From The TV IV

A is a system of seven Canadian television stations located in five cities in Ontario (Barrie [also serving Toronto], Pembroke [also serving Ottawa], London, Wheatley [also serving Windsor] and Wingham), one in British Columbia (Victoria [also serving Vancouver]), and one in the Atlantic Canada region (Halifax, Nova Scotia [serving Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador]), with a strong emphasis on local news and programming. The system is owned by CTVglobemedia through its division CTV Limited.

[edit] History

What is now A had its origins in 1995 when CKVR-TV, the longtime CBC Television affiliate in Barrie owned by CHUM Limited, disaffiliated from that network, rebranded on-air as The New VR and turned its focus on a more youthful audience in order to reach viewers in the nearby Toronto market. CKVR became the flagship station of a new system that became known as NewNet (a name that was never used on-air, but internally for advertising sales). Although common programming outside of local news and other locally-produced shows was shared by the stations, NewNet, for all intents and purposes, operated as a system of independent stations and not as an actual network.

CHUM acquired CFPL-TV in London, CHRO-TV Pembroke, CKNX-TV Wingham and CHWI-TV Windsor in 1997 as part of a trade with Baton Broadcasting (the predecessor of CTVglobemedia) that saw Baton receive the CTV-affiliated ATV system in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick (CJCH Halifax, CJCB Sydney, CKCW Moncton and CKLT Saint John) from CHUM. Of the stations CHUM acquired in the trade, all except for CHWI were, like CKVR, former CBC affiliates. The newly-acquired stations were then affiliated with CKVR as part of NewNet on September 8, 1998, with each adopting similar on-air brands (like The New PL for CFPL, etc.). CIVI-TV in Victoria joined NewNet when it signed on in October 2001 as the system's first station outside of Ontario.

On December 1, 2004, CHUM purchased Craig Media, the owner of the original A-Channel system composed of two stations in Alberta (CKAL-TV Calgary and CKEM-TV Edmonton) and CHMI-TV in Winnipeg, Manitoba. CHUM took the A-Channel name (which originally was short for "Alberta Channel" and was first used as the brand for the stations in Calgary and Edmonton) and transferred it to its NewNet stations, which adopted A-Channel as a common brand on August 2, 2005, while the original A-Channel stations were rebranded and joined CHUM's flagship Citytv system (which already included CITY-TV in Toronto and CKVU-TV in Vancouver) on the same day.

CTVglobemedia announced its plans to buy CHUM Limited on July 12, 2006; as part of the purchase, CTVgm intended to sell A-Channel and keep Citytv. Rogers Communications planned to purchase A-Channel, along with CKX-TV in Brandon, Manitoba and several cable channels CTVgm was selling as well, in an announcement on April 9, 2007. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) approved the CHUM purchase on June 8, 2007, on the condition that CTVgm instead keep A-Channel and sell Citytv (which Rogers subsequently bought in October that year).

Following the CHUM purchase, CTVgm originally intended to retain the A-Channel brand and program its stations independent of CTV, but in the summer of 2007, the company changed its focus on A-Channel and altered its schedule to include several shows moved down from the main CTV schedule (such as Law & Order, Grey's Anatomy, Medium and Degrassi: The Next Generation), a relationship similar to that between the Canwest Media-owned Global Television Network and its E! Canada subsystem. On June 2, 2008, CTVgm announced that it would rebrand the A-Channel stations, shortening the system brand name to simply A. The rebrand took effect on August 11, 2008, the same day the former Atlantic Satellite Network (also owned by CTVglobemedia) joined the system and rebranded as A Atlantic.[1][2]

[edit] A affiliates (including city of licence and date of first sign-on)

• CKVR-TV (Barrie, Ontario; September 28, 1955 [formerly a CBC affiliate until August 31, 1995; flagship station of NewNet/A-Channel/A])
• CFPL-TV (London, Ontario; November 28, 1953 [formerly a CBC affiliate until August 30, 1988; joined NewNet on September 8, 1998])
• CHRO-TV (Pembroke, Ontario; August 19, 1961 [formerly a CBC affiliate known as CHOV-TV until September 30, 1977; switched to CTV on September 1, 1991; disaffiliated from CTV on August 28, 1996 and joined NewNet on September 8, 1998])
• CKNX-TV (Wingham, Ontario; November 18, 1955 [formerly a CBC affiliate until August 30, 1988; joined NewNet on September 8, 1998])
• CHWI-TV (Wheatley, Ontario; October 18, 1993 [independent until it joined NewNet on September 8, 1998])
• CIVI-TV (Victoria, British Columbia; October 4, 2001)
• A Atlantic (Halifax, Nova Scotia; May 29, 1983 [cable-only station; formerly known as the Atlantic Satellite Network until August 10, 2008])

ACCESS, Alberta's educational TV channel, also carries some A programming during prime time hours.

[edit] External Sites

• Official A site