CFTO-DT

CFTO-DT

Greater Toronto Area
City of license	Toronto, Ontario
Branding	CTV Toronto
Slogan	Toronto's #1 Newscast
Channels	Digital: 9 (VHF) Virtual: 9.1 (PSIP)
Translators	see below
Affiliations	CTV
Owner	Bell Media (CTV Inc.)
First air date	December 31, 1960
Call letters' meaning	Canada's Foremost, Toronto's Own[citation needed]
Sister station(s)	TV: CP24, CKVR-DT, (Barrie) Radio: CHUM (AM), CHUM-FM, CFXJ-FM
Former callsigns	CFTO-TV (1960-2011)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 9 (VHF, 1960-2011) Digital:40 (2004-2011)
Former affiliations	Independent (1960-1961)
Transmitter power	10.2 kW
Height	467.0 m
Transmitter coordinates	43°38′33″N 79°23′14″W
Website	CTV Toronto

CFTO-DT, broadcast on channel 9 and cable 8, is a television station in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, owned by Bell Media. Currently branded as CTV Toronto, it is the flagship station of the CTV Television Network, and was one of the charter members of the network when it was launched in 1961. It broadcasts from the CN Tower with a power output of 17.4 kW, on channel 9 (PSIP 9.1). In addition, the station currently operates two auxiliary transmitters serving the Orillia and Peterborough areas, and is available on cable and satellite throughout southern Ontario.

The station's studios are located at 9 Channel Nine Court (which was temporarily renamed "Dave Devall Way" throughout 2009 to honor the retiring reporter) in Agincourt, near the junction of Highway 401 and McCowan Road. CFTO now shares these premises with the network's headquarters, which includes studios for the network's news programming (Canada AM, CTV National News and the CTV News Channel), along with most of Bell Media's specialty channels. CTV News has in fact been based at CFTO's studios for most of its history, dating to the days when the network was a cooperative (CFTO's parent company later acquired most of the other affiliates, eventually becoming the present-day Bell Media).

History

CFTO went on the air for the first time on December 31, 1960, at 10.00 p.m. The first official day of programming was January 1, 1961. The opening program was a telethon hosted by Joel Aldred, complete with a fireworks ceremony. The telethon was for what was then known as the Ontario Association for Retarded Children.

An early-1990s version of CFTO's longtime multicoloured iris logo (designed by Art Director Joern Dressel), first introduced during the transition to colour TV in 1965. It was unused for much of the 1980s in favour of a blue "circle-9" design before returning circa 1987. This version was later used as the basis for the BBS logo.

The station was originally owned by Baton-Aldred-Rogers Broadcasting, made up of:

• Telegram Corporation (Bassett and Eaton families)
• Aldred-Rogers Broadcasting (Joel Aldred & E.S. Rogers)
• Foster Hewitt Broadcasting (CKFH Radio)

US network ABC had a minority share in the partnership, but this was sold shortly before CFTO-TV went on the air to each of the partners. John Bassett trained at WXYZ-TV in Detroit, and WABC-TV in New York. The elder E. S. Rogers was a minority owner of Western Ontario Broadcasting, Ltd., owners of CKLW-TV (now CBET) in Windsor, Ontario/Detroit (which was mostly owned by RKO General). The station's original studios and transmitter were located at 1550 McCowan Road.

CFTO's BBS logo

In March 1961, Joel Aldred sold his interest in CFTO, and on October 1 that year, the station joined the CTV Television Network. In 1970, Ted Rogers sold his interest in CFTO and the Bassett-Eaton group sold their interest in Rogers Cable. On May 31, 1976, CFTO began broadcasting from the CN Tower, while studios remained in Agincourt. CFTO began broadcasting in stereo in 1985. In 1994, the station became part of the Baton Broadcast System, a subsystem within the CTV network. In 1995, CFTO began operating rebroadcast stations at Orillia (channel 21) and Bobcaygeon (near Peterborough, channel 54).

On January 27, 1998, the Eaton family sold its 41% interest in Baton. On the same day the Baton Broadcast System merged into CTV.

CFTO-TV's former logo (1998-2005). As of October 2005 logos with the stations' callsigns are no longer used on CTV stations; instead they all use the main CTV logo.

With rumours of a takeover impending, Bell Canada proposed to buy CTV Inc. for $2.3 billion. This was approved by the CTV board in March 2000. The deal still required CRTC approval, but with the promise of the largest benefits package ever presented to the regulators, the deal was approved on December 7 that year. BCE later sold most of its interest in CTV, with the parent company renamed CTVglobemedia. BCE Inc. later reacquired 100% control of CTVglobemedia's assets $1.3 billion in 2011, with the parent company once again renamed Bell Media.

The station began providing a digital signal on satellite on November 17, 2003, and on January 30, 2004, CFTO was granted a digital television channel signal, transmitting on channel 40 from the CN Tower with an ERP of 17,400 watts. In mid 2005, CFTO's CN Tower transmitter began transmitting HDTV over the air. By February 2005, the station stopped using its call letters, and became official on several CTV stations in October 2005.

Current programming

Being the flagship station of the CTV network, its schedule reflects virtually the entirety of the CTV network schedule. A largely identical schedule is used on the other CTV stations in Southern Ontario, as CFTO acts as the master control for these stations. Any discrepancies with other stations would generally be limited to local infomercials and religious programming on Sunday mornings. In regards to the latter, CFTO currently airs Mass for a Television Community and Living Truth which are not seen on other CTV stations.

CFTO is one of several television stations in Toronto that broadcast descriptive video services for the blind on the Secondary Audio Program.

Other station productions

Under CTV's original cooperative structure, CFTO, through Baton's in-house production company Glen-Warren Productions, was one of the network's main contributors of Canadian programming, such as The Littlest Hobo, Circus, and The Uncle Bobby Show. Indeed, the amount of programming originating at CFTO was often a source of tension with the network's other major-market affiliates. However, as with most local stations in North America, such locally produced non-news programming has become increasingly rare.

For much of its history, CFTO's studios have also served as the home for network-produced programs such as CTV National News, Canada AM, and W5. The studios are now also used by a number of CTV's specialty channels, for productions such as the rolling news channel CTV News Channel, TSN's SportsCentre, and Discovery Channel's Daily Planet.

Over the years, the studios have also been rented out for third-party productions, such as the studio scenes in the 1976 film Network. The Lotto 6/49 and Lotto Super 7 (now Lotto Max) drawings were also held at CFTO studios until 2008.

Since 2010, CFTO and CP24 have been the television broadcasters for the Toronto Santa Claus Parade.

News operation

CFTO-DT currently produces a total of 15½ hours of local newscasts each week (with 2½ hours on weekdays and 1½ hours on weekends); CFTO's news programming is aired at noon on weekdays, as well as at 6 and 11:30 p.m. seven days a week. The station's 6:00 p.m. newscast is the highest rated local newscast in Toronto, drawing approximately 500,000 viewers each night. Known beginning in the 1970s as World Beat News (early evening), Noon Beat News (lunch hour) and Night Beat News (late evening), the station's newscasts were rebranded as CFTO News in early 1998, and as CTV News in 2005.

CTV News has the most advanced weather technology compared to other Canadian stations which incorporates WSI's TrueView technology and real time doppler radar with zoom and pan capabilities.^{[citation needed]} Moreover, CFTO has bureaus at Toronto City Hall, Queen's Park, and Downtown Toronto (299 Queen Street West). Finally, as the network's flagship station, CFTO is able to take advantage of live remotes from other CTV stations and bureaus nationwide and internationally.

In December 2008, CP24, a 24-hour news channel which primarily focuses on Toronto, began airing a simulcast of CTV News at Six, displacing its simulcast of CityNews at Six. This change occurred because the long-standing affiliation between CITY-TV and CP24 (which were previously both owned by CHUM Limited) abruptly came to an end after the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) announced the approval of their application by Rogers Media, owners of Citytv to launch its own 24-hour local news channel which would be focusing on the Greater Toronto Area, CityNews Channel., like CFTO, CP24 is a division of Bell Media, and the station's operations between the two remain otherwise separate.

On May 12, 2009, CFTO began broadcasting local news in High-definition and introduced a renovated studio. CTV News at 11:30 was later added to the CP24 schedule in May 2009. CFTO-TV is the only station that airs morning news updates during Canada AM, since all others cancelled in March 2009.

CTV Toronto operates a large fleet of vehicles for reporters and camera men as well as three microwave trucks ("Cypress", "Dart" and "Bullet") for live broadcasts, and two satellite trucks ("Chaos" and "Bird") for broadcasts from locations in Southern Ontario.^{[citation needed]} CFTO is one of the few stations in Canada to lease a news helicopter (Bell 206L-4 Long Ranger (C-FCTV)) which can broadcast live at 1500 feet above land;^{[citation needed]} the only other CTV station currently making use of such a helicopter is CIVT Vancouver. CTV's helicopter is painted with their colours and logo, however it moonlights under the name "Chopper 24" when feed is used on CTV Toronto's all news station CP24.

The station brands its newscasts as CTV News, in line with all of CTV's other owned and operated stations as well as the CTV Two stations, using generic CTV News graphics.

News/station presentation

Newscast titles

• World Beat News (6 p.m. newscast; 1971–1980s)
• Metro Final (11:30 p.m. newscast; 1971–late 1970s)
• Noon News (midday newscast; 1988–early 1990s)
• Noon Beat News (midday newscast; mid 1990s–1998)
• Night Beat News (11:30 p.m. newscast; late 1970s–1998)
• CFTO News (1998–2005)
• CTV News (2005–present)

Station slogans

• "Toronto's #1 Newscast" (1997–present)

This film, television or video-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it with reliably sourced additions.

News team

Anchors

• Christine Bentley - weekdays at noon and weeknights at 6 p.m.
• Ken Shaw - weekdays at noon and weeknights at 6 p.m.
• Bill Hutchison - weeknights at 11:30 p.m.
• Andria Case - weekends at 6 and 11:30 p.m.; also weeknight general assignment and entertainment reporter
• Colin D'Mello - weekends at 6.; also weeknight general assignment reporter.

Weather team

• Tom Brown - lead weather anchor; weeknights at 6 and 11:30 p.m.
• Anwar Knight - weather and news anchor; weekday morning updates during Canada AM and weekdays at noon; also Canada AM fill-in co-host
• Dana Levenson - weather anchor; weekends at 6 and 11:30 p.m.
• Zuraidah Alman - weather anchor; fill-in

Sports team

• Lance Brown - sports director; weeknights at 6 p.m.
• Suneel Joshi - sports anchor; weekends at 6 and 11:30 p.m.
• Joe Tilley - sports anchor; weeknights at 11:30 p.m.

Reporters

• Zuraidah Alman - general assignment reporter; also fill-in anchor
• Paul Bliss - Queen's Park reporter; also fill-in anchor
• Pauline Chan - health reporter; also fill-in anchor
• Carol Charles - general assignment reporter
• Tamara Cherry - police reporter
• Austin Delaney - general assignment reporter; also fill-in anchor
• Colin D'Mello - general assignment reporter
• Michelle Dubé - general assignment reporter; also fill-in anchor
• Pat Foran - consumer alert reporter
• Janice Golding - general assignment reporter; also fill-in anchor
• Michael Hainsworth - business reporter
• Natalie Johnson - general assignment reporter
• Dana Levenson - general assignment reporter; also fill-in anchor
• Scott Lightfoot - general assignment reporter
• Alicia Markson - City Hall reporter; also fill-in anchor
• John Musselman - general assignment reporter; also fill-in anchor
• Karlene Nation - diversity producer and reporter
• Naomi Parness - general assignment reporter
• Ken Regular - general assignment reporter
• Ashley Rowe - general assignment reporter

Digital programming and high definition

After the analog television shutdown and digital conversion, completed on August 31, 2011 , CFTO-DT left UHF 40 and returned to the stations original VHF channel 9.

Transmitters

Station	City of licence	Channel	ERP	HAAT	Transmitter Coordinates
CFTO-TV-21	Orillia	15 (UHF)	207.6 kW	171.3 m	44°52′4″N 79°35′41″W
CFTO-DT-54	Peterborough	35 (UHF) Virtual: 65.1 (PSIP)	38 kW	176.3 m	44°26′44″N 78°31′59″W

CFTO-TV-21 and a long list of CTV rebroadcasters nationwide were to shut down on or before August 31, 2009, as part of a political dispute with Canadian authorities on paid retransmission consent requirements for cable television operators. A subsequent change in ownership assigned full control of CTVglobemedia to Bell Media; as of 2011, these transmitters remain in normal licensed broadcast operation.

Cable and satellite coverage

CFTO is also available in the Toronto area on Rogers Cable channel 8 (SD) and 518 (HD). It is also carried nationally on digital cable through virtually all providers, on Bell TV channels 212 (SD) and 800 (HD), and on Shaw Direct channels 313 (SD) and 293 (HD). In the United States, Atlantic Broadband and Time Warner Cable carry CFTO throughout the Western New York area including Buffalo, Dunkirk, Fredonia, Westfield and Jamestown.

External links

• CTV Toronto
• Canadian Communications Foundation - CFTO-TV History
• Query the REC's Canadian station database for CFTO-TV
• Query TV Fool's coverage map for CFTO