The CTV Television Network, commonly known as CTV, is a Canadian English-language terrestrial television network. Launched in 1961 and acquired by BCE Inc. in 2000, CTV is Canada's largest privately owned television network and is now a division of the Bell Media subsidiary of BCE.[1] 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 demographics since 2002, after several years trailing the rival Global Television Network 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 2 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), but that branding was dropped before the network's launch when the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) objected to it, claiming exclusive rights to the term "Canadian".[2][3]
History
Formation
In 1958, Prime Minister John Diefenbaker's government passed the Broadcasting Act, which established the Board of Broadcast Governors (BBG), a forerunner to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), as the governing body of Canadian broadcasting, effectively ending the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's (CBC) dual role as regulator and broadcaster.[4] The new board's first act was to take applications for "second" television stations in Halifax, Montreal (in both English and French), Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, and Vancouver in response to an outcry for an alternative to the CBC's television service. Calgary and Edmonton were served by privately owned CBC affiliates; the other six markets by CBC owned-and-operated stations (O&Os).
In order of their first sign-on, the newly-licensed stations were:
The first eight stations were privately owned; the Edmonton station was a CBC O&O, thus
Programming
The network's programming consists mainly of hit American series (such as The Amazing Race, The Big Bang Theory, Blue Bloods, Castle, CSI, The Good Doctor, Grey's Anatomy, The Mentalist, The Michael J. Fox Show, Unforgettable and The X Factor), but it has also had success with Canadian-made shows such as Due South, Power Play, Degrassi: The Next Generation, Corner Gas, Instant Star, The Eleventh Hour, Flashpoint, The Listener, 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 versions of Your Morning (previously CTV Morning Live) on CTV stations in Western Canada; local newscasts branded as CTV News; and newsmagazines W5 and Question Period, which interviews politicians and recaps political events during the week.
As well, in recent years, CTV has purchased Canadian broadcast rights to a number of American cable series, such as
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 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 began broadcasting its local newscasts in HD in October 2011, while CFRN-DT in Edmonton 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, 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.
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 affiliation agreements.[61] 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.
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".[32] This logo has been used to the present day, albeit with minor variation.
In 1967, the letters "CTV" were redesigned and made thicker, making them easier to see. The letters in turn became rounded, 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. Later, in 1998, the network added colour gradients to the shapes to create a 3D effect. That variant became CTV's official logo in 2004; the 3D shapes then obtained a more realistic appearance on August 29, 2011 to reflect the name change from A to CTV Two.
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".[74]
See also
- List of CTV personalities
- Television in Canada
- Media in Canada
- Simultaneous substitution
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
References
- About CTV CTV Television Network, retrieved June 3, 2020^
- Gittins 1999, p. 63^
- Gittins 1999, pp. 45–51^
- CTV Television Network