| CHAN-TV | |
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| British Columbia | |
| City of license | Vancouver, British Columbia |
| Branding | Global BC |
| Slogan | TV for BC |
| Channels | Analog: 8 (VHF) Digital: 22 (UHF) and returning to 8 in 2011 Virtual: 8.1 (PSIP) |
| Translators | See list |
| Affiliations | Global |
| Owner | Canwest (Canwest Media, Inc.) |
| First air date | October 30, 1960 |
| Call letters’ meaning | CHANnel |
| Former affiliations | Independent (1960-1961) CTV (1961-2001) |
| Transmitter Power | 250 kilowatts (analog) 8.3 kilowatts (digital) |
| Height | 711 metres (analog) 670 metres (digital) |
| Transmitter Coordinates | 49°21′26″N 122°57′13″W / 49.35722°N 122.95361°W |
| Website | Global BC |
CHAN-TV is a television station in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, broadcasting over-the-air on analog channel 8 and digital channel 22, and available via cable providers in the area on channel 11. It is the flagship station of the Global Television Network. CHAN-TV's studios are located in the city of Burnaby. It is Global's owned-and-operated station in B.C., and it currently uses the on-air brand Global BC, and was previously known as BCTV. The station is available throughout British Columbia, and its 6:00 p.m. News Hour is the highest-rated newscast in the province and the highest-rated local newscast in Canada, with an average of 500,000 viewers per night.[1] As of October 6, 2009, this station, as well as other Global stations and several cable channels owned by licensee Canwest Media, are under creditor protection, with its future ownership in question.[2] It is also carried on Bell TV channel 252 and Shaw Direct channel 336 on the classic lineup and channel 5 on the advanced lineup.
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CHAN began broadcasting on October 30, 1960 at 4:45 p.m. as an independent station[3], joining CTV upon the new network's launch on October 1, 1961. Temporary studios were housed in Downtown Vancouver, at 1219 Richards Street, until its current studios at 7850 Enterprise Street in Burnaby were completed in early 1961. Soon after launch, the station began installing relay transmitters across the province, and now reaches 96 percent of British Columbia. Via OTA channel 8, CHAN also reaches an American audience in neighbouring Whatcom County, Washington.
In 1963, local entrepreneur Frank Griffiths, the owner of radio station CKNW, purchased the station from original owner Vantel Broadcasting, along with nearby CBC affiliate station CHEK-TV, based in Victoria on Vancouver Island, from its original owner, David Armstrong. CHEK then began airing a few CTV shows, usually at different times from CHAN. It would become a full CTV affiliate in 1981, but aired a shuffled schedule.
Griffiths' Western Broadcasting Co. later sold a minority share to Selkirk Communications, buying back full control in 1989.
As early as 1971, CHAN began unofficially using the on-air name BCTV.[5][6] In 1973, BCTV became CHAN's official on-air brand, which it used until 2001, when it became Global BC. BCTV was retained for its local news programs up until February 2006, but the branding was so effective that many people still call the station by that name today. Also in 1975, the current newsroom was constructed. It was rebuilt in the early nineties, moving the studio out of the newsroom, but keeping it as a backdrop, and remodelled again in 2006.
CHAN was one of the backbones of the CTV network for many years and one of the network's most successful affiliates. However, it was always somewhat hostile toward CTV. Management believed that the network's flagship station, CFTO-TV in Toronto, received favoritism in the production of CTV's Canadian programming in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
In the 1990s, CHAN's goal became the production of a new, early-evening national newscast from its studios. In fact, several newscast pilots were produced at CHAN, suggesting the network was seriously considering such a move. However, that newscast never materialized; instead, CHAN began producing Canada Tonight, which aired on most WIC-owned stations beginning in the mid-nineties.
Nonetheless, until 1997, CHAN bought the provincial rights to several popular series from CFTO's parent company, Baton Broadcasting. However, tensions were exacerbated that year when Baton won a license for a new station in Vancouver, CIVT-TV. Baton became sole owner of CTV soon after CIVT's launch, and it became an open secret that CIVT would eventually replace CHAN as the CTV station for Vancouver. CHAN had signed a long-term contract several years prior that would not expire until 1999, but was extended to 2001. However, outside of the 40 hours of programming per week that this allowed for, and CHAN's own local news, the station had to rely on lower-profile programming supplied by parent company WIC. A small amount of CHUM programming also aired on CHAN at times during the 1997-2001 period, including CityLine.
In 2000, WIC's stations were purchased by Canwest, and as a result, CHAN would become the British Columbia O&O station of the Global Television Network. When BCTV's affiliation with CTV expired on September 1, 2001, a major shakeup in British Columbia television occurred:
CHAN's news operation is well respected in the industry. Ever since the station decided to produce a one hour news bulletin in the late 1960s, a major part of the station's cash flow has gone into its news programming, and it has garnered high ratings and major awards since then. The station's on-air news style was even used as an inspiration for Ted Turner's CNN, as both use the newsroom as a backdrop during the broadcast.
In addition to its various local newscasts, CHAN also produced Canada Tonight, an early-evening newscast focusing on national news. Two versions were produced: one for BC itself, hosted by CKNW radio commentator Bill Good (now at CIVT, CTV's current Vancouver O&O station) and a national version, hosted by Tony Parsons, who also presented CHAN's nightly news program, the News Hour. When Canwest purchased CHAN, the stories that were once sourced from CTV's other affiliates throughout the country, were replaced by stories sourced from Global's affiliates.
From 2001, when the station became Global BC, the news organization underwent a minor name change - BCTV News on Global. CHAN opted to keep the BCTV name for their newscast, as it was still a widely recognized name in BC; also, to keep CIVT from using the name itself, as it contained the letters "CTV". In addition, CHAN became home to Global's national news centre and a new national newscast, Global National--thus fulfilling its longstanding dream of producing a national newscast. anchored by former ABC reporter and presenter, Kevin Newman. The program goes live from tape from Vancouver at 5:30 p.m. (Pacific Time Zone), and is followed by the News Hour at 6:00 p.m. with Chris Gailus. Carolyn Jarvis and Robin Gill share the anchoring duties on the weekend edition of Global National, followed by Robin Stickley, who anchors the weekend version of the News Hour.
The BCTV brand was finally dropped when Global launched its new look on February 6, 2006. CHAN's local news brand became Global BC at this point.
In 2006 Global struck a deal with the Canadian Traffic Network to supply the station with a Robinson R44 news helicopter with gyroscopic camera mounts. It will be shared with CKNW - the second news helicopter in Vancouver after that used by CIVT. [4] Global has named the helicopter Global 1 - the same designation used for the news helicopters of other Global stations.
On December 16, 2009, Tony Parsons anchored his final newscast at Global BC after 34 years as anchor of the News Hour.[8] It was expected that he would remain until after the 2010 Winter Olympics, but due to unknown reasons, Tony Parsons left the station much earlier than expected. Tony Parsons began anchoring CHEK Victoria's 10 PM newscast March 15, 2010.[9]
Global BC produces 48.5 hours of news content per week, 47.5 hours locally between the Morning News, Noon News Hour, Noon News Extra (online only) Early News, News Hour, News Hour Final and News Final and 1 hour nationally with Global National. However, only 46 hours per week of news content is aired on CHAN-TV.
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For the most part, CHAN-TV airs a typical Global network schedule, but with a few differences.
CHAN operates the single largest private transmitter network in North America, with roughly one hundred transmitters (some of which are community-owned) serving 97 percent of British Columbia. Therefore, the network relies exclusively on cable and satellite in the remaining municipalities (including most where CFCN and CFRN were already available over-the-air before 2001).
Semi-satellites are in bold italics.
Note that the transmitters in Kelowna and area (CHKL-TV) are in addition to CHBC-TV, a separate Global station in Kelowna that originates its own local evening newscasts, but which carries Global BC's programming at virtually all other times.
CHAN-TV uses Betacam SP analogue videotape for all of its local advertisements and non-live parts of their newscasts. MPEG-2 transmission is used in nearly all non-local broadcasts. The station is slowly moving away from Betacam SP and moving to a digital format.
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On April 11, 2008, CHAN's digital signal went on the air.[10]
After the analog television shutdown and digital conversion, which is tentatively scheduled to take place on August 31, 2011 [11], CHAN-TV will move from its current pre-transition channel number, 22, to its post-transition and current analog channel number, 8. However, through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers will display CHAN-TV's virtual channel as 8.1.
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