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CH is a Canadian English language privately owned television system owned by CanWest MediaWorks Inc., a division of CanWest Global Communications. Currently the system consists of six local television stations located in Quebec, Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia, five of which are owned by CanWest and one affiliate owned by Jim Pattison Group.
HistoryMost of CH's component stations have been around for decades as affiliates of other networks. However, CH itself was only formed in early 2001 after CanWest bought out most of these stations, which were previously owned by Western International Communications. Over the years, WIC had formed various types of "twinsticks", or ownership of two stations serving one market, specifically in the B.C. Lower Mainland, Alberta, Montreal, and Kelowna markets. The second stations were, respectively, CHEK, CKRD, CJNT, and CHBC. However, WIC was an ownership group, and not a network unto itself. The company was rarely able to co-ordinate the programming of its first-string stations, much less the second-string outlets, due to the stations' different network affiliations. Despite strong opposition from competitors and advocacy groups, CanWest was allowed to keep all of the WIC stations save CFCF in Montreal. By promising to continue to support the "underserved" communities these stations were originally intended to serve – support which, in CanWest's view, no competing broadcaster could provide – it was able to maintain the B.C. and Alberta twinsticks, re-align CJNT with CKMI, and most importantly secure a new twinstick in the major market of Ontario with both its own CIII and WIC's independent station CHCH. CHCH was the first to adopt the CH brand in February 2001, followed by CHEK (newly disaffiliated from CTV) and multicultural station CJNT that September. CKRD, now CHCA, joined in 2005. All four now cross-promote heavily with the local Global stations. CHBC joined in February 2006, as did the independently-owned CFJC, a requirement of the two stations' joint sales agreement. The two latter stations do not currently carry CH branding. CHCA, CHBC, and CFJC are all former CBC affiliates.
Published reports (Toronto Star, February 13, 2006) suggested that the CH brand may soon be discontinued. During the June 2006 upfronts, CanWest confirmed that CH would indeed be going through a rebranding within the coming months, although not necessarily in the fall. ProgrammingCH airs several hit U.S. programs, sharing a library of programs with Global. It is not uncommon for Global, which is carried in more cities nationwide than CH, to cherry-pick some of CH's hits and air them on the main network. Conversely, Global programs are sometimes sent "down" to CH if two programs aired by Global begin to air simultaneously on separate U.S. networks, so CanWest can maximize its simulcasting opportunities. This notwithstanding, CH generally targets an older audience than the Global network. For instance, one of CBS's more popular series, NCIS, has older demographics than most of Global's other series and hence has remained on CH. While CH is allowed to timeshift a limited amount of programming also aired on Global, in practice it has rarely done so. CH stations
Affiliate stations
Many Global stations in non-CH markets, plus other stations not owned by CanWest Global, also broadcast programs usually seen on the CH system, mainly CJON, private CBC affiliates such as CHEX and CKWS, and the Thunder Bay Television twinstick of CKPR and CHFD. Slogans
See alsoExternal link
Corporate Directors: David Asper | Gail Asper | Leonard Asper | Lloyd Barber | Derek Burney | Ronald Daniels | David Drybrough | Paul Godfrey | Frank King | Lisa Pankratz Radio Stations: CJZZ | CKBT
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