Local CTV stations

[ckik]

Just checked out CTV's spot on their site for local stations. They are calling CFCN in Calgary "CTV Calgary". Is this the trend for their stations across the country? If so, they are getting rid of alot of heritage station ID's! People wont be able to discern between their local newscast and CTV's national news. Why is Canada's broadcasting so different from the USA's, where people identify their local news stations with channel numbers? If I were to visit Edmonton, and want to watch the news at 6PM, what channel do I turn into to see it? Just doesn't make any sense.

PS. Just went on cfrntv.ca, and this is what they say on their homepage

"Headquartered in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada -CTV
Television reaches over 1.2 million viewers across north
central Alberta.
CTV Television
18520 Stony Plain Road
Edmonton, Alberta
T5S 1A8
(780) 483-3311"

 

[e-dawg]

> Just checked out CTV's spot on their site for local
> stations. They are calling CFCN in Calgary "CTV Calgary".
> Is this the trend for their stations across the country? If
> so, they are getting rid of alot of heritage station ID's!
> People wont be able to discern between their local newscast
> and CTV's national news. Why is Canada's broadcasting so
> different from the USA's, where people identify their local
> news stations with channel numbers? If I were to visit
> Edmonton, and want to watch the news at 6PM, what channel do
> I turn into to see it? Just doesn't make any sense.
>
Because the off the air channel number is different than the cable channel number. For example, I used to live in Toronto, CFTO everybody knows its off the air signal is CH. 9, but the cable company "Rogers" put CFTO on Channel 8 instead of 9. It will be confusing to viewers seeing CFTO mentions 9, but on 8. Also, Canada TV market coverage area is bigger than US market coverage area, and a lot tv stations in Canada have repeaters thru out of the province. Global Ontario doesn't say Channel 41 or 6, because they have so much repeaters that it will confuse the viewers. So thats the main reason why CTV, GLobal, or CBC don't identify channel numbers. I think I answer most of your question.

 

[ckik]

That's true. But alot of people I assume in Calgary know "CFCN". If it ain't broke, why fix it?

 

[Yeziknoradio]

I miss the days of a voice over saying "CFTO television...Channel 9...in Toronto, Cable 8"<P ID="signature">______________
"If you never say NO, How much is your YES worth?"
</P>

 

[mjlarochelle]

> Because the off the air channel number is different than the
> cable channel number. For example, I used to live in
> Toronto, CFTO everybody knows its off the air signal is CH.
> 9, but the cable company "Rogers" put CFTO on Channel 8
> instead of 9. It will be confusing to viewers seeing CFTO
> mentions 9, but on 8. Also, Canada TV market coverage area
> is bigger than US market coverage area, and a lot tv
> stations in Canada have repeaters thru out of the province.
> Global Ontario doesn't say Channel 41 or 6, because they
> have so much repeaters that it will confuse the viewers. So
> thats the main reason why CTV, GLobal, or CBC don't identify
> channel numbers. I think I answer most of your question.
----------
There is no reason to hide the calls though. I have heard that although Global has been calling most of their stations "Global" for some time, they still internally refer to stations by their more familiar names - such as ITV in Edmonton. I get a lot of Edmonton viewers still call that station ITV. Some stations are very bold about wanting viewers to not refer to the old call letters. I remember when some manager at CFPL-TV went on the air one night and told viewers that the station is no longer CFPL-TV, but was The New PL. This was a knee-jerk reaction to an unrelated article in the local paper that mentioned the call letters.

CTV is a national brand. They don't seem to understand that you can still sell a national brand with a local identity. I don't know what they think they are gaining by ditching the heritage names.

I have e-mailed ATV, CFCF, CJOH, CKCO, MCTV, and CFRN asking them about what is going on. None of them have returned my messages yet.

 

[dhett]

Not exactly...

> Because the off the air channel number is different than the
> cable channel number. For example, I used to live in
> Toronto, CFTO everybody knows its off the air signal is CH.
> 9, but the cable company "Rogers" put CFTO on Channel 8
> instead of 9. It will be confusing to viewers seeing CFTO
> mentions 9, but on 8. Also, Canada TV market coverage area
> is bigger than US market coverage area, and a lot tv
> stations in Canada have repeaters thru out of the province.
> Global Ontario doesn't say Channel 41 or 6, because they
> have so much repeaters that it will confuse the viewers. So
> thats the main reason why CTV, GLobal, or CBC don't identify
> channel numbers. I think I answer most of your question.
>

I think you underestimate Canadian intelligence. The same situations you describe occur in the US as well as Canada, but Americans don't seem to have problems with it, and they're no smarter than Canadians.

In the US, stations often use the OTA channel number in their ID's. KUTP 45 in Phoenix AZ brands as UPN45, although they're on ch. 9 on most cable systems.

Sometimes they ID by the cable channel on the dominant cable system. KASW 61 in Phoenix brands as WB6; most cable companies have them on channel 6. That could pose a problem if the cable company decides to switch their channel assignments. KUTP had been on ch. 16 since I could remember, but recently the dominant carrier, Cox, switched them to ch. 9, and Qwest soon followed suit. Other systems still have them at 16. But people seem to figure it out.

A more recent trend has been to brand by the calls without the channel number. Nexstar seems to be doing this. WBRE 28 and WYOU 22 in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton PA, both owned by Nexstar, brand only by the calls.

Translators aren't limited to Canada, either. Phoenix and Salt Lake City markets make extensive use of translators. Phoenix station KTVK ID's as 3TV, broadcasting on ch. 3 in Phoenix. They're found on 57 in Globe, 38 in Cottonwood, 11 in Prescott, 54 in Flagstaff, 23 in Kingman, 12 in north Bullhead City, 16 in south Bullhead City, 29 in Lake Havasu City, and many more channels in many more locations, some over 300 miles from Phoenix, all OTA by translator. It doesn't confuse people at all.

 

[Joseph_Gallant]

What would be wrong with branding stations as: "CFCN...CTV Calgary" or "CFTO...CTV Toronto"??

 

[Calgaryperson]

> Just checked out CTV's spot on their site for local
> stations. They are calling CFCN in Calgary "CTV Calgary".

A news crew from CFCN came out to my school. The news van didn't have a single mention of "CFCN". It was one of their older vehicles too.<P ID="signature">______________

Canada TV and College Radio</P>

 

[rugrats1]

> I remember
> when some manager at CFPL-TV went on the air one night and
> told viewers that the station is no longer CFPL-TV, but was
> The New PL. This was a knee-jerk reaction to an unrelated
> article in the local paper that mentioned the call letters.
>

Though of course, they're STILL CFPL-TV. They have to be -- that's what on their CRTC license. Even of they're an A-Channel now, they're still CFPL-TV, legally and familiarly.

 

[rugrats1]

> What would be wrong with branding stations as: "CFCN...CTV
> Calgary" or "CFTO...CTV Toronto"??
>

As long as the CRTC doesn't require them to identify their calls once an hour, CTV feels that it's against the point to use the calls in the promotions. The CRTC only requires the mentioning of calls at sign on and sign off (though some CTV stations, like CFTO, doesn't even do that).

Though of course, being a long-established station will have their tactic work against them -- a lot of viewers will still call their local CTV station by its calls, or even its OTA channel number. And as they say in the old cigarette ad, they would "rather fight than switch".

 

[mjlarochelle]

It appears that the official switch is Monday for most CTV owned stations across Canada. Check the local section of the ctv.ca website.

 

[w9wi]

> Though of course, being a long-established station will have
> their tactic work against them -- a lot of viewers will
> still call their local CTV station by its calls, or even its
> OTA channel number. And as they say in the old cigarette ad,
> they would "rather fight than switch".

The TV station I work for changed its call letters in 1980.

To this day, a significant fraction (quite possibly a majority) of the viewers who contact the station refer to us by our *old* call letters.