the main television network owned by bell media . for bell media s secondary conventional television system see ctv two . for the defunct media conglomerate which formerly owned the above properties see ctvglobemedia . for bell media s 24 hour national cable news channel see ctv news channel canada . for other uses see ctv . ctv television network type broadcast television network country canada availability canada northern united states via cable or antenna slogan naturally ctv owner bell media bce inc. parent bce inc. key people mary ann turcke president bell media randy lennox president entertainment production and broadcasting wendy freeman president ctv news mike cosentino senior vice president programming ctv networks and cravetv launch date october 1 1961 former names canadian television network ctn pre launch name sister channels ctv two ctv news channel business news network cp24 official website ctv ctv is an english language broadcast television network in canada launched in 1961 . since 2000 it is owned by 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 . citation needed bell media also operates additional ctv branded properties including the 24 hour national cable news network ctv news channel and the secondary ctv two television system . there has never been an official full name corresponding to the initials ctv ; however it is generally assumed to mean canadian television a phrase used in a promotional campaign by the network in 1998 and also in pre promotion for the network prior to its launch in 1961 . contents 1 history 1.1 formation 1.2 early years 1.3 becoming a broadcasting powerhouse 1.4 baton takes over 1.5 bell canada era 2 programming 2.1 sports programming 3 ctv high definition and digital transition 3.1 local newscasts in high definition 4 ctv stations 4.1 ctv owned and operated stations 4.2 regional affiliates 4.3 former affiliates 4.4 special cases 5 ctv two 6 logos 7 see also 8 footnotes 9 references 9.1 bibliography 10 external links history edit see also history of baton broadcasting bell globemedia ctvglobemedia bell media formation edit in 1958 prime minister john diefenbaker s government passed a new broadcasting act establishing the board of broadcast governors forerunner to the canadian radio television and telecommunications commission or crtc as the governing body of canadian broadcasting effectively ending the canadian broadcasting corporation s cbc dual role as regulator and broadcaster . the new board s first act was to take applications for second television stations in halifax montreal in both english and french ottawa toronto winnipeg calgary edmonton and vancouver in response to an outcry for an alternative to the cbc s television service . calgary and edmonton were served by privately owned cbc affiliates ; the other six markets by cbc owned and operated stations o & os . the nine winners in order of their first sign on were cfcn tv calgary september 9 1960 chan tv vancouver october 31 1960 cjay tv winnipeg november 12 1960 cfto tv toronto january 1 1961 cjch tv halifax january 1 1961 cfcf tv montreal english ; january 20 1961 cftm tv montreal french ; february 19 1961 cjoh tv ottawa march 12 1961 cbxt edmonton october 1 1961 the first eight stations were privately owned ; the edmonton station was a cbc o & o meaning that the existing station in that city cfrn tv would lose its cbc affiliation once cbxt signed on . even before his station was licensed john bassett the chief executive of the ultimately successful toronto applicant baton aldred rogers broadcasting 1 had expressed interest in participating in the creation of a second television network of which we see the toronto station as anchor . 2 indeed baton had already begun quietly contacting the successful applicants in other cities to gauge their interest in forming a cooperative group to share canadian programming among the stations . 2 this led to the july 1960 formation of the independent television organization ito consisting of all eight of the newly licensed private stations plus cfrn . each station would have a single vote in the ito s operations regardless of the size of the station s audience cftm being a french language station and therefore having little reason to collaborate with the other stations would soon withdraw from the group ; it would later emerge as the flagship of the first private french language network tva . the ito soon resolved to apply for a network licence to link these second stations . 3 however the ito faced opposition from spence caldwell a former cbc executive and one of the unsuccessful applicants for the toronto licence who had first approached the bbg in april 1960 to pitch a second station network proposal of his own . under his plan at least 51 % of the shares of the network would be owned by various prominent bay street investors who had previously backed his toronto station bid ; only 49 % would be reserved for the network s affiliates to purchase if they wished . the bbg and particularly its chair andrew stewart who at the time also served as the president of the university of alberta was not in favour of a station owned network fearing that the toronto station would eventually come to dominate it . although it did not immediately approve caldwell s proposal it soon set several conditions on such a network that effectively made caldwell s group the only feasible applicant . 4 that fall the caldwell group now named the canadian television network or ctn and the ito faced off in a series of meetings with the bbg . the ito decided not to follow through with a formal network application but the stations particularly baton which said it had no interest in participating in ctn and believed it could still be successful without one continued to indicate various concerns with the viability of caldwell s proposal . ultimately the bbg granted a licence to ctn conditional on securing the affiliation of six of the eight ito stations . 5 baton s opposition to the ctn reversed in early 1961 soon after cfto won the broadcast rights to the canadian football league eastern conference for the 1961 and 1962 seasons . 6 baton s original plan was to operate a temporary network to distribute the games incorporating cfto other independent stations and cbc affiliates in smaller markets assuming the public network released its affiliates to carry the game . 7 although the plan was never officially rejected or approved various uncertainties eventually led john bassett to decide to sign an affiliation agreement with ctn instead to ensure the games would air . 8 most of the other second stations followed suit with the exception of chan in vancouver which agreed to carry several network programs but never officially signed on as an affiliate for the duration of the caldwell era yet nonetheless would later claim to have been a charter member of the network . 9 10 early years edit the network finally launched as the ctv television network on october 1 1961 . 11 12 nb 1 the cbc had objected to the network s initial name apparently claiming it had exclusive rights to the term canadian and therefore the letters ctv have no official expanded meaning . 18 the ctv network s first night on air began with harry rasky s promotional documentary on the new network . that was followed by a fall season preview program . 11 ctv s initial 1961 1962 season began with the following programs five of which were canadian productions 11 the andy griffith show united states cbs checkmate united states cbs cross canada barndance canada maigret united kingdom bbc the rifleman united states abc showdown canada sing along with mitch united states nbc take a chance a quiz show by roy ward dickson adapted from radio canada top cat united states abc twenty questions canada west coast canada whiplash australia atn 7 other series such as telepoll and a kin to win were introduced later in the inaugural season . at first flagship cfto was the only station that carried programming live . during cbc s off hours ctv used cbc s microwave system to send programming to the rest of the country on tape delay . 12 eventually a second microwave channel opened up enabling live programming from coast to coast . the caldwell led management team immediately ran into financial trouble and relations between the network and its stations were not smooth at first since ctv had essentially been the product of a forced marriage . for example most of the rights to american programming rested with the ito not ctv . 19 in many cases ctv found itself competing with its own stations for the rights to programming . becoming a broadcasting powerhouse edit caldwell s departure in 1965 20 did little to alleviate the situation and ctv soon found itself of the verge of bankruptcy . in 1966 the network s affiliates which by this time included cjon tv in st. john s ckco tv in kitchener chab chre in moose jaw regina and the network s first and only u.s. affiliate wnyp tv in buffalo new york sought permission to buy the network and run it as a cooperative . the bbg was initially skeptical of the proposal . since cfto was by far the largest and richest station it was more than double the size of the next largest station montreal s cfcf tv the bbg feared that cfto would dominate ctv if the stations were allowed to buy the network . to alleviate these concerns the affiliates promised that each station owner would have one vote regardless of its audience share . the board readily approved the proposal and by the start of the 1966 67 season the stations owned their network . 21 the network also began broadcasting in colour on september 1 1966 . 21 by the mid 1970s ctv had expanded its footprint across canada mostly by twinstick arrangements in smaller cities and with cbc affiliates switching to ctv once the cbc opened its own stations or added rebroadcasters of nearby o & o stations . in a unique twist the original saskatchewan affiliate chab chre was bought by the cbc in 1968 and eventually changed its calls to cbkt with the regina station as the main station allowing regina s original station ckck tv to join ctv . its attempt to expand to the united states ended when buffalo s three network affiliates threatened legal action forcing wnyp off the air . ctv made a name for itself in news coverage when it convinced star cbc news anchor lloyd robertson to switch networks in 1976 . 22 robertson served as the network s main anchorman until 2011 . the network also has the country s longest running national morning news show canada am . its weekly newsmagazine series w five has been a fixture on the network since 1966 23 predating the similar american program 60 minutes by two years . ctv logo used from 1975 1985 . in the 1970s ctv often bought rights to pop and rock songs to serve as theme music for its programming rather than commissioning original themes . most notably w5 used an instrumental portion of supertramp s fool s overture canada am used an instrumental version of the moody blues ride my see saw the game show definition used quincy jones soul bossa nova later seasons of definition used another theme and the ctv movie used the keith mansfield instrumental statement from the kpm musichouse library . for most of its first four decades ctv did not have what could be considered a