CIVT-TV

CIVT-TV (also known as CTV British Columbia, CTV Vancouver or CTV 9) is a television station in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Owned by Bell Media, it is part of the CTV Television Network. It broadcasts on UHF channel 32, and is seen on cable channel 9 in most areas.

Station details
750 Burrard StreetThe station's studios are located at 750 Burrard Street, the former site of the Vancouver Public Library, at the intersection of Robson Street and Burrard Street in Downtown Vancouver. The BC operations of the CTV network itself, including the CTV News Vancouver bureau, are now also located at the same facility. The station broadcasts a 2 MW terrestrial signal on UHF channel 32 from a transmitter on Mount Seymour, making it the only CTV network station to broadcast on UHF only.

CIVT is the only CTV station in British Columbia, and in the Pacific Standard Time zone. However, the station only has one terrestrial transmitter, and that UHF signal only reaches Vancouver, Victoria, and neighbouring Whatcom County, Washington. Accordingly, the station relies exclusively on cable and satellite distribution to reach the rest of British Columbia, making it something of a "weak link" in the CTV network. In the Mountain Time zone, CIVT is not available or is on a higher channel number, while the zone receives Calgary's CFCN  over-the-air as the main CTV station.

Although Industry Canada technically requires Canadian TV stations to identify themselves over the air by their call letters, this rule is rarely enforced, and most Canadian TV stations identify themselves by their brand name rather than their call letters. On-air, CIVT identifies itself simply as "CTV". Where a channel reference is warranted, it uses "Channel 9" - its primary cable channel number on most cable systems in southwestern British Columbia.

CIVT now generally conforms to the standard CTV network schedule, aside from timeslot differences in the daytime schedule in order to maximize simultaneous substitution opportunities. The only national program not currently aired on CIVT is The Oprah Winfrey Show, due to historical factors. In the 1990s, almost all CTV stations acquired local rights to Oprah, as well as Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! – however, the local rights were always held by individual stations, not the network. This meant that the B.C. rights, acquired by CHAN (BCTV), did not revert to the network when that station disaffiliated from CTV. CHAN, now a Global owned-and-operated station (O&O), has retained Oprah since then, and is expected to keep the program on its lineup until it leaves syndication in September 2011. CIVT has used a number of stopgap measures over the years to fill this hole in its schedule, currently airing The Ellen DeGeneres Show in the 4:00 p.m. timeslot instead.

Similarly, Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! did not air on CIVT during the years that most other CTV O&Os carried the programs; the Vancouver-area rights to both series changed hands several times during the 2000s and are currently held by CBUT. CIVT was left out of that rotation, making it the only English-language, non-religious station in the market not to have carried the two game shows, despite the series' long association with CTV elsewhere.

Licensing
After receiving applications from Rogers Communications and CanWest Global Communications for new stations in the Vancouver/Victoria market in August 1995 and January 1996 respectively, the CRTC issued a general call for applications in March 1996, with a public hearing that September. In all, five applications were considered: The commission's decision, released January 31, 1997, approved the Baton application and denied the others. The prospective Rogers station was denied largely because it would have replaced some of Talentvision's existing ethnic programming with U.S. syndicated fare. Moreover, Talentvision's existing owners indicated there was "no plan to abandon [the current Talentvision licence] at this time". As for CanWest, the commission determined that the existing BCTV/CHEK twinstick did not justify licensing a new station to a company already serving the market.
 * Rogers proposed a multicultural station similar to its CFMT in Toronto, to replace an existing regional specialty channel, Talentvision;
 * CanWest proposed a new station in Victoria, in parallel to its existing Vancouver station CKVU, in an attempt to gain parity with WIC's dual ownership of BCTV and CHEK in the market;
 * The Baton/Electrohome Alliance, CHUM Limited, and Craig Broadcast Systems each proposed a new, independent local station focused on Vancouver.

The remaining applications were all determined to be high-calibre; however, the deciding factor in favour of Baton/Electrohome was a commitment to air new Vancouver-produced programming across Baton's and Electrohome's stations (e.g., the Vicki Gabereau Show), a promise that the smaller CHUM and Craig station groups could not match.[1]

As Vancouver Television
Logo used while as Vancouver Television or VTV. This logo was used from 1997-2001.CIVT first went on the air as Vancouver Television or VTV on September 22, 1997. The station's news operation started out similar to that of Toronto's CITY-TV, with a morning television show (VTV Breakfast) and evening newscasts (Vancouver Live) where the anchors stood up and moved throughout the studio. The Toronto station's founder, Moses Znaimer, went so far as to claim that his former protégé, Baton chief executive Ivan Fecan, had stolen CITY's format outright for VTV.[2] A noon newscast only lasted for several months after the launch. VTV began moving towards a more conventional news operation in 1999, and renamed its newscasts to simply VTV News.

Upon launch, VTV took over the BC rights to Baton Broadcast System (BBS) programming, some of which was previously aired on BCTV (such as Disney's One Saturday Morning); however, with the Baton/CTV merger nearing completion by this point, the "BBS" brand was not implemented locally in Vancouver. By early 1998 the BBS series had in effect become part of CTV's national schedule; VTV would cover up the CTV bug at the lower-right corner of the screen with its own logo.

However, BCTV and CHEK retained their existing long-term affiliation agreement with the CTV network, meaning that VTV had to fill 40 hours of programming per week, a gap that no other CTV-owned station had to worry about. To fill these holes in the schedule, and because CHUM did not have a station in the market at that point, VTV also carried some series and movies sourced from Toronto's Citytv through the end of the 1999-2000 season. As well, some CTV-owned series that did not air nationally due to low expectations and/or scheduling constraints aired instead on VTV (two notable examples were the first episodes of Ally McBeal and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, both upgraded to national status by midseason). Previously cancelled Canadian dramas that had already aired on the main network were sometimes aired to fulfill Canadian content obligations.

By the end of 1997, Baton Broadcasting had bought out Electrohome's broadcasting operations, and gained full control of both CIVT and the CTV network. It soon became an open secret that CIVT would become Vancouver's CTV station at the first opportunity. However, the network's affiliation agreement with BCTV and CHEK was not scheduled to expire until September 2000; due to complications surrounding the breakup of WIC (including Canwest's acquisition of the BCTV/CHEK twinstick and the resulting sale of CKVU), this was later extended by an additional year.[3]

As a CTV O&O
Logo used while as BC CTV. Used from 2001-2002.On September 1, 2001, as part of a major network shuffle in southwestern BC's television market, CIVT became a full CTV network station, and has not deviated significantly from the national schedule since then (except for the issues with Oprah, Wheel, and Jeopardy! discussed above). Upon becoming a full network station, CIVT adopted the name BC CTV. This caused some confusion among viewers with BCTV, the leading TV station in the region which has since changed its name to Global BC. Given CTV's desire to steal market share from BCTV, there was some speculation that the confusion was deliberate. Indeed, the station had just hired Pamela Martin and Bill Good, former anchors of BCTV's 5:00 and 5:30 newscasts respectively, to co-anchor their 6:00pm newscast.

On July 1, 2002, CIVT stopped using the BC CTV ID on-air, and began to identify itself only as CTV, following the lead of several other CTV-owned stations (such as CKCK-TV and CFQC-TV). The name CTV 9 is often used to refer to CIVT informally, but is hardly ever used on-air.

In March 2004, CIVT became the first station in Western Canada to operate a full-time news helicopter, nicknamed "Chopper 9".

In 2005, digital signal CIVT-DT, sometimes known as CTV HD West, became operational.

In January 2008, CTV began producing a Western Canada edition of Canada AM at the CIVT studios; however, the Western version was cancelled in June of the same year.[4]

On November 23, 2009, CIVT began broadcasting local newscasts (CTV News at 5:00, 6:00 and 11:30) in high definition in a newly renovated studio. CIVT became the first station in the Metro Vancouver to produce a local newscast in high definition[5] and became the fourth station in Canada to produce a local newscast in high definition after Toronto-based stations CITY, and CBLT as well as CTV's national news programming such as Canada AM and CTV National News. CBUT currently broadcasts local news in widescreen standard definition and will air newscasts in high definition in the near future. CHAN and CKVU are currently the only Vancouver-market stations to not produce newscasts in widescreen. A Ford Explorer fleet from CTV Vancouver.On March 18, 2010, CIVT unveiled a new set for its news broadcasts, using elements from the set built by CTV for its coverage of the 2010 Olympic Games. CIVT's newsroom was redesigned using the news desk, interview area and large screen monitors that were previously installed in the International Broadcast Centre.[6]

On December 7, 2010, Bill Good and Pamela Martin announced their resignation of as anchors of the 6 PM newscast.[7] The next day, the station announced that Mike Killeen and Tamara Taggart would be the replacements for Good and Martin and will start on January 3, 2011.[8]

Anchors

 * Coleen Christie - CTV News at Five (Weekdays)
 * Tamara Taggart - CTV News at Six (Weekdays)
 * Mike Killeen - CTV News at Six (Weekdays)
 * Keri Adams - CTV News at 11:30 (Weekdays)
 * Jina You - CTV News at Six and 11:30 (Weekends)

Substitute anchors

 * Rob Brown
 * Mi-Jung Lee
 * Norma Reid
 * Maria Weisgarber

Weather

 * Michael Kuss (Weekdays at 5, 6 & 11:30 p.m.)
 * Marke Driesschen (Weekends at 6 & 11:30 p.m.)

Substitute weather presenters

 * Nira Arora
 * Kate Gajdosik

Sports

 * Perry Solkowski (Weekdays at 6 p.m.)
 * Jason Pires (Weekdays at 11:30 p.m.)
 * Kelcey Brade (Weekends at 11:30 p.m.)
 * Farhan Lalji (Weekends at 6 p.m.)

Substitute sports anchors

 * Blake Price

Chopper 9
CIVT's news helicopter Chopper 9 (a Bell 206 L-4 Long Ranger IV) taking off from the Vancouver Harbour helipad*Gary Barndt
 * Pete Cline
 * Murray Titus

Reporters

 * St. John Alexander
 * Jim Beatty - Victoria Bureau
 * Rob Brown
 * Michele Brunoro - Fraser Valley Bureau
 * Penny Daflos
 * Kimberly Davidson
 * Julia Foy - Fraser Valley Bureau
 * Sarah Galashan - Vancouver Bureau Chief, CTV National News
 * Brent Gilbert
 * Peter Grainger
 * Heron Hanuman - ctvbc.ca Manager/Host
 * Nafessa Karim
 * Mi-Jung Lee - Lead Investigative Reporter
 * Dr. Rhonda Low - Medical Reporter
 * Kent Molgat - Okanagan Bureau
 * Shannon Paterson
 * Norma Reid
 * Lisa Rossington
 * Bhinder Sajan
 * Brent Shearer
 * Maria Weisgarber
 * Jon Woodward
 * Jina You

Photo journalists

 * Curtis Allen - Kelowna Bureau
 * Chris Brinton - Victoria Bureau
 * Wade Carpenter
 * Scott Connerton
 * Shawn Foss
 * Jim Fong
 * Steve Hughes
 * Wayne Hancheruk
 * Roman Komm
 * Shelly Moore
 * Steve Murray
 * Herbert Ramos
 * Gary Rutherford
 * Jazz Sanghera
 * Steve Saunders

Notable past on-air staff

 * Bridgitte Anderson: Anchor, now Press Secretary with Premier Gordon Campbell
 * Renu Bakshi: Reporter
 * Denelle Balfour: Reporter
 * Ravi Baichwal: Anchor, now at WLS-TV
 * Satinder Bindra: Reporter, now at CNN
 * Rob Brown: Reporter, now with CTV National News as Vancouver Bureau Chief
 * Steve Chao: Reporter, now with CTV National News as Beijing Bureau Chief
 * Mike Chisholm: Reporter, now a spokesperson for Terasen Gas
 * Rob Christie: Weathercaster, now at CKRA-FM
 * Kate Corcoran: Reporter, now working for Vancouver Metro Regional Coroners Office
 * Nicola Crosbie: Weathercaster, now at CITV-TV
 * Monika Deol: Anchor
 * Janet Dirks: Reporter, now with CTV National News as Middle East Bureau Chief
 * Jasmin Doobay: Weathercaster and traffic reporter, now News Director at CKOV-FM and CKLZ-FM
 * Ethan Faber: Reporter, Assignment Editor, now Managing Editor at CIVT
 * Linda Freeman: Breakfast host
 * Vicki Gabereau: Talk show host
 * Kristi Gordon: Weathercaster, now at CHAN-TV
 * Claudine Grant: Weathercaster, now at KVVU-TV in Las Vegas
 * Aamer Haleem: Breakfast host, now host of The Point on CBC Radio One
 * Kimberly Halkett: Anchor, now with Al Jazeera English
 * Rena Heer: Weathercaster, now with CP24 in Toronto
 * David Jones: Weathercaster, Environment Canada meteorologist
 * David Kincaid: Reporter, now retired
 * Kathy Kovacs: Sports anchor
 * Karen Khunkhun: Weathercaster, now at CFOX-FM
 * Dave Lefebvre: Reporter, now a spokesperson for Canfor
 * Robert Mason Lee: Talk show host
 * Riaz Meghji: Weekend Weathercaster, now at CKVU-TV
 * Paul Mennier: Anchor, now at CKEM-TV
 * Dagmar Midcap: Weathercaster and traffic reporter, now at WGCL-TV
 * Reshmi Nair: Reporter, now with CBC News "Connect with Mark Kelley".
 * Chris Nelson: Reporter
 * Sonja Nordahl: Anchor
 * Blake Price: Sports anchor, now with CKST Team 1040 Radio
 * Katie Rebak: Traffic reporter
 * Dag Sharman: Reporter, now spokesperson for BC Hydro
 * Michelle Simick: Reporter, now with The Weather Network
 * Stephen Smart: Reporter, now at CBUT
 * Jody Vance: Sports anchor, now at CHHR-FM Shore 104 FM
 * John Vennavally-Rao: Reporter, now with CTV National News as Toronto Bureau Chief
 * Allison Vuchnich: Reporter, now with Global National and 16x9 - The Bigger Picture
 * Ed Watson: Reporter, CIVT Assignment Editor now at Watson Media

Digital television and high definition
After the analog television shutdown and digital conversion, which takes place on August 31, 2011,[9] CIVT-TV will move from its current pre-transition channel number, 33, to its post-transition and current analog channel number, 32 with a maximum ERP of 33 kW. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display CIVT-TV's virtual channel as 32.1.

On February 19, 2009, CIVT-DT was approved to increase its maximum ERP from 2.2 kW to 12.6 kW due to poor reception throughout the Greater Vancouver area including Vancouver proper.