CityNews Channel

Last updated
CityNews Channel
CityNews Channel.PNG
CityNews Channel logo
CountryCanada
Broadcast area Ontario
Headquarters Toronto, Ontario
Programming
Language(s) English
Picture format 1080i (HDTV)
480i (SDTV)
Ownership
Owner Rogers Media
Sister channels CITY-DT, CFMT-DT, CJMT-DT, CFTR
History
LaunchedOctober 3, 2011
ClosedMay 30, 2013 (end of live broadcasts)
June 30, 2013 (full closure)

CityNews Channel was a Canadian English language specialty digital cable television channel from 2011 to 2013. It was owned by the Rogers Media division of Rogers Communications, and primarily focused on the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). The channel was only available in Ontario and broadcast a single feed in high definition which was also accessible through standard definition televisions.

Contents

The channel's branding was shared with its Rogers-owned conventional television network, City (formerly Citytv), and its news brand CityNews . The channel broadcast from 33 Dundas Street East in Downtown Toronto which also houses studios for City flagship CITY-DT, and Omni Television flagships CFMT-DT (channel 47) and CJMT-DT (channel 40).

Format

CityNews Channel broadcast an all-news format, consisting of local, national and international news. It operated a 24-hour news wheel as seen on-screen, with traffic and weather reports every 10 minutes on the :1s, sports news at :15 and :45 past the hour, and business news (under the title CityBiz) at :26 and :56 past the hour, a similar format used on Rogers-owned all-news radio station in Toronto, CFTR (680 AM; known by its brand "680 News"), and two of CITY-DT's local newscasts, CityNews at Five and Breakfast Television .

The channel's anchors were rotated depending on time period. Live rolling news programming is from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays, 7 a.m.-6 p.m. weekends, and 7-11 p.m. every night.

The station also aired simulcasts of all CITY-DT-produced local programming. Encore broadcasts of CityNews at Six were seen on CityNews Channel at 7 p.m. while the 11 p.m. newscast, CityNews Tonight was repeated on CityNews Channel at midnight. During the overnight hours when CityNews Channel did not broadcast live programming or CITY news broadcasts, from 1 a.m. (originally midnight until September 2012) to 5:30 a.m. weekdays and midnight to 7 a.m. ET weekends, it aired an audio simulcast of 680 News and live traffic camera feeds from the Toronto area. [1] Conversely, CityNews Channel had aired simulcasts of its weekend morning news programming on CITY-DT from April 14, 2012 until the channel's closure, on Saturday mornings from 7-8 a.m. and Sunday mornings from 7-9 a.m. [2]

The channel incorporated a large news ticker consisting of news headlines, weather information, sports scores and advertisements. In addition to sharing branding and content with CITY-DT and content from 680 News, the channel aired content and features from several other Rogers-owned outlets including specialty channel Sportsnet, and Maclean's , [3] MoneySense , Today's Parent and Hello! Canada magazines. [1]

History

Under the ownership of CHUM Limited, Citytv had operated CablePulse 24 (CP24), another Toronto-based local news channel, from 1998 to 2007. However, CHUM Limited was purchased in 2007 by Bell Globemedia (later renamed CTVglobemedia, and again renamed Bell Media in 2011 following its purchase by Bell Canada), which then sold the Citytv stations to Rogers Media. CTV retained ownership of CHUM's cable channels, including CP24, which was paired with CTV's CFTO-DT (channel 9) instead of Citytv.

Rogers was granted approval for a specialty channel licence for CityNews Channel by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) on December 10, 2008. [4] [5] The channel was then tentatively known as CITY News (Toronto), and was set to be launched in late 2009. However, this was delayed due to economic conditions as well as the reconstruction of Citytv's new headquarters at 33 Dundas Street East.

On May 30, 2011, the same day that Citytv's 2011-2012 television broadcast schedule was unveiled, Rogers announced plans to launch the new channel in the fall of the same year. [3] The channel was launched on October 3, 2011, as CityNews Channel.

Rogers Cable initially carried the new channel on digital cable channel 1 in the GTA. However, on November 22, 2011, the channel was moved to Rogers digital cable channel 15, the former cable slot for CKXT (which had shut down on November 1, 2011 and had its licence revoked by the CRTC on November 18, 2011). [6] Digital channel 1 has reverted to serving as a Rogers promotional channel. The channel was later added on Cogeco Cable in July 2012.

Like all specialty channels launched since 2001, CityNews Channel was not eligible to be carried on analogue cable, and thus PBS member station WNED-TV/Buffalo was moved to the channel 15 position for Toronto-area Rogers subscribers without a set-top box (WNED remained on channel 61 for digital cable subscribers).

Due to financial difficulties, Rogers Media ceased live broadcasts of the CityNews Channel on May 30, 2013, in order to redirect its news resources in Toronto to Citytv and CFTR. Until June 30, 2013, the channel maintained the news ticker, with the live video portion of the channel broadcasting live traffic camera feeds, weather maps, and promotions. [7] [8] At Rogers' request, the CRTC revoked CityNews Channel's broadcasting licence on October 1, 2013. [9]

In 2022, Rogers launched successors to CityNews Channel, this time as streaming news channels branded as CityNews 24/7; the channel is operated in Toronto and West versions, and carried via the CityNews digital platforms, as well as Rogers' Amazon Prime Video Channels service Citytv+. [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Citytv</span> Canadian television network owned by Rogers Communications

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CHUM Limited</span> Defunct Canadian media company

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 outlet CFTO-DT, channel 9 ; it is also sister to 24-hour regional news channel CP24. CKVR-DT's studios are located at 33 Beacon Road in Barrie, and its transmitter is located near Essa Road/Highway 27 on the city's southwest side.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CITY-DT</span> Citytv flagship station in Toronto

CITY-DT is a television station in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, serving as the flagship station of the Citytv network. It is owned and operated by network parent Rogers Sports & Media alongside Omni Television outlets CFMT-DT and CJMT-DT. The stations share studios at 33 Dundas Street East on Yonge–Dundas Square in downtown Toronto, while CITY-DT's transmitter is located atop the CN Tower.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CKXT-DT</span> Former TV station in Toronto

CKXT-DT was a broadcast television station based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada that broadcast to much of southern and eastern Ontario. It was owned by Quebecor Media through its Groupe TVA unit. Although beginning as a general interest independent station carrying a typical schedule of entertainment and information programming, by the time of the station's closure on November 1, 2011, the station had been converted into an over-the-air simulcast of Quebecor's cable news channel, Sun News Network. The station transmitted on channel 52 in Toronto.

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.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CHMI-DT</span> Citytv station in Portage la Prairie/Winnipeg, Manitoba

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CP24</span> Canadian television news channel

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.

CTV 2 Atlantic is a Canadian cable television channel serving Atlantic Canada owned by Bell Media, with its studios located in Halifax, Nova Scotia. 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CKVU-DT</span> Citytv station in Vancouver

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. Both stations share studios at the corner of West 2nd Avenue and Columbia Street in the Mount Pleasant neighbourhood of Vancouver, while 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.

CityNews is the title of news and current affairs programming on Rogers Sports & Media's Citytv network in Canada. The newscast division was founded on September 28, 1975 as CityPulse as a standalone local newscast on the network's Toronto station owned by CHUM Limited. Through the acquisitions of the Edmonton, Winnipeg and Calgary A-Channel stations in 2004, it was relaunched under the CityNews brand on August 2, 2005 and later expanded to Montreal in 2012. The remaining Citytv stations airs the news headlines segments during each station's Breakfast Television morning show.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CFTR (AM)</span> All-news radio station in Toronto

CFTR is a commercial all-news radio station licensed to Toronto, Ontario, serving the Greater Toronto Area. Owned by Rogers Radio, a division of the Rogers Sports & Media subsidiary of Rogers Communications, the station became Canada's first solo station to broadcast an all-news radio format, following in the footsteps of the CKO national all-news radio network, a format that has since been replicated in major markets across the country. The CFTR studios are located at the Rogers Building at Bloor and Jarvis Streets in downtown Toronto, while the station transmitter is located on the southern edge of Lake Ontario at Oakes and Winston Road in nearby Grimsby.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Omni Television</span> Canadian television system and specialty channel

Omni Television is a Canadian television system and group of specialty channels owned by Rogers Sports & Media, a subsidiary of Rogers Communications. It currently consists of all six of Canada's conventional multicultural television stations, which are located in Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, and an affiliate in Quebec. The system's flagship station is CFMT in Toronto, which was the first independent multicultural television station in Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rogers Sports & Media</span> Subsidiary of Rogers Communications

Rogers Media Inc., operating as Rogers Sports & Media, is a Canadian subsidiary of Rogers Communications that owns the company's mass media and sports properties, such as the Citytv and Omni Television terrestrial television stations, Sportsnet, OLN, localized versions of FX and FXX, the Rogers Radio stations, Frequency Podcast Network, and these properties' associated digital media outlets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Television in Canada</span>

Television in Canada officially began with the sign-on of the nation's first television stations in Montreal and Toronto in 1952. As with most media in Canada, the television industry, and the television programming available in that country, are strongly influenced by media in the United States, perhaps to an extent not seen in any other major industrialized nation. As a result, the government institutes quotas for "Canadian content". Nonetheless, new content is often aimed at a broader North American audience, although the similarities may be less pronounced in the predominantly French-language province of Quebec.

CFTO-DT is a television station in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, serving as the flagship station of the CTV Television Network. It is owned and operated by network parent Bell Media alongside Barrie-based CTV 2 outlet CKVR-DT, channel 3. CFTO-DT's studios are located at 9 Channel Nine Court in Agincourt, and its transmitter is located atop the CN Tower in Downtown Toronto. The station shares the Agincourt studio complex with CTV's headquarters, which includes studios for the network's news programming, along with most of Bell Media's specialty channels.

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 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.

References

  1. 1 2 Rogers Media to Launch CityNews Channel Archived 2012-01-11 at the Wayback Machine , Broadcaster Magazine, September 6, 2011.
  2. Citytv Toronto Expands News on Weekend Archived 2015-02-23 at the Wayback Machine , TVLoon.ca, April 9, 2012.
  3. 1 2 Rogers Media announces launch of new Toronto 24-hour CityNews Channel, Fall 2011 Archived 2011-07-23 at the Wayback Machine CNW 2011-03-30
  4. Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2008-347.
  5. CRTC Grants Citytv Licence For All News Channel Archived 2010-11-02 at the Wayback Machine . CityNews Toronto, December 10, 2008.
  6. Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2011-719 CRTC 2011-11-18
  7. Sloot, Corrie. "Annex Business Media - Canada - Publishing - Printing - Magazine - B2B". www.broadcastermagazine.com. Archived from the original on 9 July 2013. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
  8. "CityNews channel shut down by Rogers - The Star". thestar.com. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
  9. Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2013-530, issued by the CRTC 10/1/2013
  10. Thiessen, Connie (2022-04-12). "Citytv launches new subscription streaming service". Broadcast Dialogue. Retrieved 2022-11-19.