Citytv Saskatchewan

In February 1991,[1] the Government of Saskatchewan (led at the time by Premier Grant Devine) was granted a broadcast licence for a non-commercial educational service by the CRTC. The channel, Saskatchewan Communications Network (SCN), was launched on May 6 of that year. (Ontario's TVOntario was launched on September 27, 1970; British Columbia's Knowledge Network was launched on January 12, 1981; and Alberta's Access, which is now the privately owned CTV 2 Alberta, was launched on June 30, 1973.)

SCN's first logo, used from 1991 to the late 1990s.

SCN's second logo, used from the late 1990s to 2007.

As a publicly owned entity, SCN received funding from the Government of Saskatchewan and from the general public in the form of donations. At the time, SCN frequently stopped between shows to ask for pledges like other public broadcasters such as PBS in the United States.

On March 24, 2010, the Government of Saskatchewan (now led by Premier Brad Wall) announced that it would wind down SCN's operations, citing low ratings, with some operations such as distance education broadcasts to be transferred to SaskTel.[2] The channel was to have shut down at the end of April, but it was later decided to keep the channel in operation while offers to buy SCN were evaluated.[3] On June 21, 2010, the Government of Saskatchewan announced the channel would be sold to Bluepoint Investment Corporation. During the CRTC approval process, Bluepoint requested several amendments to SCN's licence, which would allow the channel to air limited amounts of non-educational programming with commercials.[4] The CRTC approved the sale of SCN to Bluepoint and the licence amendments on December 23, 2010.[5] The transaction was completed shortly thereafter, and at that point, SCN lost its original funding streams of government funding and public donations.

SCN's third logo, used from 2007 to 2009.

SCN's fourth logo, used from 2009 to 2011.

SCN's fifth and final logo, used from 2011 to 2012 under Bluepoint ownership.

Under Bluepoint's approved amendments to its licence, SCN was still required to air commercial-free educational programming from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m.; after 3 p.m., the channel would be allowed to air entertainment-based programming with up to 14 minutes of advertising per hour – Bluepoint planned to use this new ability to air programming that could attract new advertising revenue to the channel,[5] in a hybrid format similar to Alberta's Access.[6] When Bluepoint took over control of the station, few changes were made to SCN's programming, other than introducing films seven nights a week starting at 9 p.m. during the summer of 2011.[7] The first major changes to the channel occurred on September 12, 2011, premiering a new prime time lineup of current American network series such as Supernatural and The Insider, and classic series such as Danger Bay, Family Ties, and Frasier.[8]

On December 20, 2011, SCN announced that it had entered into an affiliation agreement with Rogers Communications to air Citytv programs from 3 p.m. to 6 a.m. starting on January 2, 2012, with educational, children's and locally produced programming continuing to air on SCN outside those hours (to fulfill the channel's licence as an educational station). The post-3 p.m. programming, branded as "Citytv on SCN", consisted of entertainment programming sourced from Rogers' Citytv stations, including the network's prime time lineup.[9] With the Citytv affiliation, SCN became the second Canadian educational television service to carry entertainment programming from one of the major commercial networks or television systems. The other was Alberta's Access, which adopted the CTV Two name and lineup upon its relaunch in August 2011. It also gave the Citytv system affiliations in all provinces west of Quebec and south of the federal territories of Northern Canada. (Rogers later expanded Citytv into Quebec when it affiliated with CJNT Montreal in June 2012, which the company also purchased.)[10]

The next year, Rogers Media announced its intent to acquire SCN from Bluepoint Investment Corporation. The sale was approved by the CRTC on June 21, 2012 and closed later that month, making the channel an owned-and-operated station of the Citytv system. Rogers relaunched the channel as Citytv Saskatchewan on July 1.[11] Rogers planned to invest into improving the channel's infrastructure, and to launch a high definition feed for the channel in the coming year. No regional news programming is planned for the channel under Rogers ownership; as such, Citytv Saskatchewan is the first Citytv owned-and-operated station to carry no localized news programming (All other Citytv stations air nightly CityNews broadcasts at 6 p.m. and 11 p.m., as well as a national broadcast of Breakfast Television. Citytv stations in Toronto, Calgary, and Vancouver also air their own local versions of BT.)