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CIVT-DT
CIVT-DT (channel 32) is a television station in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, serving as the West Coast flagship of the CTV Television Network. It is owned and operated by network parent Bell Media alongside Victoria-based CTV2 station CIVI-DT (channel 53). CIVT-DT's studios are located at 969 Robson Street (alternatively known as 750 Burrard Street, the former site of the Vancouver Public Library's central branch) at the intersection of Robson Street and Burrard Street in downtown Vancouver, which also houses the British Columbia operations of the CTV network itself, including the CTV National News Vancouver bureau. The station's transmitter is located atop Mount Seymour in the district municipality of North Vancouver.
CIVT went on the air in 1997 as the first new Vancouver TV station in 21 years after the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission selected the application of Baton Broadcasting from among five bids. Originally known as Vancouver Television (VTV), the station was a young-skewing outlet intended to reflect an increasingly multicultural Vancouver and stimulate television production in British Columbia. In addition to local news and arts programming, CIVT produced programs seen nationally, including a talk show hosted by Vicki Gabereau and the police procedural drama Cold Squad.
Concurrently with the launch of CIVT, Baton Broadcasting acquired the CTV network. This purchase, plus an ownership change at longtime CTV affiliate CHAN-TV that saw it become owned by the Global Television Network, led to a major television realignment in 2001 under which CIVT became the new CTV station for the province and the only CTV station on Canada's west coast. In switching to CTV, the station moved toward attracting an older audience. It also improved its news ratings, generally becoming the second-rated station for local news after CHAN.
By the mid-1990s, nearly two decades had passed since Vancouver had last received a new television station—CKVU-TV in 1976. A 1977 CRTC study found that, under its projections, Vancouver would need seven additional TV stations by 2001, including three new English-language commercial outlets as well as a multilingual station focused on ethnic communities in the region. While population growth had largely followed the CRTC's projections from that time, the growth in the television station industry had not. The three existing major stations in Vancouver—CBC station CBUT, CHAN-TV (known as BCTV), and CKVU-TV—were coming under increasing scrutiny as being not adequately reflective of an increasingly diverse community. In a July 1996 column, Robert Mason Lee of The Globe and Mail noted that BCTV had the "dangerous arrogance of a local-news gorilla", called CBUT's news product "wholesome" but noted that the local CBC station "has neither the money nor the authority to produce local television", and labeled CKVU as "deplorable", "paving the road to hell", and "cheap and undeserving of Vancouver". There was also a decided sentiment in the growing British Columbia film and television production community that there were no decision-making entities in Vancouver. Producers in British Columbia derided the "$1,500 cup of coffee"—the meetings, complete with airfare, that Vancouver creatives had to make with Toronto leaders to get approval for their proposals.
The process that led to the launch of CIVT began when Rogers Communications and CanWest Global Communications filed separate applications with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) in August 1995 and January 1996, respectively, to launch new television stations in the Vancouver–Victoria market. In line with the commission's usual practice, 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 on January 31, 1997, approved only the Baton–Electrohome application. 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 owner (the company now known as Fairchild Media Group) indicated there was "no plan to abandon [the current Talentvision licence] at this time". As for CanWest, the commission determined that the existence of the CHAN/CHEK twinstick did not justify licensing a new station to a company already serving the market.
The three proposals for an independent station in Vancouver 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 (which ultimately manifested as, among other programs, Gabereau Live!, The Camilla Scott Show, and Cold Squad) across all of Baton's and Electrohome's stations, a promise that the smaller CHUM and Craig station groups could not match. The decision was met with mixed reception in the entertainment community; Baton's large commitment to Canadian programming won praise from the production industry, but others had generally backed the CHUM application, and several people wished the CRTC had awarded multiple stations.
Construction and planning for CIVT began immediately after the licence award. In March, Baton secured space in a former public library at Robson and Burrard streets; the space had been planned as an arcade, but the proposal was rejected by Vancouver's city council just days before the CRTC decision. Ivan Fecan, the chief executive of Baton, led much of the early planning effort. Fecan had been the former program head of CBC television and a former protégé of Moses Znaimer, founder of CITY-TV, whose format was a major inspiration for the new Vancouver station; in an interview with Maclean's, he described the CIVT format as how City might look "if it was moved from Queen Street to Bloor and Yonge". Znaimer went so far as to claim that Fecan had stolen CITY's format outright for CIVT. In July, channel 9 was assigned as its designation on Lower Mainland cable systems. Occupancy of the Robson and Burrard studios, which were designed by Vancouver firm James Cheng Architects, was granted with only a week to go until launch, with delays owing to waivers needed to place satellite dishes on the heritage building's roof and a strike of city workers that delayed permitting.
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CIVT-DT
CIVT-DT (channel 32) is a television station in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, serving as the West Coast flagship of the CTV Television Network. It is owned and operated by network parent Bell Media alongside Victoria-based CTV2 station CIVI-DT (channel 53). CIVT-DT's studios are located at 969 Robson Street (alternatively known as 750 Burrard Street, the former site of the Vancouver Public Library's central branch) at the intersection of Robson Street and Burrard Street in downtown Vancouver, which also houses the British Columbia operations of the CTV network itself, including the CTV National News Vancouver bureau. The station's transmitter is located atop Mount Seymour in the district municipality of North Vancouver.
CIVT went on the air in 1997 as the first new Vancouver TV station in 21 years after the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission selected the application of Baton Broadcasting from among five bids. Originally known as Vancouver Television (VTV), the station was a young-skewing outlet intended to reflect an increasingly multicultural Vancouver and stimulate television production in British Columbia. In addition to local news and arts programming, CIVT produced programs seen nationally, including a talk show hosted by Vicki Gabereau and the police procedural drama Cold Squad.
Concurrently with the launch of CIVT, Baton Broadcasting acquired the CTV network. This purchase, plus an ownership change at longtime CTV affiliate CHAN-TV that saw it become owned by the Global Television Network, led to a major television realignment in 2001 under which CIVT became the new CTV station for the province and the only CTV station on Canada's west coast. In switching to CTV, the station moved toward attracting an older audience. It also improved its news ratings, generally becoming the second-rated station for local news after CHAN.
By the mid-1990s, nearly two decades had passed since Vancouver had last received a new television station—CKVU-TV in 1976. A 1977 CRTC study found that, under its projections, Vancouver would need seven additional TV stations by 2001, including three new English-language commercial outlets as well as a multilingual station focused on ethnic communities in the region. While population growth had largely followed the CRTC's projections from that time, the growth in the television station industry had not. The three existing major stations in Vancouver—CBC station CBUT, CHAN-TV (known as BCTV), and CKVU-TV—were coming under increasing scrutiny as being not adequately reflective of an increasingly diverse community. In a July 1996 column, Robert Mason Lee of The Globe and Mail noted that BCTV had the "dangerous arrogance of a local-news gorilla", called CBUT's news product "wholesome" but noted that the local CBC station "has neither the money nor the authority to produce local television", and labeled CKVU as "deplorable", "paving the road to hell", and "cheap and undeserving of Vancouver". There was also a decided sentiment in the growing British Columbia film and television production community that there were no decision-making entities in Vancouver. Producers in British Columbia derided the "$1,500 cup of coffee"—the meetings, complete with airfare, that Vancouver creatives had to make with Toronto leaders to get approval for their proposals.
The process that led to the launch of CIVT began when Rogers Communications and CanWest Global Communications filed separate applications with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) in August 1995 and January 1996, respectively, to launch new television stations in the Vancouver–Victoria market. In line with the commission's usual practice, 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 on January 31, 1997, approved only the Baton–Electrohome application. 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 owner (the company now known as Fairchild Media Group) indicated there was "no plan to abandon [the current Talentvision licence] at this time". As for CanWest, the commission determined that the existence of the CHAN/CHEK twinstick did not justify licensing a new station to a company already serving the market.
The three proposals for an independent station in Vancouver 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 (which ultimately manifested as, among other programs, Gabereau Live!, The Camilla Scott Show, and Cold Squad) across all of Baton's and Electrohome's stations, a promise that the smaller CHUM and Craig station groups could not match. The decision was met with mixed reception in the entertainment community; Baton's large commitment to Canadian programming won praise from the production industry, but others had generally backed the CHUM application, and several people wished the CRTC had awarded multiple stations.
Construction and planning for CIVT began immediately after the licence award. In March, Baton secured space in a former public library at Robson and Burrard streets; the space had been planned as an arcade, but the proposal was rejected by Vancouver's city council just days before the CRTC decision. Ivan Fecan, the chief executive of Baton, led much of the early planning effort. Fecan had been the former program head of CBC television and a former protégé of Moses Znaimer, founder of CITY-TV, whose format was a major inspiration for the new Vancouver station; in an interview with Maclean's, he described the CIVT format as how City might look "if it was moved from Queen Street to Bloor and Yonge". Znaimer went so far as to claim that Fecan had stolen CITY's format outright for CIVT. In July, channel 9 was assigned as its designation on Lower Mainland cable systems. Occupancy of the Robson and Burrard studios, which were designed by Vancouver firm James Cheng Architects, was granted with only a week to go until launch, with delays owing to waivers needed to place satellite dishes on the heritage building's roof and a strike of city workers that delayed permitting.