From The TV IV

CKPG-TV is a Canadian local station in Prince George, British Columbia, owned by the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group and affiliated with Rogers Communications' Citytv system. It broadcasts on analog channel 2, with a digital channel allocation of 34 (not yet on the air).

[edit] History

CKPG-TV signed on for the first time on August 20, 1961. It began as an affiliate of CBC Television under the ownership of Radio Station CKPG Ltd. Station president and general manager Bob Harkins was one of the first people seen by Prince George and area viewers upon sign-on. In 1965, CKPG signed on its first rebroadcaser in the nearby town of Quesnel. The station was purchased on November 19, 1969 by Vancouver-based Q Broadcasting Ltd., the owner of Vancouver radio stations CHQM and CHQM-FM. By 1985, the number of CKPG's rebroadcast transmitters expanded to include station-owned transmitters in Mackenzie and Hixon, along with CBC-owned transmitters in Fort Fraser, Fort St. James and Vanderhoof which carried CKPG's programming.

Radio Station CKPG Ltd., the corporate parent of the CKPG radio and television stations, was sold on October 11, 1990 by Q Broadcasting to Monarch Broadcasting Ltd. Bob Harkins, the original head of CKPG-TV, died on November 28, 2000 at age 69, and on December 21 that year, the station and its radio sister stations were purchased by current owner the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group. In May 2004, a special program produced by CKPG titled Crossing the Line, a feature focusing on softwood lumber, earned the station the BC Association of Broadcaster's Special Program of the Year award.

CKPG's licence was renewed by the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) on August 27, 2004, with its CBC affiliation extended to August 31, 2008. CKPG relocated from its original studios at 1220 6th Avenue to its current facility at 1810 3rd Avenue starting in September 2004. When CBC Television went to a 24-hour broadcast schedule in October 2006, CKPG dropped all syndicated programming it had been carrying in recent years in favor of carrying the expanded CBC schedule, with only local news and a few regional programs left outside of CBC programming on the station.

CKPG disaffiliated from CBC Television on August 31, 2008 when its affiliation agreement expired. It opted beforehand to begin carrying programming from Canwest (the parent company of Global Television), but due to the presence of a local rebroadcaster of Vancouver Global affiliate CHAN-TV in Prince George, CKPG became the local affiliate of Canwest's E! Canada system. The CBC did not replace CKPG's transmitters to continue network service in the region upon disaffiliation, but its Vancouver station CBUT is now available in Prince George via cable TV and satellite.

On July 14, 2009, the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group announced that Pattison-owned E! affiliates CKPG, CFJC and CHAT, in the wake of the pending demise of E! Canada on August 31, 2009, would be establishing new affiliations with Rogers Communications' Citytv system. Beginning September 1, the stations began carrying programming from Citytv (such as 30 Rock, Supernanny, The Office and The Jay Leno Show, along with shows now airing on Citytv which had previously been carried by E! such as How I Met Your Mother and The Biggest Loser), but will not use the Citytv branding, instead using their call signs for full-time local branding. [1]

[edit] Current Prime-Time Schedule

[edit] External Sites

• CKPG-TV website