CIVI-DT

CIVI-DT, virtual channel 53 (UHF digital channel 23), is a CTV 2 owned-and-operated television station licensed to Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. The station is owned by the Bell Media subsidiary of BCE Inc., as part of a twinstick with Vancouver-based CTV station CIVT-DT, channel 32 (although the two stations maintain separate operations). CIVI-DT's studios are located at the corner of Pandora Avenue and Broad Street across from the McPherson Playhouse and the Victoria City Hall in Downtown Victoria, and its transmitter is located near Rockland. The station operates a rebroadcaster (CIVI-DT-2) on virtual and UHF channel 17 in Vancouver, with transmitter atop Mount Seymour in the district municipality of North Vancouver.

"CIVI" redirects here. For the Turkish villages, see Çivi, Amasya and Çivi, Mut.
CIVI-DT
Victoria, British Columbia
Canada
ChannelsDigital: 23 (UHF)
Virtual: 53 (PSIP)
BrandingCTV 2 Vancouver Island (general)
CTV News Vancouver Island (newscasts)
SloganYour Island News
Programming
Affiliations53.1: CTV 2 (O&O; 2001–present)
Ownership
OwnerBell Media Inc.
TV: CIVT-DT
Radio: CFAX, CHBE-FM
History
First air date
October 4, 2001 (2001-10-04)
Former call signs
CIVI-TV (2001–2011)
Former channel number(s)
Analog:
CIVI-TV: 53 (UHF, 2001–2011)
CIVI-TV-2: 17 (UHF, 2001–2011)
Independent (2001–2005)
A-Channel (2005–2008)
A (2008–2011)
Call sign meaning
Independent Television for Vancouver Island
Technical information
Licensing authority
CRTC
ERPCIVI-DT: 1.5 kW
CIVI-DT-2: 35 kW
HAATCIVI-DT: 99.6 m (327 ft)
CIVI-DT-2: 634.3 m (2,081 ft)
Transmitter coordinatesCIVI-DT:
48°25′30″N 123°20′13″W
CIVI-DT-2:
49°21′16″N 122°57′30″W
Translator(s)CIVI-DT-2 17 (UHF) Vancouver
Links
WebsiteCTV 2 Vancouver Island

On cable, the station is available on Shaw Cable channels 12 and 212 in Victoria[1] and Metro Vancouver.[2] On satellite, it is carried on Bell Satellite TV channel 1154,[3] and Shaw Direct channel 215.[4]

History

At the end of the 1990s, CHUM Limited only owned terrestrial television stations in the province of Ontario. Similarly, Craig Media only had stations in provinces within the Canadian Prairies. Both companies looked to expand their national presence, and both submitted a bid when the CRTC issued a call for applications for a new television station licence in Victoria; CHUM was awarded the licence in 2000. CIVI first signed on the air on October 4, 2001 as CHUM's first original station to be part of the NewNet television system.

CIVI logo used under "The New VI" brand, used from 2001 to 2005.

Known on the air as "The New VI", the station started off with much pomp and circumstance. It boasted a large lineup of personalities, including former British Columbia New Democratic Party cabinet minister Moe Sihota. The station's news anchors walked around the studio instead of sitting behind a desk, mimicking the format used at Toronto sister station CITY-TV and other NewNet outlets. However, the station struggled to compete against CH owned-and-operated station CHEK-TV (channel 6, now an independent station), a station which had essentially held a monopoly over the television industry on Vancouver Island for more than four decades. Gradually, personalities from the original roster were replaced by new faces, and some were let go without replacements.

The station received a boost in 2004, when longtime CHEK-TV anchor Hudson Mack joined the station as its new chief anchor and news director. Changes were introduced to the station's newscasts such as the introduction of a desk for the anchors; these changes appeared to have been effective – although it still ranks behind CHEK-TV, the ratings gap between the two has been narrowed.

Since Mack's arrival, the station has been honoured with a number of industry awards. In 2006, it received three Edward R. Murrow Awards from the Radio-Television News Directors Association International, for Best Newscast, Best Investigative Reporting and Best Sports Reporting. It was the second straight year the station won Murrows for its newscast and investigative reporting. In 2005, the station won eight industry awards, including two Edward R. Murrow Awards from RTNDA International, for Best Newscast and Best Investigative Reporting; and top news honours from the British Columbia Association of Broadcasters.

As A-Channel Victoria
Logo used while as A-Channel, used from 2005 to 2008.
The station's studio building in Victoria. It used to be nicknamed "Pandora's Box" for its location at the corner of Broad Street and Pandora Avenue, just across the street from Victoria City Hall and McPherson Playhouse.

The station was rebranded as "A-Channel" on August 2, 2005, along with the rest of the NewNet system. The station would likely have been part of the original A-Channel system at its launch had Craig Media won the licence in 2000. On July 12, 2006, CTVglobemedia announced plans to purchase CHUM Limited, with the intention of divesting the A-Channel stations.[5] On that same day it was also announced that the morning news program A-Channel Morning would be discontinued, although this decision was supposedly unrelated to the takeover by CTVglobemedia (CIVI later restored a morning program to its schedule in the fall of 2007).

Rogers Communications announced a deal to buy A-Channel on April 9, 2007;[6] however, given the conditions of approval for the sale of CHUM on June 8, 2007,[7] Rogers acquired the Citytv system instead, while CTV kept A-Channel.[8] CTVglobemedia became the official owner of CIVI on June 22, 2007.

As A Vancouver Island
Logo for A Vancouver Island (2008–2011)

The A-Channel system and Atlantic Canada's ASN was rebranded as A on August 11, 2008, with CIVI becoming branded as "A Vancouver Island". As a result, CIVI's newscasts were rebranded as A News on that date, although the station's employees had been using that title for a couple of months prior to the relaunch; the station also began producing a morning newscast (under the title A Morning) on September 8, 2008, but was later cancelled on March 4, 2009 due to economic issues. The program was later replaced with a simulcast of the morning show from sister radio station CFAX (1070 AM).[9][10][11]

CTV Two/CTV 2 Vancouver Island

As part of Bell Media's May 30, 2011 announcement of the rebranding of the A television stations to the CTV Two brand, CIVI became branded as "CTV Two Vancouver Island" on August 29, 2011.[12] As a result, CIVI's newscasts were rebranded as CTV News on that same date.

News operation

CIVI presently broadcasts 13½ hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with 2½ hours each weekday and a half-hour each on Saturdays and Sundays). The station does not air local news on the weekends; the station did not carry an 11:00 p.m. newscast on weekend evenings, and its weekend 6:00 p.m. newscasts were cancelled as of February 3, 2021 due to budget cuts made by Bell Media.[13]

Notable former on-air staff

Digital television

Digital channel
Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[14]
53.11080i16:9CIVIMain CIVI-DT programming / CTV 2

Analogue-to-digital conversion
Logo used from 2011 to 2018

CIVI shut down its analogue signal, over UHF channel 53, on August 31, 2011, the official date in which Canadian television stations in CRTC-designated mandatory markets transitioned from analogue to digital broadcasts. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 23.[15][16] Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display CIVI-DT's virtual channel as its analogue-era UHF channel 53, which was among the high band UHF channels (52–69) that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition.

References
  1. https://shaw.ca/uploadedfiles/bundles/traditional/victoria_channel_lineup.pdf
  2. https://www.shaw.ca/uploadedFiles/Bundles/Popular_PDFs/spp-lineup--vancouver--2015-02-02.pdf
  3. "List of Bell Satellite TV Channels". TV Channel Lists. Retrieved July 19, 2020.
  4. "National Channel Lineup (Numerical)" (PDF). Shawdirect.ca. Shaw Satellite G.P. Retrieved July 19, 2020.
  5. "Bell Globemedia makes $1.7B bid for CHUM". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. July 12, 2006. Retrieved July 12, 2006.
  6. "CRTC expected to OK Rogers' $137.5M buy of CTVglobemedia TV channels". Canadian Press via Yahoo! Canada News. April 9, 2007. Retrieved April 9, 2007.
  7. "CRTC tells CTVglobemedia to sell 5 Citytv stations". cbc.ca via Yahoo! Canada News. June 8, 2007. Retrieved June 8, 2007.
  8. "CTV expected to rebrand A Channel". Friends of Canadian Broadcasting. June 13, 2006. Archived from the original on March 22, 2015. Retrieved July 5, 2006.
  9. Morning TV show back on airwaves Archived 2016-01-07 at the Wayback Machine
  10. CNW Group | CTV INC. | Double Vision: Fall 2008 Schedules Announced for CTV and "A"
  11. "A Victoria website confirming 'A' Morning debut September 8th". Archived from the original on September 4, 2009. Retrieved September 8, 2008.
  12. "Bell Media's /A\ Network to Become "CTV Two" This Fall" (Press release). Bell Media. May 30, 2011. Archived from the original on July 27, 2011. Retrieved May 30, 2011.
  13. https://twitter.com/CTVNewsAlanna/status/1357065076834881536
  14. RabbitEars TV Query for CIVI
  15. Digital Television – Office of Consumer Affairs (OCA) Archived 2013-11-19 at the Wayback Machine
  16. CHCH – Hamilton shuts off analog signal YouTube. August 15, 2011.
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