CHCH-TV, channel 11, is a television station originating in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, with transmitters located throughout Ontario. CHCH currently operates as an independent station, having previously served as a CBC Television affiliate, and more recently as the flagship station of the now-defunct CH / E! system.
Owned and operated by Channel Zero, it is the oldest privately-owned television station in the Hamilton-Toronto area, having launched in 1954. CHCH's programming schedule features a weekday rolling news format geared primarily to southern Ontario's Golden Horseshoe, along with feature movies on weeknights and weekends; some American entertainment series were added to the evening schedule in the fall of 2010.
History
CBC affiliation
CHCH-TV was founded by
Ken Soble. A leader of Hamilton's urban renewal movement, and owner of
CHML radio, Soble was regarded as a pioneer in all of his endeavours.
The station began broadcasting in 1954 as a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) affiliate from the CHCH Television Tower, a transmitter located at 481 First Road West in Stoney Creek. At the time, all private stations were required to be CBC affiliates. In 1961, CHCH disaffiliated from the CBC and became an independent. The reason for the disaffiliation from CBC was threefold. Toronto's CBLT already provided full network service to some of CHCH's viewing area, and a power increase and change of channels at CBLT (from Channel 9 to Channel 6 and eventually Channel 5) would result in an overlap of nearly all of the CHCH and CBLT coverage areas. Additionally, the station's managers wanted to produce a larger amount of local programming, instead of being forced to carry CBC programming.
Superstation CHCH
CHCH became the first (and for over a decade, the only) television station in Canada not to have any network affiliation, as the other private stations (which signed on the air in
1960 or early
1961) that were not affiliated with the CBC had formed the
CTV network in 1961. CHCH became a nationwide
superstation on January 1, 1982, when
Cancom began carrying the station and three others to cable television operators in remote regions of the country that had access only to the CBC.
The station also produced a number of important Canadian
syndicated series, including
The Hilarious House of Frightenstein,
Me & Max,
Party Game and
Smith & Smith, and was the original TV home of
The Red Green Show. Hamilton native
Martin Short also had his television debut on the station. CHCH also produced local broadcasts such as
Tiny Talent Time.
For a time, CHCH broadcast local mid-week telecasts of the NHL's Toronto Maple Leafs. It also reproduced World Wrestling Federation programming for Canadian audiences before the company's focus shifted entirely to cable.
ONtv era
In 1990,
Western International Communications (WIC) purchased CHCH. Although CHCH had been available on cable in many Ontario markets for years, the station's broadcast signal coverage was expanded throughout Ontario with repeaters in 1997, in an effort to compete with the reach of
Global's Ontario station
CIII, as well as the
Baton Broadcast System, a group of mostly
CTV-affiliated stations which served most of the province. In turn, WIC renamed the station
ONtv, as in "Ontario Television", in line with the naming pattern of many of its other stations (such as
BCTV,
ITV, and
RDTV).
Local news shifted focus from the station's core market, the Hamilton area, toward Ontario as a whole, in an attempt to challenge what was then a regional news service provided by Global. However, with Hamilton now being largely an afterthought, and other local stations (in Toronto and elsewhere) already strong in the ratings, the shift was unsuccessful, and CHCH's ratings actually dropped. During the ONtv years, the station also aired WIC's nightly Canada Tonight newscast.
Canwest ownership
In 2000,
Canwest purchased WIC's television assets. Since Global already served the Hamilton area through flagship
CIII-TV's transmitter in
Paris, Canwest rebranded the station
CH (or
CH Hamilton) on February 12, 2001 and subsequently launched the
CH television system in September of that year. This move launched a secondary television system for Canwest's stations in medium-sized markets near larger markets. Local news coverage was revamped and re-focused on the Hamilton/
Halton/
Niagara region.
Despite the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC)'s current TV station ownership restrictions (one station per owner per language per market), Canwest was permitted to maintain CHCH's coverage of other markets throughout most of Ontario. However, it could not broadcast to Thunder Bay, Peterborough, or Kingston due to opposition by local stations. Some cable systems outside of Ontario also continue to carry CHCH as a form of "superstation". Additionally, its over-the-air signal easily covers Buffalo, New York and Erie, Pennsylvania.
On June 7, 2004, at 8:00 p.m., CHCH-TV celebrated exactly 50 years on the air. At this precise time, the station aired a documentary profiling the station history, entitled The First 50 Years: A Half Century of CH and hosted by Matt Hayes.
It was announced that the CH brand would change starting in 2007, however, it remained in use until September 7, 2007 when Canwest rebranded CHCH's local programming from CH Hamilton to CHCH News after the following the relaunch of the national CH service as E!.
In late 2008, Canwest retired CHCH's longest serving news anchors, Connie Smith (last day on air November 28, 2008) and Dan McLean (last day on air December 12, 2008), blaming money troubles and having to cut budgets. After their departures, Annette Hamm began handling anchoring duties on a shortened CHCH News at Noon, as well as co-hosting Morning Live with Bob Cowan, while Nick Dixon took over anchoring duties on CHCH News at 6:00. Since being taken over by Channel Zero on August 31, 2009, Annette Hamm and Bob Cowan have co-hosted a restored hour long newscast at noon.
In January 2009, CHCH's Morning Live program began to be simulcast on former sister station CIII-TV due to low ratings leading to the cancellation of its own Global News Morning. The simulcast on CIII-TV was dropped at the end of August after Channel Zero officially took control of CHCH. While the station continued to share helicopter traffic services provided by the Canadian Traffic Network, the arrangement between Canwest and CHCH ended on December 31, 2009 as Canwest held the exclusive rights to CTN services in the Greater Toronto Area.
Channel Zero era
On February 5, 2009, Canwest (CHCH's parent company at the time) announced it would explore "strategic options", including possible sale or closure, for CHCH and its other stations in the E! system, saying "a second conventional TV network is no longer key to the long-term success" of the company. A grassroots group, fronted by
Live @ 5:30 co-host Donna Skelly, surfaced with an intent to purchase CHCH from Canwest and return the station to its former local focus.
In March 2009, paperwork to the CRTC for a one-year renewal of CHCH's licence revealed that the station is projected to lose nearly $30 million during the 2010 fiscal year, which begins September 1, 2009—the station would make $41 million, but the profits would be outpaced by costs of $69 million. John Douglas, a spokesperson for Canwest, said that CHCH, and its other stations in the E! group, were money losers during the last decade, coupled with the Canadian broadcasters' dependency on American programming for profits.
On June 30, 2009, Channel Zero announced that it would purchase CHCH and CJNT in Montreal from Canwest in exchange for $12 in cash and the assumption of various station liabilities. The CRTC approved the sale on August 28, 2009.
Channel Zero took control of the station's programming at midnight EDT on the morning of August 31, beginning its tenure with a film from the 1980s. CHCH disaffiliated from E! (which shut down at the end of that day), adopted a new format consisting of local news all day on weekdays and movies at night (all day on weekends), and reverted to branding itself as simply CHCH. The first film broadcast in primetime that night was Rocky, signifying the new ownership's come-from-behind spirit. CHCH would add, in sparse amounts, additional programming during the 2009-2010 season, including Let's Get It On, a mixed martial arts program; Ed the Sock's This Movie Sucks!, a movie show featuring the former MuchMusic character alongside co-host Liana Kerzner and comedian Ron Sparks; and infomercials.
In September 2010, CHCH, for the first time since its purchase by Channel Zero, began airing American network television series; many of the added shows, including Smallville, Supernatural, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, 48 Hours Mystery, 20/20, Chuck, and 60 Minutes were previously seen in the Toronto-Hamilton market on CKXT-TV (that station's owner, Quebecor, has launched the an all-news cable channel). replacing Sun TV. CHCH also debuted additional original local programs Sportsline with Mark Hebscher & Clint "Bubba" O'Neil, and will launch a second series with Ed the Sock, the entertainment newsmagazine spoof I Hate Hollywood. Coinciding with the schedule changes was a return to an updated version of the classic CHCH multi-coloured logo used from the 1960s to the 1980s.
On April 10, 2011 Green party leader Elizabeth May participated in a panel interview on CHCH, which she was invited to attend, as were the leaders of the Bloc, Liberals, NDP and Conservatives, by Channel Zero, whose president was disappointed by May's exclusion from the 2011 election leaders' debates.
On April 18, 2011, CKXT-TV Toronto switched from a independent station to a simulcast of the Sun News Network, leaving CHCH the only independent station in the Toronto/Hamilton area.
On June 8, 2011, at Channel Zero's upfront presentation for advertisers, the company announced they would be adding the series Hart of Dixie and The Secret Circle, both of which will premiere on The CW in the United States for the 2011-12 Fall television season, on the CHCH primetime schedule, as well as the entertainment news show The Insider.
The company also announced a programming deal with Twentieth Century Fox, that will allow Channel Zero's CHCH-TV and Metro 14 TV stations to show first-run exclusive broadcast movie premieres, most notably Avatar, scheduled to air in Spring 2012 on both stations. The station will be airing the director's cut version of the film not shown in theatres. Other debut titles include Crazy Heart, Taken and .
Transmitters
On August 28, 1996, CHCH received
CRTC approval to add new transmitters across most of Ontario. Their launch in 1997 coincided with the rebranding to ONtv.
{| class="toccolours" border="2" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaa solid; border-collapse: collapse"
| Station
| City of licence
| Channel
| ERP
| HAAT
| Transmitter Coordinates
|- style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"
| CHCH-TV-1
| Ottawa
| 11 (VHF)
| 60 kW
| 190 m
|
|- style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"
| CHCH-TV-2
| London
| 51 (UHF)
| 1300 kW
| 300 m
|
|- style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"
| CHCH-TV-3
| Muskoka
| 67 (UHF)
| 2572 kW
| 305 m
|
|- style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"
| CHCH-TV-4
| Sudbury
| 41 (UHF)
| 35 kW
| 171.9 m
|
|- style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"
| CHCH-TV-5
| Sault Ste. Marie
| 38 (UHF)
| 5 kW
| 112.5 m
|
|- style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"
| CHCH-TV-6
| North Bay
| 32 (UHF)
| 5 kW
| 116 m
|
|- style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"
| CHCH-TV-7
| Timmins
| 11 (VHF)
| 3.3 kW
| 142.2 m
|
|- style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"
|}
Newscasts and other local programming
CHCH currently airs 76.5 hours of local news content every week, more than any local television station in Canada or the United States. In contrast,
CHAN in Vancouver broadcasts 45 hours of local news a week,
WSVN in Miami airs 55.5 hours,
WDAF in Kansas City runs 57.5 hours,
WTVT in Tampa carries 60 hours and
KRON in San Francisco does 60.5 hours of local programming each week. CHCH broadcasts 14.5 hours of local news every weekday (5:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m. and 11-11:30 p.m.) and two hours a night (6-7 p.m. and 11 p.m.-12 a.m.) on weekends.
On June 8, 2011, at Channel Zero's upfront presentation for advertisers, the company announced that CHCH will launch a 90-minute extension of Morning Live, called Morning Live First Edition, airing weekdays from 4-5:30 a.m., starting in September 2011.
Donna Skelly, the 3:30-4:30 p.m. anchor of News Now and co-host of the 5:30 p.m. show Square Off is currently on leave from the station. Skelly, along with Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak, announced on March 28, 2011, that Skelly was running for the PC Party of Ontario in the riding of Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale in the October 2011 Election; CRTC rules do not allow broadcasters to be on-air while running for public office. On her last day as co-host of Square Off, Skelly announced she will return to the show if she is unsuccessful in her bid to be elected.
News/station presentation
Newscast titles
TV 11 Newsroom (1982–1997)
OnTV News First Edition (1997–2001)
CH News (2001–2007)
Live @ 5:30 (2005–2010; debate & talk program)
CHCH News (2007–present)
*News Now (2009–present; late morning and afternoon newscasts)
*News Now Midday (2010–present; noon newscast)
*Square Off (2010–present; 5:30 pm debate & talk program)
*Evening News (2010–present; weeknights and weekends 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts)
Station slogans
Serving Hamilton, Toronto and the Niagara Penninsula. This is CHCH TV 11 (1970–1989?)
Join Us (1988?)
Together, We're the Ones (1990–1997)
There's Always Something ONtv (1997–1999)
ONtv: Where You Are (1999–2001)
Closer to Home (2001)
Closer to You! (2001–2010)
In Hamilton, Halton, Niagara, CH News is Closer to You! (2001–2007)
CH Has It All (2001–2007)
The Most Dependable Name in Local News (2007–2009)
Everything Entertainment (2007–2009; localized version of E! ad campaign)
Canada's Superstation (2009–2010)
Your Superstation (2010–present)
Great Movies Every Night (2011–present)
Newscasts
Weekdays
Morning Live First Edition – 4-5:30 a.m. (launching in Fall 2011)
Anchors
Taz Boga - News Now PM (weekday afternoons 2-5:30 p.m.)
Kate Carnegie - Evening News (Sundays at 6 and 11 p.m.)
Bob Cowan - Morning Live (weekday mornings 5:30-9 a.m.), News Now AM (weekday mornings 9-10 and 11-11:30 a.m.), and News Now Midday (weekdays at noon)
Nick Dixon - Evening News (weeknights at 6 and 11 p.m.)
Annette Hamm - Morning Live (weekday mornings 5:30-9 a.m.), News Now AM (weekday mornings 10-11 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.-12 p.m.) and News Now Midday (weekdays at noon)
Weather team
Matt Hayes - lead weather anchor; News Now Midday (weekdays at noon), News Now PM (weekday afternoons 4:30-5:30 p.m.) and Evening News (weeknights at 6 and 11 p.m.), also noon community reporter and 6 p.m. entertainment reporter
Steve Ruddick - weather anchor; Evening News (weekends at 6 and 11 p.m.)
Lesley Stewart - weather and traffic anchor; Morning Live (weekday mornings 5:30-9 a.m.)
Brian Wood - weather and traffic anchor; weekday mornings News Now AM (weekday mornings 9 a.m.-12 p.m.), and weekday afternoons News Now PM (2-4:30 p.m.)
Nicola Jones - weather anchor; fill-in
Sports team
Ken Welch - lead sports anchor; Evening News (weeknights at 6 and 11 p.m.)
Jeff Leyland - sports anchor; Evening News (weekends at 6 and 11 p.m.)
Natalie Marconi - sports reporter
Reporters
Adam Atkinson - video journalist
Amanda Blitz - video journalist; also fill-in news anchor
Sean Cowan - video journalist
Cindy Csordas - video journalist
Lori De Angelis - Morning Live community reporter
Maria Hayes - health reporter
Lisa Hepfner - general assignment reporter; also fill-in news anchor
Lisa Knap - general assignment reporter
Melissa Raftis - video journalist
Alex Reynolds - entertainment reporter, film and theatre critic and host of The Movie Lounge (Saturday afternoons)
Lauran Sabourin - Niagara Bureau reporter
Al Sweeney - general assignment reporter; also fill-in news anchor
Cristina Tenaglia - video journalist; also fill-in news anchor
Scot Urquhart - general assignment reporter
Square Off
Mark Hebscher - host
Lawrence Diskin - producer and fill-in co-host
Sportsline
Mark Hebscher - host
Clint "Bubba" O'Neil - co-host and producer
Robin Sawh - field producer
Candace Devai - feature reporter
Digital television and high definition
CHCH currently broadcasts a digital signal as the station's over-the-air digital transmitter on channel 18 in Hamilton was launched on April 18, 2008 by previous owners
Canwest. CHCH-DT is available on digital cable as well as for free
over the air using a regular TV antenna and a digital tuner, included in most new TVs. Currently, CHCH-DT is the only digital TV station serving
Kitchener, Ontario.
After the analog television shutdown and digital conversion, which takes place on August 31, 2011, CHCH-DT will move from its current pre-transition channel number, 18, to the channel position occupied by its analog channel, 11.
References
External links
CHCH-TV
Canadian Communications Foundation - CHCH-TV History
HCH
Category:Channel Zero (company)
Category:Television channels and stations established in 1954
Category:Channel 11 TV stations in Canada
HCH
