CTV Two Atlantic

CTV Two Atlantic
Launched	May 29, 1983
Network	CTV Two Former affiliations: Independent (1983–2008)
Owned by	Bell Media
Country	Canada
Broadcast area	Atlantic Canada
Headquarters	Halifax, Nova Scotia
Formerly called	Atlantic Satellite Network (1983–2008) A Atlantic (2008-2011)
Website	CTV Two Atlantic
Availability
Satellite
Bell TV	Channel 202
Shaw Direct	Channel 340
Cable
Eastlink (Halifax)	Channel 7
Available on most Atlantic Canadian cable systems	Check local listings, channels may vary (can often be found on channels 7, 10 or 13)
IPTV
Bell Aliant TV (Halifax)	Channel 5
Bell Fibe TV	Channel 202

CTV Two Atlantic is a Canadian English language cable television channel serving Atlantic Canada owned by Bell Media, with its studios located in Halifax, Nova Scotia. It is currently part of Bell Media's secondary CTV Two television system.

The channel launched as the Atlantic Satellite Network (or ASN) in 1983. It is designated by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) as a "satellite-to-cable television programming undertaking," defined as a local television channel available in the region on basic cable television, and now throughout Canada on many digital cable systems and satellite television, but without any terrestrial transmitters. (A small number of other channels, mainly educational broadcasters, are similarly designated.) The channel does not appear to have mandatory cable carriage rights,^[1] although nearly all cable systems in the region offer it. Nonetheless, it has full simultaneous substitution rights in the Atlantic provinces, whereas most non-broadcast channels do not.

Prior to fall 2008, the channel had received much of its programming from CHUM's Citytv and A-Channel (now CTV Two) systems, which did not operate in the region; beginning in the early 2000s, timeshifted CTV programs often aired on the channel as well. CTV acquired CHUM (excluding Citytv) in 2007, and ASN merged with the relaunched A system on August 11, 2008.^[2]

Many cable systems in Atlantic Canada carry CTV Two Atlantic on either channel 7 (for example, through Eastlink in Halifax) or on channel 13, depending on the location.

History

An early-1990s rendering of the ASN logo; the same basic form was used from 1983 to 2008

ASN launched in 1983, under the ownership of CHUM Limited, as a supplementary service to its ATV system of CTV affiliates (now known as CTV Atlantic). ASN initially aired Atlantic Pulse newscasts at alternate times to ATV's newscasts. Atlantic Pulse used ATV reporters, but different anchors and graphics, with a comparatively spartan set located across the newsroom from ATV's. ASN also carried alternative entertainment programming, much of it produced by or otherwise sourced from CHUM's Toronto station CITY-TV.

In 1997, as part of a multi-station trade between CHUM and Baton Broadcasting, ATV and ASN became Baton properties; ATV was integrated into the expanded CTV network, while ASN took over the few remaining CHUM programs from ATV. ASN remained, for all intents and purposes, the Citytv affiliate in Atlantic Canada, and until recently carried a similar mix of movies and series in primetime. However, by the mid-2000s, the amount of CHUM programming on the ASN schedule had in fact decreased, and CHUM-supplied soap operas and movies (aside from a handful of weekend timeslots) were no longer present.

Following the merger between CHUM and CTVglobemedia, it appeared likely that ASN would become the Citytv owned and operated station for Atlantic Canada. However, the merger was made conditional on the sale of Citytv to a third party (Rogers Communications); as such, ASN was re-launched as part of the CTV's also recently acquired A system August 11, 2008 and became known as A Atlantic.

Logo used from 2008-2011.

On May 30, 2011, Bell Media announced that A Atlantic along with the rest of the A television system will once again be rebranded as CTV Two effective August 29, 2011.^[3]

Programming

Main article: List of programs broadcast by CTV Two

ASN also devoted a significant amount of its daytime schedule to educational programming provided by provincial education departments and by local universities. This programming through universities was through of the Distance University Education via Television (DUET) service offered by ASN in partnership with participating universities in Atlantic Canada to university students. Some of the university programs offered through DUET included business administration and gerontology. ASN provided 16 hours of educational programming each weekend from 6:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and ten hours every Monday to Friday morning from 4:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. (In the early years, some TVOntario programs were carried on ASN, such as Polka Dot Door, Today's Special and Fast Forward.) In September 1992, ASN launched a local version of Citytv's Breakfast Television, moving educational programs to the weekend and to overnight hours. By 1997, as specialty television began to grow in popularity, Atlantic Pulse gave way to a short-lived cut-back version called ATV Headline News. ATV Headline News only lasted until early 1998 when ASN's news programming was fully integrated into the ATV (now CTV Atlantic) news operation.

While ATV aired some United States syndicated programming that was shown on Citytv in Toronto (e.g., Friends and Seinfeld repeats), ASN aired programs associated with CTV in the rest of the country, such as Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy! and Camilla Scott. ASN was also the original home of The Oprah Winfrey Show until it moved to ATV in 1992 (and in Newfoundland and Labrador, to NTV). Both Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! are currently broadcast by CBC Television as of 2011. For a time in the early 1990s, ASN's slogan was "Your Main Attraction".

Since 1997, ASN's local programming has been cut back significantly. At its peak, Breakfast Television aired for two and a half hours daily; it now airs for 2 hours, broadcasting from 7:00am until 9:00am. Also, while ASN still carried a noon newscast and an early-morning rebroadcast of CTV's Live at 5, both are branded as CTV News programs. In mid-October 2005, ASN stopped carrying a late newscast, due to the additional CTV programming noted below.

Despite the then-pending CTVglobemedia/CHUM merger, CHUM content was actually lowered during the 2006-07 season compared to previous years, with other series from the CTV library—including repeats, "shelf" series like What About Brian, programming from MTV, and time shifted CTV programming for simsub purposes—making up the balance. The format of the channel's signature morning show Breakfast Television and its logo still somewhat resemble the format and branding used by the Citytv stations.

Currently, CTV Two Atlantic carries a late local newscast (a rebroadcast of CTV Atlantic's late news at midnight), previously the rebroadcast was taken off the schedule in 2005 but has been brought back; as well as the aforementioned CTV News at Noon. CTV Two Atlantic's morning program also retained the name Breakfast Television instead of A Morning during the A era. The show subsequently dropped the name when the station was rebranded as CTV Two and became known as CTV Morning Live.

The joint ownership of ATV and ASN was approved in 1983 without any restrictions on duplicated programming or news coverage between the two channels. This has been grandfathered into the CRTC's current policy, which has required most newer large-market "twinsticks" to maintain separate programming and news content on both component stations.

ASN/A as a secondary CTV affiliate

Over the years ASN/A Atlantic has occasionally aired selected CTV network programming. In some cases this would be live programming that had been scheduled for times that were inconvenient for either or both of ATV and NTV, such as weekend afternoon sports programming that might interfere with local news. From fall 2005 to fall 2008, ASN had also carried same-night rebroadcasts of CTV programs on most nights at 11:00 p.m. AT (10:00 p.m. ET). This appeared to be to maximize the network's simultaneous substitution coverage; since 1997, CTV Atlantic had aired series from the final hour of U.S. primetime earlier in the evening in order to accommodate newscasts at 11:00 AT.

Since the 2002 disaffiliation of NTV from CTV, ASN/A Atlantic has also shown selected high-profile CTV network programs that are likely to be of interest to viewers in Newfoundland and Labrador, but would not otherwise be widely available in that province due to the lack of an alternate CTV affiliate on basic cable. This has included the first three seasons of Canadian Idol, which NTV began to carry in 2006, as well as sports programming such as CTV's coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympics. In these cases, the programs would continue to air on CTV Atlantic as well. Such occurrences are currently rare since most CTV programs are available on analog cable in Newfoundland on other channels, either through simulcasts on U.S. network affiliates, or through repeats on CTV's analog specialty channels like The Comedy Network.

CTV Two Atlantic

On May 30, 2011, Bell Media announced that A Atlantic, along with the rest of the A system would be rebranded as CTV Two, thus becoming known as CTV Two Atlantic. The official re-launch to CTV Two took place on August 29, 2011.^[4] CTV Two Atlantic launched a high definition feed called CTV Two Atlantic HD on September 12, 2011.

On-air staff

Current

• Jayson Baxter, co-host, CTV Morning Live/fill-in anchor for CTV News at Noon
• Heidi Petracek, co-host, CTV Morning Live
• Cyril Lunney, co-host, CTV Morning Live
• Cindy Day, meteorologist for CTV News at Noon
• Steve Murphy, anchor, CTV News at Noon
• Tina Simpkin, meteorologist, CTV Morning Live

For all other staff, see CTV Atlantic

Former

• Ron Kronstein, co-anchor of Atlantic Pulse (later at CTV Atlantic, now at CIHF-TV)
• Yvonne Colbert, co-anchor of Atlantic Pulse (later at CTV Atlantic, currently Senior Weekend News Producer for CBC Television in the Maritimes)
• Peter Coade, meteorologist for Atlantic Pulse (later at CTV Atlantic, now at CBHT and CBAT-TV)
• Jill Krop, reporter for Atlantic Pulse/co-host of Breakfast Television (now at CHAN-TV Vancouver)
• Kurt Stoodley, reporter for Atlantic Pulse/co-host of Breakfast Television (now at CHRO-TV Ottawa)
• Mark Schultz, co-host of Breakfast Television (later at CKEM-TV Edmonton, now out of television)
• J.C. Douglas, on-location host, Breakfast Television (now at CFRQ-FM Halifax)
• Jay Michaels (MacNeil), co-host of Breakfast Television (now at CKFM-FM Toronto)
• Scott Boyd, on-location host/co-host/producer of Breakfast Television (now at CHRK-FM Sydney)
• Carol McDade, co-anchor of Atlantic Pulse
• Bruce Frisko, co-anchor of Atlantic Pulse/anchor of ATV Headline News/news anchor for Breakfast Television (now at CTV Atlantic)
• Scott Mathews, sports anchor, Atlantic Pulse
• Duane Lowe, weather presenter, Atlantic Pulse (later at CIHF-TV, now out of television)
• Cindy Burgess, co-anchor, Atlantic Pulse
• John Waterman, news anchor, Breakfast Television
• Anne Drewa, news anchor, Breakfast Television (now at CHAN-TV Vancouver)
• Liz Rigney, co-host of Breakfast Television (now CTV Atlantic's head of Community Relations & Promotions)
• Joanne Clancy, reporter for Atlantic Pulse/reporter/fill-in anchor/news anchor for Breakfast Television (now Senior News Producer for CTV Atlantic)

Advertising

Until fall 2006, the CRTC required that "commercial messages that are likely to have a negative impact on (CJON) be deleted from the ASN service distributed in St. John's and Mount Pearl (and area)" by Rogers Cable and its pre-2000 predecessor, Cable Atlantic.^[5] For several years Rogers or Cable Atlantic aired scrolling text from Broadcast News in its place, and was faulted on several occasions for untimely malfunctions of the automated equipment that performed the deletion (i.e., entire segments of Canadian Idol being blocked). In spring 2006, Rogers applied to have this condition removed, citing these complaints among other reasons.^[6] This was approved in fall 2006.

Since the channel's inception, ASN/A Atlantic has not been permitted to solicit local advertising in the Halifax area, due to (in the CRTC's opinion) insufficient support for local advertising.^[7] As part of the approval for Rogers's request to remove the commercial blackouts in St. John's, the channel also agreed not to solicit local advertising in that area either.^[8] A Atlantic is permitted to solicit local advertising in the rest of Atlantic Canada, as well as regional and national advertising; moreover the ban on solicitation does not necessarily prevent the channel from accepting local ad sales from the aforementioned areas.

See also

• List of Canadian television channels

References

1. ^ Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (2006-08-31). "Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2006-452 (licence renewal for EastLink Halifax)". http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2006/db2006-452.htm. Retrieved 2011-08-13. "The licensee is authorized to distribute, at its option, the programming service Atlantic Satellite Network (ASN), received via satellite, provided that it is distributed on an unrestricted channel of the basic service."  (emphasis added)
2. ^ "A New Beginning: Fresh New Look for A Unveiled Today", CTVglobemedia press release, August 11, 2008.
3. ^ Bell Media’s /A\ Network to Become “CTV Two” This Fall Bell Media press release, May 30, 2011 Archived 30 May 2011 at WebCite
4. ^ Bell Media’s /A\ Network to Become “CTV Two” This Fall Archived 30 May 2011 at WebCite
5. ^ CRTC decisions
6. ^ CRTC hearings
7. ^ Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2001-457
8. ^ Broadcasting Decision 2007-351

External links

• CTV Morning Live Atlantic
• CTV Atlantic