City Saskatchewan

Last updated
City Saskatchewan
City logo 2012.svg
Launched May 6, 1991
Network City
Former affiliations:
Educational independent (1991-2012)
Owned by Rogers Media
Picture format 1080i (HDTV)
480i (SDTV)
SloganEverywhere!
Country Canada
Broadcast area Saskatchewan
National (via satellite)
Headquarters Regina, Saskatchewan
Formerly called Saskatchewan Communications Network (1991–2012)
Citytv Saskatchewan (2012)
Website www.citytv.com/saskatchewan
Availability
Satellite
Bell TV Channel 266 (SD)
Shaw Direct Channel 352 (SD) (Classic)
Channel 31 (SD) (Advanced)
Channel 24 (HD) (Classic)
Channel 524 (HD) (Advanced)
Cable
Access
Communications (Regina)		 Channel 12 (SD)
Shaw Cable (Saskatoon) Channel 7 (SD)
Channel 213 (HD)
Available on most
other provincial
cable systems		 Check local listings for channel location
IPTV
SaskTel MaxTV Channel 19 (SD)
Channel 319 (HD)

City Saskatchewan (formerly the Saskatchewan Communications Network, or SCN) 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 Rogers Media and operates as an owned-and-operated station of its City television network.

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.

English language West Germanic language

English is a West Germanic language that was first spoken in early medieval England and eventually became a global lingua franca. It is named after the Angles, one of the Germanic tribes that migrated to the area of Great Britain that later took their name, as England. Both names derive from Anglia, a peninsula in the Baltic Sea. The language is closely related to Frisian and Low Saxon, and its vocabulary has been significantly influenced by other Germanic languages, particularly Norse, and to a greater extent by Latin and French.

Cable television Television content transmitted via signals on coaxial cable

Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fiber-optic cables. This contrasts with broadcast television, in which the television signal is transmitted over the air by radio waves and received by a television antenna attached to the television; or satellite television, in which the television signal is transmitted by a communications satellite orbiting the Earth and received by a satellite dish on the roof. FM radio programming, high-speed Internet, telephone services, and similar non-television services may also be provided through these cables. Analog television was standard in the 20th century, but since the 2000s, cable systems have been upgraded to digital cable operation.

Contents

City Saskatchewan is licensed by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) as an educational programming service for the province of Saskatchewan. It was formerly operated by the government of Saskatchewan as a public broadcaster. In March 2010, the government announced that it would shut down the network due to low viewership. In June 2010, the government announced that it would instead privatize and sell the network to Bluestone Investment Group. Under Bluestone, SCN was converted to a format similar to Alberta's Access network, airing commercial-supported entertainment programming during the late-afternoon and primetime hours, and commercial-free educational and cultural programming from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily. In late-December 2011, SCN announced that it would affiliate with Rogers' Citytv network for its entertainment programming beginning on January 2, 2012. In June 2012, Rogers would acquire SCN entirely, maintaining the same programming model implemented by Bluepoint.

Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission is a public organization in Canada with mandate as a regulatory agency for broadcasting and telecommunications. It was created in 1976 when it took over responsibility for regulating telecommunication carriers. Prior to 1976, it was known as the Canadian Radio and Television Commission, which was established in 1968 by the Parliament of Canada to replace the Board of Broadcast Governors. Its headquarters is located in the Central Building of Les Terrasses de la Chaudière in Gatineau, Quebec.

Because it is licensed as an educational broadcaster, City Saskatchewan is required to be distributed as part of the basic cable service in Saskatchewan, and is also available on Bell TV and Shaw Direct. The channel is defined as a satellite-to-cable television programming undertaking, meaning that it has full simultaneous substitution rights for its programming in Saskatchewan, but does not operate any over-the-air transmitters.

Bell TV

Bell TV, is the division of BCE Inc. that provides satellite television service across Canada. It launched on September 10, 1997 and as of 2004 it has been providing "Bell TV for Condos", a VDSL service provided to select multidwelling units in Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto. Bell TV provides over 500 digital video and 100 HD and audio channels to, as of May 2010, over 1.8 million subscribers. Its major competitors include satellite service Shaw Direct, as well as various cable and communications companies across Canada, such as Rogers Cable, EastLink, Shaw Communications, Vidéotron and Cogeco.

Shaw Direct is a direct broadcast satellite television distributor in Canada and a subsidiary of the telecommunications company Shaw Communications. As of 2010, Shaw Direct had over 900,000 subscribers. It broadcasts on Ku band from three communications satellites, Anik F1R and Anik G1 at 107.3°W, and Anik F2 at 111.1°W; these satellites are owned by Telesat Canada and otherwise are used primarily to distribute programming to various Canadian cable TV companies. The company was formerly known as Star Choice until April 15, 2009.

Simultaneous substitution

Simultaneous substitution is a practice mandated by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) requiring broadcast distribution undertakings (BDUs) in Canada to distribute the signal of a local or regional over-the-air station in place of the signal of a foreign or non-local television station, when the two stations are broadcasting identical programming simultaneously.

History

Public television

In February 1991, [1] the Government of Saskatchewan (led at the time by Premier Grant Devine) was granted a broadcast licence for a non-commercial educational service by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). The channel, Saskatchewan Communications Network (SCN), was launched on May 6 of that year. (Ontario's TVOntario was launched on September 27, 1970; British Columbia's Knowledge was launched on January 12, 1981; and Alberta's Access, which is now the privately owned CTV Two Alberta, was launched on June 30, 1973.)

The Politics of Saskatchewan are part of the Canadian federal political system along with the other Canadian provinces. Saskatchewan has a Lieutenant-Governor, Vaughn Solomon Schofield, who is the representative of the Crown in Right of Saskatchewan, an elected premier, Scott Moe, leading the Cabinet, and a unicameral legislature.

Premier of Saskatchewan first minister for the Canadian province of Saskatchewan

The Premier of Saskatchewan is the first minister for the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. They are the province's head of government and de facto chief executive. The current Premier of Saskatchewan is Scott Moe, who was sworn in as premier on February 2, 2018 after winning the Saskatchewan Party leadership election, 2018. The first Premier of Saskatchewan was Thomas Walter Scott, who served from 1905–1916. Since Saskatchewan joined Confederation as a province in 1905, 15 individuals have served as premier.

Donald Grant Devine, SOM was the 11th Premier of Saskatchewan from May 8, 1982 to November 1, 1991.

Saskatchewan Communications Network (logo).png
SCN's first logo, used from 1991 to the late 1990s.
SCN TV 2.png
SCN's second logo, used from the late 1990s to 2007.

As a publicly owned entity, SCN received funding from the Government of Saskatchewan and from the general public in the form of donations. At the time, SCN frequently stopped between shows to ask for pledges like other public broadcasters such as PBS in the United States.

PBS Public television network in the United States

The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and television program distributor. It is a nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educational television programming to public television stations in the United States, distributing series such as American Experience, America's Test Kitchen, Antiques Roadshow, Arthur, Downton Abbey, Finding Your Roots, Frontline, The Magic School Bus, Masterpiece, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, Nature, Nova, the PBS NewsHour, Sesame Street, and This Old House.

Privatization

On March 24, 2010, the Government of Saskatchewan (now led by Premier Brad Wall) announced that it would wind down SCN's operations, citing low ratings, with some operations such as distance education broadcasts to be transferred to SaskTel. [2] The channel was to have shut down at the end of April, but it was later decided to keep the channel in operation while offers to buy SCN were evaluated. [3] On June 21, 2010, the Government of Saskatchewan announced the channel would be sold to Bluepoint Investment Corporation. During the CRTC approval process, Bluepoint requested several amendments to SCN's licence, which would allow the channel to air limited amounts of non-educational programming with commercials. [4] The CRTC approved the sale of SCN to Bluepoint and the licence amendments on December 23, 2010. [5] The transaction was completed shortly thereafter, and at that point, SCN lost its original funding streams of government funding and public donations.

Brad Wall Canadian politician

Bradley John "Brad" Wall is a Canadian retired politician who served as the 14th Premier of Saskatchewan from November 21, 2007 until February 2, 2018.

Distance education or long-distance learning is the education of students who may not always be physically present at a school. Traditionally, this usually involved correspondence courses wherein the student corresponded with the school via post. Today it involves online education. Courses that are conducted are either hybrid, blended or 100% distance learning. Massive open online courses (MOOCs), offering large-scale interactive participation and open access through the World Wide Web or other network technologies, are recent developments in distance education. A number of other terms are used roughly synonymously with distance education.

Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holding Corporation, operating as SaskTel, is a Canadian crown-owned telecommunications firm based in the province of Saskatchewan. Owned by the provincial government, it provides wireline and wireless communications services, including landline telephone, mobile networks, broadband internet, IPTV, and security services. Through a subsidiary, SaskTel International, the company has also worked on telecom infrastructure projects in countries such as Argentina and the Bahamas.

SCN TV.PNG
SCN's third logo, used from 2007 to 2009.
SCN 2009 logo.png
SCN's fourth logo, used from 2009 to 2011.
SCN logo 2011.svg
SCN's fifth and final logo, used from 2011 to 2012 under Bluepoint ownership.

Under Bluepoint's approved amendments to its licence, SCN was still required to air commercial-free educational programming from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m.; after 3 p.m., the channel would be allowed to air entertainment-based programming with up to 14 minutes of advertising per hour – Bluepoint planned to use this new ability to air programming that could attract new advertising revenue to the channel, [5] in a hybrid format similar to Alberta's Access. [6] When Bluepoint took over control of the station, few changes were made to SCN's programming, other than introducing films seven nights a week starting at 9 p.m. during the summer of 2011. [7] The first major changes to the channel occurred on September 12, 2011, premiering a new primetime lineup of current American network series such as Supernatural and The Insider , and classic series such as Danger Bay , Family Ties , and Frasier . [8]

Affiliation with Citytv, acquisition by Rogers

On December 20, 2011, SCN announced that it had entered into an affiliation agreement with Rogers Communications to air Citytv programs from 3 p.m. to 6 a.m. starting on January 2, 2012, with educational, children's and locally produced programming continuing to air on SCN outside those hours (to fulfill the channel's licence as an educational station). The post-3 p.m. programming, branded as "Citytv on SCN", consisted of entertainment programming sourced from Rogers' Citytv stations, including the network's primetime lineup. [9] With the Citytv affiliation, SCN became the second Canadian educational television service to carry entertainment programming from one of the major commercial networks or television systems. The other was Alberta's Access, which adopted the CTV Two name and lineup upon its relaunch in August 2011. It also gave the Citytv system affiliations in all provinces west of Quebec and south of the federal territories of Northern Canada. (Rogers later expanded Citytv into Quebec when it affiliated with CJNT Montreal in June 2012, which the company also purchased.) [10]

The next year, Rogers Media announced its intent to acquire SCN from Bluepoint Investment Corporation. The sale was approved by the CRTC on June 21, 2012 and closed later that month, making the channel an owned-and-operated station of the Citytv system. Rogers relaunched the channel as Citytv Saskatchewan on July 1. [11] Rogers planned to invest into improving the channel's infrastructure, and to launch a high definition feed for the channel in the coming year. No regional news programming is planned for the channel under Rogers ownership; as such, Citytv Saskatchewan is the first Citytv owned-and-operated station to carry no localized news programming (all other Citytv O&Os carry, at minimum, morning newscasts under the system's Breakfast Television brand, while the system's Toronto flagship station, CITY, also carries weekday midday and nightly evening newscasts).

Programming

In addition to airing City's schedule of entertainment programming, Rogers committed when the channel was purchased to maintaining the channel's requirement to air commercial-free educational programming from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily. [12] Children's programming airs from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. in a block branded as CityKids, with educational programming for adults and older youth aired from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. daily. [13]

See also

Related Research Articles

The CTV Television Network is a Canadian English-language terrestrial television network launched in 1961. Since 2000, it is owned by the CTV Inc. subdivision of the Bell Media division of BCE, Inc. It is Canada's largest privately or commercially owned network, 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.

Citytv Canadian television network owned by Rogers Communications

Citytv is a Canadian television network owned by the Rogers 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.

CHUM Limited was a Canadian media company based in Toronto, Ontario in operation from 1945 to 2007. It held full or joint control of two Canadian television systems—Citytv and A-Channel —comprising 11 local stations, one CBC Television affiliate, one provincial educational channel, and 20 branded specialty television channels, most notably MuchMusic and its various spinoffs. In addition, CHUM owned 33 radio stations across Canada under its CHUM Radio Network division. At various points in its history, CHUM also owned other radio stations as well as ATV and the Atlantic Satellite Network in Atlantic Canada.

CTV 2 is a Canadian English language television system that is owned by the Bell Media subsidiary of Bell Canada. The system consists of four terrestrial owned-and-operated television stations (O&Os) in Ontario and three in British Columbia, and two regional cable-only 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 network. The station's offices, studios, and transmission facilities were located in Wingham. A bureau in Owen Sound closed down in late 2004.

CHWI-DT, virtual and UHF digital channel 16, is a CTV 2 owned-and-operated television station serving Windsor, Ontario, Canada that is licensed to Wheatley. Owned by Bell Media, CHWI maintains primary studio facilities located at the Bell Canada Building in Downtown Windsor with a secondary office in Chatham, and its transmitter is located on Zion Road in Chatham. The station is also available on Cogeco cable channel 6 and in high definition on digital channel 803. Unlike certain other Canadian stations in areas adjacent to the Canada–United States border that are carried on cable on the U.S. side of the market, it is not currently available on Comcast Xfinity in the Detroit metropolitan area or Charter Spectrum in the Livonia area.

CTV 2 Atlantic is a Canadian English language cable television channel serving Atlantic Canada owned by Bell Media, with its studios located in Halifax, Nova Scotia. It is owned by Bell Media, and operates as a de facto owned-and-operated station of its secondary CTV 2 television system.

CKX-TV

CKX-TV was a television station in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada, formerly affiliated with CBC Television. Owned and operated by CTVglobemedia, it was the first privately owned television station in Manitoba. It shared its call letters with its former sister station, CKX-FM, owned and operated by Astral Media.

CKCK-DT, virtual channel 2.1, is a CTV owned-and-operated television station located in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. The station is owned by Bell Media. CKCK's studios and transmitter are located on Eastgate Drive and Highway 1 East, just east of Regina proper.

CJNT-DT

CJNT-DT, virtual channel 62, is a Citytv owned-and-operated television station located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The station is owned by Rogers Media, a division of Rogers Communications. CJNT's studios are located inside the Rogers Building at the corner of McGill College Avenue and Cathcart Street near the Place Ville Marie complex in Downtown Montreal, and its transmitter is located at Mount Royal Park, near Downtown Montreal. On Shaw Direct, the channel is available on 366 (Classic) or 097 (Advanced), and in high definition on channel 046 (Classic) or 546 (Advanced). This station can also be seen on Vidéotron cable channel 14 and in high definition on digital channel 614, and on Rogers Cable channel 122.

Omni Television

Omni Television is a Canadian television system and specialty channel that is owned by the Rogers Media 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. In addition, Rogers also briefly operated religious television stations in the Vancouver and Winnipeg television markets under the "Omni" brand before divesting them in 2008.

CIPA-TV is the CTV owned-and-operated station in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Canada, operating as a semi-satellite of CFQC-DT in Saskatoon. It broadcasts an analogue signal on VHF channel 9 from a transmitter between Louis Reil Trail/Highway 11 and Highway 2, south-southwest of Prince Albert and also operates rebroadcast transmitters in Alticane, Big River, Melfort and Nipawin.

Rogers Media, Inc. is a subsidiary of Rogers Communications, which owns Canada's largest publishing company, Rogers Publishing Limited, which has more than 70 consumer and business publications. Rogers Media Inc. also owns 52 radio stations, and several television properties including terrestrial television stations and cable television channels.

CHAT-TV City television affiliate in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada

CHAT-TV, VHF analogue channel 6, is a Citytv-affiliated television station located in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada. The station is owned by the Jim Pattison Group. CHAT's studios are located at 10 Boundary Road SE in the nearby town of Redcliff, and its transmitter is located near the Trans-Canada Highway and Range Road 80, northwest of Redcliff. This station can also be seen locally on Shaw Cable channel 3 and regionally on Bell TV channel 248.

CTV 2 Alberta is a Canadian English language entertainment and former educational television channel in the province of Alberta. It is owned by Bell Media, and 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.

In 2001, the Vancouver/Victoria, British Columbia, television market saw a major shuffling of network affiliations, involving nearly all of the area's broadcast television stations. This was one of the largest single-market affiliation realignments in the history of North American television, and had a number of significant effects on television broadcasting across Canada and into the United States.

CityNews Channel was a Canadian English language Category B 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.

The following is a list of events affecting Canadian television in 2012. Events listed include television show debuts, finales, cancellations, and channel launches, closures and rebrandings.

References

  1. ↑ Decision CRTC 91-98 CRTC, 1997-02-14
  2. ↑ Government Provides SCN Core Services in More Efficient Manner Archived 2010-03-26 at the Wayback Machine ., Government of Saskatchewan press release, 2010-03-24
  3. ↑ Neil Scott, SCN to remain operating while expressions of interest evaluated, Leader-Post , 2010-05-01, accessed 2010-05-01
  4. ↑ Sask. TV network sold to Ontario firm, CBC News , 2010-06-21, accessed 2010-06-21
  5. 1 2 Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2010-965
  6. ↑ "Ontario Company Purchases SCN". Saskatoon Media Group.
  7. ↑ SCN Summer Schedule Archived 2011-08-27 at the Wayback Machine . SCN press release 2011-05-03
  8. ↑ Claassen’s Bluepoint to introduce revamped SCN in September Marketing 2011-08-15
  9. ↑ Citytv and SCN Sign Affiliate Agreement CNW press release 2011-12-20
  10. ↑ Citytv expanding into Quebec & Western Canada Archived May 9, 2012, at the Wayback Machine ., CityNews , May 3, 2012.
  11. ↑ Rogers Media Receives CRTC Approval to Launch Citytv Saskatchewan CNW press release 2012-06-21
  12. ↑ "Rogers to buy SCN, launch Citytv Saskatchewan". National Post . Retrieved 18 January 2012.
  13. ↑ "Daytime Schedule". City Saskatchewan. Retrieved March 9, 2018.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.