CKAL-DT

CKAL-DT

Calgary, Alberta
Branding	City Calgary
Slogan	Everywhere!
Channels	Digital: 49 (UHF) Virtual: 5.1 (PSIP)
Translators	46 CKAL-DT-1 Lethbridge
Affiliations	City
Owner	Rogers Media (Rogers Broadcasting, Ltd.)
First air date	September 20, 1997
Call letters' meaning	C K(C)ALgary -or- CK ALberta
Sister station(s)	CJCO-TV, CFAC, CFFR, CHFM-FM, CJAQ-FM
Former callsigns	CKAL-TV (1997-2011)
Former channel number(s)	5 (Analog, VHF, 1997-2011)
Former affiliations	A-Channel (1997-2005)
Transmitter power	CKAL-DT: 100 kW CKAL-DT-1: 79 kW
Height	CKAL-DT: 378 m CKAL-DT-1: 200.0 m
Transmitter coordinates	CKAL-DT: 51°3′53″N 114°12′51″W CKAL-DT-1: 49°40′57″N 112°55′38″W
Website	City Calgary

CKAL-DT (branded on-air as City Calgary) is the City owned-and-operated television station based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It broadcasts a high-definition digital signal on UHF channel 49 (or virtual channel 5.1 via PSIP) from a transmitter near Old Banff Coach Road/Highway 563 and operates a rebroadcast transmitter in Lethbridge, broadcasting on UHF channel 46 (or virtual channel 42.1).

Owned by Rogers Media (through its Rogers Broadcasting, Ltd. division), it is sister to Omni Television outlet CJCO-DT and both share studios located on 7 Avenue and 5 Street Southwest in Downtown Calgary. This station can also be seen on (corporate sister through parent company Rogers Communications) Rogers Cable channel 140, Shaw Cable channel 8 and in high definition on digital channel 213. This station is also available on Bell TV channel 246 and in high definition on channel 1133.

Prior to joining the City system, it previously was part of Craig Media's A-Channel system from its launch in 1997 until August 2, 2005.

History

Logo used as A-Channel, used from 1997-2005.

As a A-Channel O&O

The station was launched by Craig Media as a VHF station on September 20, 1997, two days after its A-Channel sister station CKEM-TV in Edmonton went on the air for the first time. It billed itself as a station with a very deep connection to Calgary, with the slogan "Very independent, very Calgary!" CKAL's opening was marked with a street party and its main studio was easily visible from passersby on 7th Avenue; during the station's first year it even operated a small cafe near its main entrance.

CKEM's master control was moved to CKAL in 2003. Nine employees working at CKAL were laid off on May 19, 2004 in addition to a 28-employee layoff at Craig Media's CKXT-TV in Toronto. Craig Media said the cuts were made to "further rationalize its operations and control costs".

As a City O&O

City's studios and offices, located in the heart of Downtown Calgary.

In 2004, Craig Media announced a deal to sell its conventional television assets, including the A-Channel stations, to CHUM. The sale was approved by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission on November 19, 2004, and became official on December 1. On February 3, 2005, CHUM announced that the A-Channel stations will be relaunched as Citytv. The changes took effect August 2.

On July 12, 2006, it was announced that CTVglobemedia would acquire CHUM Limited and its assets, including the Citytv family. As a result of this merger, CKAL added CHMI-TV to its master control duties. The next year, the CRTC announced its approval of CTVglobemedia's purchase of CHUM Limited, but added a condition that CTVglobemedia must sell off CHUM's Citytv stations (including CKAL) to another buyer but can keep the A-Channel stations since they have CFCN-TV in the same area. On June 12, Rogers Media announced that it would acquire five Citytv stations (including CKAL) from CTVglobemedia. As a result, effective August 29, the station will be taking over master control duties for Citytv Vancouver. The Rogers transaction was approved by the CRTC on September 28 and was officially completed October 31.

On July 12, 2006 as a result of the CTVglobemedia/CHUM Limited merger, CKAL's local newscasts (with the exception of CityNews at Noon) were immediately discontinued; the local newscasts were replaced by a half-hour news magazine program called Your City at 6 and 11 p.m., along with CityNews International (produced at the CityNews studios in Toronto, Ontario).

On January 19, 2010, Citytv laid off many additional news personalites as part of restructuring operations. This resulted in Your City, The City Show and Citytv's national and international newscast, CityNews International being cancelled. Since then, the only remaining local program produced by CKAL is the morning show, Breakfast Television.

News/station presentation

Newscast titles

• A-Channel News Now (1997–2000)
• A-Channel News (2000–2005)
• CityNews (2005–2006)
• Breakfast Television (morning newscast; 2005–present)

Station slogans

• "Very Independent" (1997-2003)
• "Connected to You" (2003–05)
• "Everywhere!" (2005–present)

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

On-air staff

Breakfast Television

Jill Belland covering the 2007 Calgary International Film Festival for Citytv

Hosts

• Ted Henley - co-host/news anchor
• Tara Slone - co-host
• Andrew Schultz - co-host/meteorologist

Reporters

• Jill Belland - Live Eye reporter
• Mike Yawney - technology specialist

Digital television and high definition

On August 31, 2010, CKAL-DT began testing on channel 49. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers will display CKAL-TV's virtual channel as 5.1. On August 13, 2011, the Lethbridge retransmitter started broadcasting CKAL-DT on channel 46 (virtual channel 2.1).

External links

• City Calgary
• Canadian Communications Foundation - CKAL-TV History
• Query the REC's Canadian station database for CKAL-TV
• Query TV Fool's coverage map for CKAL