CTV 2

CTV Two

Type	Broadcast television system
Country	Canada
Availability	Semi-national: Southern Ontario (Eastern and Southwestern), B.C. (Lower Mainland), Alberta, Atlantic Canada; also available in adjacent parts of Northern United States via antenna or cable television service
Owner	Bell Media
Key people	Kevin Crull
Launch date	September 1, 1995
Former names	NewNet (1995–2005) A-Channel (2005–2008) A (2008-2011)
Official website	CTV Two

CTV Two is an English language television system in Canada owned by Bell Media. The system currently consists of four over-the-air owned-and-operated television stations (O&Os) in Ontario and one in British Columbia, as well as a regional cable-only channel in Atlantic Canada and a regional cable-only educational channel in Alberta.

CTV Two provides complementary programming to Bell Media's larger CTV network – primarily newer or younger-skewing series which have smaller audiences than those on the mainline CTV network.

History

The logo of CKVR during the "NewNet" era (1995–2005). This is a typical example of a NewNet station logo, which prominently features the last two letters of a station's callsign.

Beginning as NewNet

The system began to develop in September 1995, when CHUM Limited disaffiliated CKVR, its longtime CBC Television affiliate in Barrie, Ontario, and tried to give it a more youthful image in order to generate interest from viewers in the neighbouring Toronto market, where CKVR had long been available on basic cable. This included relaunching its newscast in a CityPulse-type format, replacing its various classic TV shows with more contemporary series, and acquiring partial broadcasting rights to the Toronto Raptors, Toronto's then-new National Basketball Association (NBA) franchise. The resulting station became known as The New VR.

The experiment was apparently successful enough that CHUM replicated CKVR's format on several other stations acquired from Baton Broadcasting in 1997, including CHRO in Pembroke, CFPL in London, CKNX in Wingham, and CHWI in Wheatley. Most of these stations were also former CBC affiliates, and all were in markets where CHUM's Citytv Toronto was already available on basic cable. CIVI in Victoria, British Columbia was added into the system by CHUM at its launch in October 2001.

CHUM informally referred to these stations as the NewNet. That name was never used on-air on any of these stations; rather it served as a common identifier for the stations to advertising buyers (it was also used on news vehicles in Southwestern Ontario). On-air, each station was known as "The New XX," where XX was the last two letters of the station's callsign (e.g., "The New VR" for CKVR, "The New RO" for CHRO, "The New PL" for CFPL, etc.)

A-Channel logo, 2005-2008

Rebranding to A-Channel

On March 15, 2005, CHUM announced that the NewNet stations would be relaunched as A-Channel by that fall. The rebrand took place on August 2, 2005, the same date when the former A-Channel stations in Winnipeg, Edmonton and Calgary, recently acquired by CHUM from Craig Media, were relaunched as Citytv. The change reflected a shift towards a more traditional broadcasting model at these stations.

Acquisition of A-Channel by CTVglobemedia

On July 12, 2006, CTVglobemedia (CTVgm, formerly known as Bell Globemedia) announced a friendly takeover bid to buy CHUM Limited. CTVgm initially intended to keep CHUM's Citytv system, while divesting the A-Channel and Access stations in order for the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to approve the acquisition.

On April 9, 2007, Rogers Communications announced an agreement to purchase the A-Channel stations, along with the CBC Television affiliate in Brandon, Manitoba (CKX-TV) and several cable channels being put up for sale as part of the CTV transaction. The CRTC announced its approval of CTVgm's purchase of CHUM Limited on June 8 of the same year, but added a condition that CTVgm must sell off CHUM's Citytv stations to another buyer. At the same time, it was permitted to keep the A-Channel stations, in effect cancelling the planned sale of A-Channel to Rogers Communications.

On June 22, 2007, CTVglobemedia finalized its purchase of the CHUM Limited stations, while the Citytv stations were sold to Rogers Communications. The company initially intended to keep the A-Channel stations' branding and programming independent from the CTV Television Network. However, as with the relationship between Global and E!, CTV radically adjusted A-Channel's announced schedule over the summer of 2007 to make room for several series that could not be accommodated on the main network's fall schedule. Notably, A-Channel picked up CTV's rights to 30 Rock, Scrubs, Two and a Half Men, The Big Bang Theory and Jeff Ltd.. In October, CTV also moved Dirty Sexy Money and Big Shots, both of which had originally premiered on the main network, to A-Channel.

Later in the fall, CTV also replaced A-Channel's daily entertainment newscast, Star! Daily, with MTV e2 and strip reruns of Degrassi: The Next Generation, although new episodes of that series continued to air on CTV.

On July 26, 2007, CTVglobemedia named Richard Gray the head of news for the A-Channel stations and CKX-TV. Gray would report to the CTVgm corporate group, not CTV News, to preserve independent news presentation and management. Gray now oversees the news departments for CKVR, CHRO, CFPL, CKNX, CHWI, CIVI and CKX.

A

Shortly after CTV took control of A-Channel and most of the other assets owned by CHUM, media analysts began to speculate that the A-Channel stations would be rebranded under a different name and identity in 2008. Viewer surveys in 2007 and 2008 suggested that the names "Much TV" and "CHUM TV" were under consideration.

A logo, 2008-2011

At its fall upfronts presentation on June 2, 2008, CTV officially announced that it would reformat the A-Channel stations with a new look and new logo, thus becoming known as simply A (stylized as originally 'A' and then /A\). In anticipation of the format change, in the same month "A" was used in A-Channel's press materials, and on-air personalites began referring to the local newscasts as A News instead of A-Channel News. The official on-air relaunch from A-Channel to A took place on August 11, 2008. On that same date, Atlantic Canada's Atlantic Satellite Network also joined the A television system as A Atlantic, and began to carry the entire A program lineup. In addition, Alberta's Access also adopted a new A-styled logo and began to feature the A lineup in certain prime time hours.

Effects of the 2008-2009 economic crisis

On February 25, 2009, CTV announced that, given the ongoing structural problems facing the conventional television sector in Canada and the current global economic crisis, it would not seek to renew the licences of Wheatley's CHWI-TV (and its rebroadcaster in Windsor) and Wingham's CKNX-TV. Neither stations were expected to be converted to rebroadcasters of London's A station (CFPL) upon their current licences' expirations in August 2009; however, CTV had said news coverage for both areas would be provided by CFPL and CKCO. In addition, CTV also announced on February 19, 2009, that it would not apply to renew the licence of Brandon's CKX-TV beyond its current expiration of August 31, 2009.

CTV announced further cuts on March 3. The A Morning programs produced separately at CKVR-TV and CFPL-TV were cancelled outright as of March 4 and were replaced by repeats of the previous evening's newscasts, while CIVI-TV replaced its A Morning show with a simulcast of CTVglobemedia's Victoria-based radio station CFAX 1070, although those stations retain their evening newscasts. In Ottawa, CHRO-TV saw its morning program expanded from three hours daily to four hours daily and began featuring a weekend edition on Saturdays with a two-hour edition; however, its evening newscasts, which trail those of CTV network station CJOH-TV, were cancelled on the same date. In all, 118 people, or 23% of all A employees, were laid off. No cuts were announced for A Atlantic, which is already tightly integrated with CTV Atlantic.

Announcement came on April 30, 2009 that Shaw Communications would purchase CKX, CKNX, and CHWI for a dollar each, pending approval by the CRTC. However, it was reported on June 30, 2009 that Shaw had backed out of the deal and declined to complete the purchase, putting the stations' futures in serious doubt.

On July 8, 2009, CTV officially announced that it would keep CHWI-TV open after the CRTC announced policy changes to increase funding for small-market TV stations, and following lobbying efforts by the Windsor City Council, local Members of Provincial Parliament Sandra Pupatello and Dwight Duncan, and federal Members of Parliament Brian Masse and Joe Comartin to keep the only local privately-owned television station in Windsor on air. In the same announcement, CTV indicated its intention to file an application with the CRTC to convert CKNX-TV into a rebroadcaster of CFPL-TV once that station shuts down on August 31. On July 16, CTV announced that it would sell CKX-TV to Bluepoint Investment Corporation for a dollar. The deal was expected to close by December 31, 2009, pending CRTC approval; however, it was rejected on October 1, prompting the station to cease operations the following day.

Bell Acquires A

On September 10, 2010, Bell Canada announced plans to re-acquire 100% of CTVglobemedia's broadcasting arm, including the A television system. Under the deal, Woodbridge Company Limited, Torstar, and Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan will together receive $1.3 billion in either cash or equity in BCE, while BCE will also assume $1.7 billion in debt (BCE's existing equity interest is $200 million, for a total transaction value of $3.2 billion). Woodbridge has since simultaneously regained majority control of The Globe and Mail, with Bell retaining a 15% interest in December 2010. The deal closed on April 1, 2011, after the CRTC approved the sale on March 7, 2011.

CTV Two

On May 30, 2011, Bell announced that it would extend the CTV brand to the A system, for the start of the 2011-12 television season. As a result, A was re-launched as CTV Two on August 29, 2011, with local newscasts in most markets rebranded from A News to CTV News, and the morning shows in Ottawa and Atlantic Canada becoming CTV Morning Live. The re-launched system will have programming made available in high definition for the first time as of August 31, 2011. Its fall program line-up was revealed at Bell's upfront presentation in Toronto on June 2, 2011.

As part of the re-launch, Bell expanded the system's coverage area. Alberta's provincial education channel Access (which has aired a limited amount of A programming) renamed itself CTV Two Alberta and began carrying the full CTV Two primetime lineup. On June 17, 2011, Bell also filed an application with the CRTC and Industry Canada to establish additional repeaters for CKVR-TV to expand its signal farther into the Golden Horseshoe area; on UHF 42 in Fonthill, serving Niagara Falls, Fort Erie, and St. Catharines, and a repeater on UHF 35 on CHCH-DT's Tower, serving Hamilton, Oakville, Haldimand County, Caledonia, Brantford, Milton, and Cambridge.

Programming

Main article: List of programs broadcast by CTV Two

Aside from a few key genres, such as movies and local news, the types of programming carried by CTV Two has varied significantly over its history.

As NewNet, the system mainly carried programs from what were then the two U.S. "netlets", The WB and UPN, as well as movies, a few syndicated series, and lower-rated offerings from the U.S. "big four" networks. Certain programs were timeshifted from their original airings on Citytv. The Tonight Show and Late Night aired later in the evening.

As A-Channel, the system shifted towards a more traditional mix, including game shows and more traditional U.S. sitcoms and dramas. Some of the American shows aired during this era included Supernanny, America's Funniest Home Videos, Smallville, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and Wheel of Fortune, as well as Tonight and Late Night. Notable Canadian shows include Degrassi: The Next Generation and CityLine. A few original productions, such as 11 Somerset and Charlie Jade, have aired on A-Channel. The drama series Missing was carried over from the former Craig Media-owned A-Channel (now Citytv) stations. Following the acquisition by CTVglobemedia, CTV would occasionally bump one of its programs over to A-Channel to make room for a different show; during the summer, A-Channel would often carry repeats of CTV series, freeing up CTV to carry original programming.

For several seasons, CHRO also produced and broadcast 20 regular-season games per year of the National Hockey League's Ottawa Senators. These games were generally seen on Thursday nights and were usually among CHRO's most popular programmes. These games have been reassigned to the team's cable home, Rogers Sportsnet, as of the 2008-09 season. Although CHRO no longer airs the games themselves, the station still produces and airs a post-game show.

There may be some confusion about the system's launch date due to a celebration of "50 years of local news" held by local CTV and A-Channel stations in April 2008. Neither the system nor any local CTV-owned station launched in 1958, although some of the stations that later joined CTV launched earlier in the decade. The celebration was not timed to any particular anniversary but rather to a CRTC review of regulations for local TV stations also held that month.

As part of the relaunch as A, the primetime schedule was revamped again, positioning A as the cutting-edge counterpart to the mainstream CTV network. Most of the schedule consists of anticipated new series such as Eleventh Hour and Fringe, and critically acclaimed or high-buzz (but lower-rated) sophomore series such as Gossip Girl, Mad Men, Private Practice, and Pushing Daisies, although a few older holdovers such as AFV and America's Next Top Model (previously on Citytv) remain in primetime. Talk shows such as Ellen, Tonight, and Late Night remain, while Wheel, which moved to CBC Television, has been replaced by TMZ.

As part of its relaunch as CTV Two, the primetime schedule will focus on highly anticipated new series, which Bell expects will revitalize the network, including results shows for The X Factor (which will air on CTV), Pan Am, Grimm, Up All Night, Free Agents, the 2011 reboot of Charlie's Angels, Person of Interest, Whitney, 2 Broke Girls, How to Be a Gentleman, Unforgettable, Ringer, The Playboy Club and Once Upon a Time. Additionally, the popular shows CSI: Miami, Criminal Minds and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit will also move to CTV Two.

Since its acquisition by CTVglobemedia, the system has also served as an alternate outlet for CTV programming in the event of scheduling conflicts with other programming, breaking news, and special events such as the 2010 Winter Olympics. Conversely, in markets where CTV Two is not available, some CTV affiliates may sometimes carry some CTV Two programming, although this is rare.

CTV Two stations

CHWI-TV's studio building in Windsor

CIVI-TV's studio building in Victoria

Terrestrial

• Barrie, Ontario: CKVR
• London, Ontario: CFPL
• Pembroke/Ottawa, Ontario: CHRO
• Wheatley/Windsor, Ontario: CHWI
• Victoria, British Columbia: CIVI

Cable and satellite-only

• Halifax/Atlantic Canada: CTV Two Atlantic
• Alberta: CTV Two Alberta - carried province-wide in Alberta on cable television. Licensed as an educational television service for the province of Alberta.

See also

• 2007 Canada broadcast TV realignment

External links

• CTV Two