CTV Television Network

CTV is Canada's largest privately-owned English language television network. Officially, CTV has not historically stood for anything, but it is obvious to most viewers, as well as the network's most recent promotional campaign, that it can be meant to stand for "Canadian Television".

CTV was founded in 1961 after a federal enquiry decided the CBC should not have a monopoly on television broadcasting in Canada. The original network management immediately ran into financial trouble, and in 1964 a group of eight affiliates decided to buy the network and run it as a co-operative. The network expanded to cover almost all of Canada within fifteen years of its' founding. In 1991, CTV became a regular business, where ownership was determined by how much of the country each affiliate served. This paved the way for Baton Broadcasting[?], original owner of the network's Toronto affiliate to take control of the network by buying almost all other affiliates during the 1990s. In 1997 Baton gained effective control of the network. In 2001 CTV merged with the Globe and Mail newspaper and fell under control of BCE Inc.[?].

CTV made a name for itself in news coverage when they convinced star Canadian Broadcasting Corporation news anchor Lloyd Robertson[?] to switch networks in 1976. CTV has been Canada's highest-rated television network ever since. The network also has the country's only national morning news show, Canada AM[?].

The network's programming, other than their news programs, consists mainly of hit American series (such as ER, The West Wing, Law and Order and CSI[?]), but they have had moderate success with Canadian-made shows.

Local stations that are part of the CTV network include:

CTV British Columbia[?] (formerly known as VTV[?])
CFRN[?] (Edmonton)
CFCN[?] (Calgary)
CFQC[?] (Saskatoon)
CKCK[?] (Regina)
CKY[?] (Winnipeg)
TBT[?] (Thunder Bay)
MCTV[?] (Northern Ontario)
CKCO[?] (Kitchener)
CFTO[?] (Toronto)
CJOH[?] (Ottawa)
CFCF[?] (Montreal)
ATV[?] (Maritimes)
NTV[?] (Newfoundland)

http://www.ctv.ca - CTV website