CKX-TV shared studios with CKX-FM and CKXA-FM (then known as "101.1 The Farm") on Victoria Avenue in Brandon; CKX-TV's transmitter was located in Oakland, Manitoba (it is now occupied by CKY-DT rebroadcaster CKYB-TV, which Bell Media has applied to close[1]).
As a private affiliate of the CBC, the station aired most CBC network programming, but also aired some programs from A. Currently, CBC programming is available through CBC's Winnipeg station CBWT, on Westman Cable channel 6, taking up CKX's former slot.
In February 2009, CTV announced that CKX was up for sale as CBC would not continue its affiliation agreement.[2] In July 2009, it was announced that Bluepoint Investment Corporation would buy the station for a dollar.[3] However, Bluepoint pulled out of the sale on October 1, resulting in the station's closing a day later.[4]
History
The station was founded by John Craig and went on the air on January 28, 1955, a day which marked Craig Media's start in television broadcasting.
For nearly half a century, the station remained under the ownership of Craig Media.
During the early 1980s when the CRTC had called for applications for a new television station serving southern Manitoba, CKX-TV had raised fears that extending CKND-TVs signal into the Westman area would split the revenue from national advertisers which could cause CKX-TV to operate in the red.[6]
CHUM relaunched the original Craig Media A-Channel stations as new affiliates of Citytv on August 2, 2005, at the same time as the existing NewNet stations picked up the "A Channel" name. It generally left CKX's programming alone, though the A-Channel logo was occasionally seen during primetime programming.
On January 15, 2007, master control for CKX-TV was moved back from Portage la Prairie to Brandon.[7]
Ownership changed hands once again on June 22, 2007, as CHUM Limited was sold to CTVglobemedia. Originally, CTVglobemedia wanted to retain CHUM's Citytv system and sell CKX-TV, CHUM's A-Channel stations, and several speciality channels to Rogers Communications. However, this was denied by the CRTC, and CTV was forced to sell the Citytv stations to Rogers instead. Richard Gray was named the head of news for CKX-TV and the A Channel stations. Gray reports directly to the CTVgm corporate group, as opposed to CTV News, to preserve independent news presentation and management. CKX-TV was CTV's first CBC affiliate since selling their CBC stations in Northern Ontario and Saskatchewan to the CBC in 2002.[8]
In early 2009, CBC decided it would not renew CKX's affiliation agreement past its expiration date of August 31, 2009. When CTV offered to sell the station directly to the CBC for a dollar, they refused, saying they could not afford the station's ongoing operational costs, and costs associated with the upcoming digital transition. Because of this, CTV put the station up for sale, saying it would shut it down on August 31 if no buyer was found.[2]
On April 30, 2009, Shaw Communications announced it would purchase CKX, along with two of CTV's A stations (CHWI in Windsor, Ontario and CKNX in Wingham, Ontario) from CTVgm for a dollar each.[9] However, it was reported on June 30 that Shaw had backed out of the deal.[10] Instead, on July 16, CTV announced that Bluepoint Investment Corporation, a new company owned by media veteran Bruce Claassen, would buy CKX for a dollar. The deal was planned to close by December 31, 2009, pending CRTC approval.[3][11] Bluepoint intended to keep at least some CBC programming,[12] though CKX was still a full CBC affiliate after August 31.
This CTVglobemedia slide was the last message to air on CKX-TV before going off the air on October 2, 2009. A black screen aired on CKX until the transmitters were shut off.Graphic after CKX's 6 PM newscast on CKX and announcing the closure of CKX-TV, on ckxtv.com, on October 2, 2009.
However, Bluepoint pulled out of the sale on October 1, citing inability to get satellite coverage. As a result, CTV shut the station down the next day, after its 6 PM newscast, bringing the station to show a screen thanking viewers for several hours. The last image televised on CKX-TV before going to black was the corporate logo and copyright notice for CTVglobemedia.[14] The station's website, ckxtv.com, also switched to a slate, thanking viewers and directing them to localtvmatters.ca and redirecting to the Bravo Canada website, to learn about CTV's position that local television was being endangered.[15]
The station was the second major TV station in Canada to have gone dark since 1977 (when CFVO-TV in Hull, Quebec left the air; all other defunct stations in Canada became repeaters of other stations almost seamlessly), the other being CHCA-TV in Red Deer, Alberta, closing about one month before CKX. The station's license is still active after the station's closure, although CHCA's license was revoked in December 2009, and CFVO-TV's license was transferred to Radio-Quebec (now Télé-Québec) as that station later became CIVO-TV. The Access Alberta stations CIAN-DT and CJAL-DT went dark on August 31, 2011. Two months later, it was Quebecor-owned CKXT-TV, which went dark on November 1, 2011.
By the time the CBC closed down its network of rebroadcasters on July 31, 2012,[16][17] the network never reestablished an aerial presence in Brandon.
Digital television
Before its closure in 2009, CKX had not begun broadcasting in digital on its allocated channel 49.
Had the station remained on the air, after the phaseout of analogue television in Canada on August 31, 2011, CKX-DT was to remain on 49. With the use of PSIP, television receivers would have displayed CKX-DT's virtual channel as 5. Following the station's closedown, the allocations for its analog and digital frequencies became open for future stations.[18]
News
CKX aired a one-hour local noon program, The Noon Show, from 12 noon to 1 p.m. daily while it also aired a live one-hour evening newscast, CKX News at 6, from 6 to 7 p.m. every weekday. CKX used to air a late-night half-hour newscast from 11 to 11:30p.m. until cuts were made to the station in the 1990s and 2000.
Despite its local orientation, CKX news programming generally lagged in the ratings behind Winnipeg-based CTV station CKY-TV, which has a rebroadcaster in Brandon but limited news coverage of the region.
Citytv is a Canadian television network owned by the Rogers Sports & Media subsidiary of Rogers Communications. The network consists of six owned-and-operated (O&O) television stations located in the metropolitan areas of Toronto, Montreal, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, and Vancouver, a cable-only service that serves the province of Saskatchewan, and three independently owned affiliates serving smaller cities in Alberta and British Columbia. There is also one station using the brand name serving Bogota, Colombia.
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. CHUM had expanded to and owned 33 radio stations across Canada under its CHUM Radio Network division and also owned other radio stations.
CKVR-DT is a television station in Barrie, Ontario, Canada, serving as the flagship station of the CTV 2 system. It is owned and operated by Bell Media alongside Toronto-based CTV flagship CFTO-DT, channel 9 ; it is also sister to 24-hour regional news channel CP24. CKVR-DT's studios and transmitter are co-located at 33 Beacon Road in Barrie.
CFPL-DT is a television station in London, Ontario, Canada, part of the CTV 2 system. It is owned and operated by Bell Media alongside Kitchener-based CTV station CKCO-DT, although the two stations maintain separate operations. CFPL-DT's studios and local transmitter are located on Communications Road on the southwestern side of London, and its Wingham-area rebroadcast transmitter is located on Tower Road in South Bruce.
CTV 2 is a Canadian English-language television system owned by the Bell Media subsidiary of BCE Inc. The system consists of four terrestrial owned-and-operated television stations (O&Os) in Ontario, one in British Columbia and two regional cable television channels, one in Atlantic Canada and the other in Alberta.
CKNX-TV was a television station owned by CTVglobemedia which served mid-western Ontario, Canada. It was part of the A television system. The station's offices, studios, and transmission facilities were located at Carling Terrace corner John Street in Wingham. A bureau in Owen Sound closed down in late 2004.
CHWI-DT is a television station licensed to Wheatley, Ontario, Canada, broadcasting CTV 2 programming to the Windsor area. Owned and operated by Bell Media, the station has studios at the Bell Canada Building in downtown Windsor with a secondary office in Chatham; its transmitter is located on Zion Road in Chatham.
CIVI-DT is a television station in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, part of the CTV 2 system. It is owned and operated by Bell Media alongside Vancouver-based CTV station CIVT-DT. Although the two stations nominally maintain separate operations, the Victoria station's newscasts have been anchored from the CIVT-DT studios since 2023. CIVI-DT's offices are located at the corner of Broad Street and Pandora Avenue across from the McPherson Playhouse and the Victoria City Hall in downtown Victoria, and its transmitter is located on the roof of Camosack Manor near Rockland. The station operates a rebroadcaster (CIVI-DT-2) on virtual and UHF channel 17 in Vancouver, with transmitter atop Mount Seymour in the district municipality of North Vancouver.
CHMI-DT is a television station licensed to Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, Canada, broadcasting the Citytv network to the Winnipeg area. Owned and operated by Rogers Sports & Media, the station has studios at 8 Forks Market Road in downtown Winnipeg, and its transmitter is located adjacent to Bohn Road in Cartier.
CP24 is a Canadian English-language specialty news channel owned by Bell Media, a subsidiary of BCE Inc. and operated alongside the Bell-owned CTV Television Network's owned-and-operated television stations CFTO-DT and CKVR-DT. The channel broadcasts from 299 Queen Street West in Downtown Toronto.
CKVU-DT is a television station in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, serving as the West Coast flagship of the Citytv network. It is owned and operated by network parent Rogers Sports & Media alongside Omni Television station CHNM-DT. The two stations share studios at the corner of West 2nd Avenue and Columbia Street in the Mount Pleasant neighbourhood of Vancouver; CKVU-DT's transmitter is located atop Mount Seymour in the district municipality of North Vancouver, with additional transmitter link facilities on the roof of the Century Plaza Hotel in Downtown Vancouver.
CKEM-DT is a television station in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, part of the Citytv network. It is owned and operated by Rogers Sports & Media alongside Omni Television station CJEO-DT. The two stations share studios with Rogers's local radio stations on Gateway Boulevard in Edmonton; CKEM-DT's transmitter is located near Yellowhead Highway/Highway 16A. The station also operates a rebroadcast transmitter in Red Deer.
CKAL-DT is a television station in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, part of the Citytv network. It is owned and operated by Rogers Sports & Media alongside Omni Television station CJCO-DT. The two stations share studios at 7 Avenue and 5 Street Southwest in Downtown Calgary; CKAL-DT's transmitter is located near Old Banff Coach Road/Highway 563.
CHCA-TV was a television station in Red Deer, Alberta, Canada. It was owned by Canwest, and was part of the E! television system. The station was seen on VHF channel 6 and cable channel 11 in Red Deer. The station was previously Red Deer's CBC affiliate. CHCA had its studios on Bremner Avenue in Downtown Red Deer and transmitter off Range Road 265 in Red Deer County.
Oprah Winfrey Network, more commonly shortened to OWN, was a Canadian English language discretionary service channel owned by Corus Entertainment. The network's owner, Corus Entertainment, licensed the OWN brand and its American programming from Warner Bros. Discovery.
Citytv Saskatchewan is a Canadian English language cable television channel in the province of Saskatchewan. Headquartered in the provincial capital of Regina, the channel is owned by the Rogers Sports & Media subsidiary of Rogers Communications and operates as a de facto owned-and-operated station of its Citytv television network. Its studios are shared with CBC's Regina studios on 2440 Broad Street in Downtown Regina.
Cooking Channel is a Canadian English language discretionary specialty channel majority-owned by Corus Entertainment. Dedicated to programming related to food and cooking, it serves as a spin-off of Food Network.
CTV 2 Alberta is a Canadian English language entertainment and former educational television channel in the province of Alberta. Owned by the Bell Media subsidiary of BCE Inc., it operates as a de facto owned-and-operated station of its secondary CTV 2 television system.
In 2007, significant ownership changes occurred in Canada's broadcast television industry, involving nearly every private English-language network and television system. In addition to the shuffling of network affiliations and mergers involving various networks, several new television stations and rebroadcast transmitters also signed on the air.
This is a list of media in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada.
Stations are grouped by the affiliation it had at its closure. Bold denotes stations that did not become a rebroadcaster of another station when it closed.
Some of the assets listed above are only partially owned by Bell Media. Refer to full asset list for detailed information.
*Currently being sold to other owners pending approval of the CRTC.
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