT:Ctv Television Network CTV Television Network, 1961 establishments in Canada Former cooperatives of Canada Television channels and stations established in 1961 Companies acquired by Bell Canada Enterprises Companies based in Toronto