 | |
| Type | Broadcasttelevision network |
|---|---|
| Country | Canada |
| Broadcast area | Canada Colombia |
| Affiliates | See§ Citytv stations |
| Headquarters | Rogers Building,Toronto,Ontario, Canada |
| Programming | |
| Language(s) | English |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Rogers Communications |
| Parent | Rogers Sports & Media |
| Key people | Tony Staffieri - Rogers Communications Interim President & CEO Jordan Banks - President of Rogers Sports & Media Bart Yabsley - President, Sportsnet and NHL Network, Rogers Sports & Media |
| Sister channels | Omni Television Sportsnet Bravo FX FXX TSC Discovery Channel Investigation Discovery HGTV Food Network Magnolia Network Citytv (Bogotá) Former: CP24 (1998–2007) NewNet/A-Channel (1995–2007) ASN (1983–2008) MuchMusic (1984–2007) MuchMoreMusic (1998–2007) Bravo! (1995–2007) Star! (1999–2007) FashionTelevision (2001–2007) Access (1995–2007) Space (1997–2007) Cooking Channel (2001–2007) BookTelevision (2001–2007) Drive-In Classics (2001–2007) WWE Network (2014–2024) |
| History | |
| Launched | September 28, 1972, 52 years ago (First aired inToronto) July 22, 2002, 22 years ago (first national expansion) February 4, 2013, 11 years ago (current national footprint) |
| Founder | Phyllis Switzer,Moses Znaimer,Jerry Grafstein and Edgar Cowan, among others |
| Former names | City (December 2012–September 2018) |
| Links | |
| Website | www |
| Availability | |
| Streaming media | |
| Amazon Prime | Over-the-top TV |
Citytv (sometimes shortened toCity, which was the network's official branding from 2012 to 2018) is aCanadiantelevision network owned by theRogers Sports & Media subsidiary ofRogers Communications. The network consists of sixowned-and-operated (O&O) television stations located in the metropolitan areas ofToronto,Montreal,Winnipeg,Calgary,Edmonton, andVancouver, a cable-only service that serves the province ofSaskatchewan, and three independently owned affiliates serving smaller cities inAlberta andBritish Columbia. There is also one station using the brand name servingBogotá,Colombia.
The Citytv brand name originates from its flagship station,CITY-TV in Toronto, a station that went on the air in September 28, 1972, in the former Electric Circus nightclub, and which became known for an intensely local format based on newscasts aimed at younger viewers, nightly movies, and music and cultural programming. The Citytv brand first expanded with then-parent companyCHUM Limited's acquisition of formerGlobal owned-and-operated stationCKVU-TV in Vancouver, followed by its purchase ofCraig Media's stations and the re-branding of itsA-Channelsystem inCentral Canada as Citytv in August 2005. CHUM Limited was acquired by CTVglobemedia (nowBell Media) in 2007; to comply withCanadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) ownership limits, the Citytv stations were sold to Rogers. The network grew through further affiliations with threeJim Pattison Group-owned stations, along with Rogers's acquisition of the cable-onlySaskatchewan Communications Network and Montreal'sCJNT-DT. At one point, Citytv also existed inBarcelona andSan Juan, Puerto Rico.
While patterned after the original station in Toronto, since the 2000s, and particularly since its acquisition by Rogers, Citytv has moved towards a series-based prime time schedule much like its competitors', albeit one still focused on younger demographics.
The licence of the original Citytv station, granted thecallsign ofCITY-TV by the CRTC, was awarded in Toronto on November 25, 1971, by Channel Seventy-Nine Ltd., which consisted of – among others – Phyllis Switzer,Moses Znaimer,Jerry Grafstein and Edgar Cowan. The four principal owners raised over $2 million to help start up the station, with Grafstein raising about 50% of the required funds, Znaimer raising around 25%, and the remainder being accrued by Switzer and Cowan.[1][2] CITY-TV began broadcasting on September 28, 1972, for the first time using the "Citytv" brand and initially operated as anindependent station, and its transmitter operated at aneffective radiated power of 31 kW. The station operated from studio facilities located at 99 Queen Street East, near Church Street, at the former Electric Circus nightclub.
The station lost money early on, and was in debt by 1975. Multiple Access Ltd. (the owners ofCFCF-TV inMontreal) purchased a 45% interest in the station, and sold its stake toCHUM Limited, the parent company ofCKVR-TV inBarrie,Ontario, in 1978.
On May 1, 1976, the station's main transmitter began broadcasting at 208 kW from theCN Tower. The station switched channel allocations on July 1, 1983, moving to UHF channel 57, the result ofIndustry Canada's decision to reassign frequencies corresponding to high-band UHF channels 70 to 83 to the newAMPSmobile phone systems as a result of a CCIR international convention in 1982.
In 1981, CITY was purchased outright by CHUM with the sale of Moses Znaimer's interest in the station. Znaimer remained with the station as an executive until 2003, when he retired from his management role but continued to work with the station on some production projects.[3] CITY and the other CHUM-owned television properties moved their operations to the company's headquarters at299 Queen Street West in May 1987, which became one of the most recognizable landmarks in the city. On March 30, 1998, CHUM launched CablePulse 24 (CP24), a local cable news channel whose programming used anchors from and featured reports filed by CITY-TV's news staff, rebroadcasts of the station'sCityPulse newscasts and select programming from CITY and other CHUM stations.
CHUM added CITY-TV's three rebroadcast transmitters inWoodstock (CITY-TV-2 on channel 31, which also served nearbyLondon) on September 1, 1986, while another transmitter was set up inOttawa in 1996 (CITY-TV-3 on channel 65).
CITY-TV's groundbreaking format became successful when CHUM dropped CKVR's longtime affiliation withCBC Television on September 1, 1995[4] and relaunched it as anindependent station.[5][6] Eventually, CHUM began to replicate the format when it acquired four Ontario stations from Baton Broadcasting in 1997, namelyCHRO inPembroke,CFPL-TV inLondon,CKNX-TV inWingham, andCHWI-TV inWindsor. Most of these stations were also former CBC affiliates, and in markets where CKVR's sister station, CITY-TV, was already or subsequently became available on basic cable.
Until 1997, CHUM owned two television outlets inAtlantic Canada: theATV system of CTV affiliates, and cable-only channelASN. Many Citytv programs were aired on ASN during this period, effectively making ASN an unbranded Citytv O&O. Both ATV and ASN were acquired by Baton Broadcasting (now Bell Media) in 1997; ASN continued to air much of the Citytv schedule until it became part of the A (nowCTV 2) television system in 2008. This means that Atlantic Canada is now the largest gap in City's local coverage area, and there are few remaining realistic options for Rogers to purchase or affiliate with existing stations in the region. This had led Rogers to attempt, unsuccessfully, to requestsimultaneous substitution privileges for Citytv Toronto on its cable systems inNew Brunswick andNewfoundland and Labrador.[7] Prior to the CRTC's decision to refuse the request, Rogers had hinted that a similar agreement had been tentatively reached withEastLink, the main cable provider inNova Scotia andPrince Edward Island.[8]
In 2000, afterCanwest Global Communications acquired the assets ofWestern International Communications which led to anetwork shuffle in Vancouver, CHUM applied to the CRTC to acquireCKVU-TV (Global Vancouver) on July 26, 2001[9] for $175 million, with the intention of making it a newest Citytv station. CHUM planned on spending $8.03 million on British Columbia-based independent productions, $5.95 million on local news and information programming, and $1.37 million on local culture, social policy, and talent development over a period of seven years. A similar application was filed in 1996 by the CRTC but was dropped in favor of Baton launchingCIVT-TV in 1997.[10] CHUM gained CRTC approval for its acquisition of CKVU on October 15, 2001.[11] Meanwhile,CIVI-TV inVictoria, British Columbia went on the air in October 2001 using the same format as CITY-TV. CKVU became known as "Citytv Vancouver" on July 22, 2002. Prior to CHUM's acquisition of CKVU, some Citytv programming were split betweenKVOS-TV inBellingham, Washington, which is close to Vancouver, and CTV-ownedCIVT-TV, during the 1990s and early 2000s when Citytv did not have a station in Vancouver;CHAN-TV, then a CTV affiliate, also aired some Citytv programs, such asCityLine. TheWIC stations in Alberta (including CITV-TV andCICT-TV) bought provincial rights to some Citytv programs prior to the launch of CKAL and CKEM in 1997.
On April 12, 2004,CHUM Limited announced a deal to purchase Craig Media for $265 million.[12] The move came more than a month after the CRTC denied CHUM's applications for new Calgary and Edmonton stations, which they applied back in 2003, because the market did not have sufficient advertising revenue to support a new entrant.[13][14] The sale was approved by theCanadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission on November 19, 2004. CHUM had to sell off Toronto 1 because it already owned stations in Toronto and nearbyBarrie;[12] Toronto 1 was sold toQuebecor Media, owners of the media unitsTVA andSun Media.[15]
In February 2005, CHUM announced it would align Craig's A-Channel stations with its existing major-market stations under the Citytv brand. No other significant changes were made, since the A-Channel stations's on-air look had always been very similar to that of Citytv; they initially retained their local programs, relaunched under Citytv'sBreakfast Television morning brand andCityNews news brand.[16][17] CHUM hoped to lift the ratings of the stations with the new moniker.[18] The change took effect on August 2 of the same year, when the A-Channel name was transferred to CHUM'sNewNet stations.[19][20]
On July 12, 2006, CHUM announced that it would dramatically reduce its newsgathering operations in Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, and Winnipeg, as well as in several other cities. It laid off 281 part- and full-time employees, effectively cancelleing its supper-hour, late-night and weekend newscasts, laying off hundreds of news department staff among 281 job cuts. In a coincidental development, that same day,BCE Inc., owner of Bell Globemedia and the parent company ofCTV, announced it would buy CHUM Limited.[21][22]
Bell Globemedia had intended to retain CHUM's Citytv system while divesting CHUM'sA-Channel stations and Alberta cable channelAccess to get the CRTC to approve the acquisition.[23]
In October 2006, Citytv launched a daily national newscast,CityNews International, which was produced in Toronto for broadcast on the western Canadian stations and on CHUM's Toronto news channelCP24. The Edmonton and Calgary stations also began broadcasting a daily 30-minute magazine show,Your City, instead of a full-fledged newscast. The Vancouver news operation, which had operated for 30 years under various owners and station identities, was not maintained aside fromBreakfast Television. In the same month, Citytv Toronto became the first television station in Canada to begin broadcasting its local newscasts inhigh definition.
The following year on June 8, the CRTC approved the CTV takeover of CHUM. However, the CRTC made the deal conditional on CTV divesting itself of Citytv, because there were already CTVowned-and-operated stations serving the same cities (CFTO-TV Toronto,CIVT-TV Vancouver,CFCN-TV Calgary,CFRN-TV Edmonton, andCKY-TV Winnipeg). Without the divestment, CTV would have exceeded the CRTC'sconcentration of media ownership limits. CTV announced on June 11, 2007, that it would retain the A-Channel stations, and sell the Citytv stations toRogers Communications for $375 million.[24][25] The transaction was approved by the CRTC on September 28 and was completed on October 31, 2007. On September 8, 2009, CITY Toronto moved toYonge-Dundas Square at33 Dundas Street East.[26]
On December 6, 2010,CityNews Tonight Toronto anchor and continuity announcerMark Dailey died after a long battle with cancer.[27] The Citytv system began to phase in a modified branding in October 2012, with a new logo consisting only of the name "City", and some promotions using the verbal branding "City Television" (later also switched to simply "City") instead of "Citytv". The change marked the first major alteration to the "Citytv" brand since its introduction in 1972. The network adopted the name "City" on December 31, 2012, during its New Year's Eve special.[28] For the2018–19 television season, the network reintroduced its original "Citytv" branding,[29] and its social media accounts.[30]
Rogers moved Citytv's Toronto operations to theRogers Building at Bloor and Mount Pleasant in March 2025.[31]
TheJim Pattison Group announced in July 2009 that its three television stations in western Canada (CKPG-TV,CFJC-TV, andCHAT-TV), formerly affiliated withE!, would join Citytv starting on September 1, 2009.[32] These stations do not carry the Citytv branding; instead, the stations continue to use the same branding and logos they used as affiliates of the E! system. The Pattison-owned Citytv affiliates produce local newscasts, but do not produce their own versions ofBreakfast Television nor title their midday and evening newscasts under theCityNews brand like the Citytv owned-and-operated stations do. Through a long-term affiliation renewal agreement on May 3, 2012, the Pattison stations began to carry 90% of Citytv's primetime programming and the majority of its morning and daytime programming from the programming grid of CKVU-DT, including simulcasts of the Vancouver edition ofBreakfast Television. Unlike CKVU, the Pattison stations continue to produce midday and evening local newscasts.[33]
Meanwhile, on December 20, 2011, Bluepoint Investment Corporation announced an affiliation agreement with Rogers Communications to air Citytv programming on theSaskatchewan Communications Network (SCN) from 3 p.m.-6 a.m.CT daily, beginning on January 2, 2012. This program block followed the national program grid of Citytv and was known on-air as "Citytv on SCN". Shortly after, on January 17, 2012, Rogers announced its intent to acquire SCN from Bluepoint. The deal gave the Citytv system stations in all provinces west of Quebec and south of thefederal territories of Northern Canada.[34] The sale was approved in late June 2012 by the CRTC and Rogers relaunched SCN as Citytv Saskatchewan on July 1. Rogers plans to invest in the station's infrastructure, and also launch a high definition feed.[35]
In Montreal, Rogers announced its intent to acquire multicultural stationCJNT-DT from Toronto-basedChannel Zero on May 3, 2012, and announced an affiliation agreement with the station, effective June 4, 2012. This gave Citytv stations in all provinces west ofAtlantic Canada as well as the system's first television station located east of theGreater Toronto Area.[36] On December 20, 2012, the CRTC approved the acquisition of CJNT and Rogers's request to convert the station from multicultural to a conventional English-language station. The station began carrying the full Citytv schedule on February 4, 2013, turning Citytv from atelevision system into a full-fledged network.[37] Rogers will produce 15.5 hours of local programming a week for CJNT (including a local edition ofBreakfast Television), and agreed to contribute funding and programming to a newindependent multicultural station in Montreal.[38][39]
Citytv is well known for its unconventional approach to news and local programming. There is no news desk (anchors read the news standing up, or on stools), and cameras are sometimes hand-held. Citytv also pioneered the concept of videojournalism, where reporters often carry their own camera report and videotape their own stories. Citytv calls its videojournalists "videographers", but unlike many stations in American television markets that try to conceal the fact that reporters are so-called "one-man bands", Citytv embraced the use of video journalism by highlighting the use of technology; Citytv videographers often carry a second home video camera to record images of them videotaping on the scene. The low-grade video is then incorporated into the story to show viewers how the story was recorded.
At one time, Citytv's Torontoflagship CITY-TV produced more local programs than any other television station in Canada, and more local programming than any other station in North America other thanBoston'sWCVB-TV. Citytv produced shows such asSpeakers' Corner,CityLine and was the original home ofFashionTelevision,SexTV andMediaTelevision. Many of these series were not exclusively focused on Toronto –FT, for instance, consisted largely of foreignrunway footage – and are easily syndicated to other outlets. The latter three shows are now owned byCTVglobemedia as a result of its takeover of CHUM and subsequent divestiture of the Citytv stations.
CITY prominently broadcast feature films during primetime, in late night and on weekends as part of theGreat Movies block; as Citytv transitioned to a primetime lineup consisting of mainly domestic and American series during the 2000s,Great Movies was scaled back, then replaced in 2008 by reruns, reality shows and infomercials.
The station attracted attention and controversy by airingThe Baby Blue Movie, asoftcore pornography film showcase on Friday nights after midnight. Although this programming block was discontinued in the 1980s, it was reinstated onCITY andCKVU throughout most of the 2000s,[40] until its ownership change to Rogers Communications. This, along with the 'hide away' place on the UHF dial formed the basis of fictional station "CIVIC TV" (Channel 83, Cable 12) inDavid Cronenberg'sVideodrome, which is set in Toronto.
Citytv was one of the first television stations in Canada to implement a diversity policy in hiring its on-air staff, actively seeking outpeople of colour, people with disabilities, and other minority groups to work as on-air journalists. Znaimer described the policy as wanting the station to "look like Toronto".
Beginning in 1983, Citytv began to produce aNew Year's Eve special live fromNathan Phillips Square inDowntown Toronto. Most recently known as theCity New Year's Eve Bash, the yearly concert special expanded to include a second event in Calgary, Alberta for its 2012–13 edition. In 2013–14, Citytv began simulcasting ABC'sDick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve instead of airing its own full special, though it continued to sponsor (and air some coverage of) the New Year's event in Toronto.[41][42]
Citytv Toronto'sCityNews, which used to be known asCityPulse, had developed a large following since its debut in 1977. Other stations around the world have imitated its format to varying degrees of success. However, Citytv itself was unsuccessful in expanding its audience to other Canadian markets, as evidenced by the eventual cancellation of the other stations' traditional newscasts. Flagship station CITY-DT, along with Jim Pattison Group-owned affiliatesCFJC-TV,CKPG-TV andCHAT-TV are the only Citytv stations producing midday or evening newscasts. The Pattison stations use their individual callsigns, instead of branding under the Citytv name and do not use theCityNews title for their weekday newscasts. Four of City's five other owned-and-operated broadcast stations (CKVU-DT,CKAL-DT,CKEM-DT andCHMI-DT) only produce localized versions of the morning program franchiseBreakfast Television. Citytv Saskatchewan, meanwhile, does not carry any local programming, and would be unable to broadcastBreakfast Television due to its mandate of airing educational programming in the morning and daytime hours.
Due to the structural problems facing the conventional television industry in Canada and theGreat Recession,Rogers Media announced cost-cutting measures at the Citytv stations on January 19, 2010, which included massive layoffs and the cancellation of the following newscasts:
CITY-DT used to operateCP24, a cablenews channel covering theGreater Toronto Area. During CTVglobemedia's purchase of CHUM Limited, the company chose to retain CP24, and the channel was re-aligned withCFTO (CTV). As a replacement, Rogers received approval for, and launched,CityNews Channel in October 2011. The network was modelled on Rogers-owned radio stationCFTR 680, and featured news, weather, traffic reports, and other content drawing from the resources of Rogers properties such asMaclean's andSportsnet. On May 30, 2013, as part of budget cuts, Rogers announced that the network would be shut down.[43][44]
Citytv continued to produceBreakfast Television for all markets, and 6:00 p.m. and late-nightCityNews Tonight in Toronto only (the evening newscasts in Toronto excluded weekend broadcasts until March 2011; the 5 p.m. newscast, meanwhile, would return in September 2011). 60 employees (including long-time Toronto news anchorAnne Mroczkowski) were laid off across Canada.[45][46][47]
In 2015, Rogers cancelled the Winnipeg and Edmonton editions ofBreakfast Television; in Winnipeg, it was replaced by a simulcast of the morning show from co-owned radio stationCITI-FM, and the Edmonton edition was replaced by the spin-offDinner Television, an evening newsmagazine and discussion program which did not feature original news reporting.[48][49][50]
On June 5, 2017, Rogers announced that it would relaunch localCityNews evening newscasts across its stations, which would air at 6:00 and 11:00 p.m. nightly. The Edmonton and Winnipeg newscasts premiered on September 4, 2017,[51][52] followed by Calgary, Montreal, and Vancouver on September 3, 2018.[53][54]
Sports broadcasts on the Citytv stations have been sparse over the years. Between 2005 and 2014, the predominant sports property on Citytv was coverage of theNational Football League.
Craig Media (then-owners of the current Citytv stations in Winnipeg, Edmonton and Calgary) owned the rights toMonday Night Football in the early 2000s, and these rights moved to Citytv forMNF's final season on ABC in 2005, before being moved again toTSN in 2006. Following the sale to Rogers,CKVU carried Sunday afternoon "late window" (4:00/4:15 p.m. ET, 1:00/1:15 p.m. PT) games during the2007 season (as didOmni Television stationCJMT in Toronto). From the2008 season through2013, all Citytv stations carried Sunday late-window games. After rights to late games were acquired byCTV (who also airs early games), Sportsnet and Citytv maintained rights toThursday Night Football and the afternoonAmerican Thanksgiving games until the2017 season, when these rights were acquired by TSN.[55][56]
Under Rogers ownership, Citytv has aired occasional sports broadcasts as an overflow channel for co-owned Sportsnet, such as a2014 FIFA World Cup qualification group-stagematch betweenCanada andPanama on September 11, 2012, in simulcast withSportsnet One.[57] It has also broadcast supplementary coverage of twotennis events that were primarily broadcast by the Sportsnet channels: the2012 Rogers Cup, and the2012 Davis Cup World Group Play-off between Canada and South Africa.[58][59]
On November 26, 2013, Rogers announced a 12-year, $5.2 billion deal to become the exclusive national rightsholder to theNational Hockey League in the2014–15 season. Beginning in October 2014, Citytv began to broadcast NHL games produced bySportsnet as part ofHockey Night in Canada, andRogers Hometown Hockey, a Sunday night game of the week hosted byRon MacLean.[60][61]Hometown Hockey moved from Citytv to Sportsnet for the 2015-16 season.[62][63]
Individual stations are normally branded on-air as simply "Citytv" (from 2012 to 2018, the stations were referred to as "City"); the location may be added, for example "Citytv Toronto", if disambiguation is necessary. The list also mentions which stations had been owned by either CHUM Ltd. or Rogers, depending on affiliation.
Like most Canadian networks, Citytv stations are generally available as distant signals on most cable and satellite providers nationwide.
| City of license/market | Station | Channel TV (RF) | Year of affiliation | Owned since | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toronto,Ontario | CITY-DT | 57.1 (18) | 1972 | 1981 | Original Citytv station, flagship |
| Calgary,Alberta | CKAL-DT | 5.1 (20) | 2005 | 2004 | Former A-Channel station |
| Edmonton,Alberta | CKEM-DT | 51.1 (17) | 2005 | 2004 | Former A-Channel flagship station |
| Montreal,Quebec | CJNT-DT | 62.1 (17) | 2012 | 2013 | Former multicultural station as well as former CH/E! station |
| Portage la Prairie/Winnipeg,Manitoba | CHMI-DT | 13.1 (13) | 2005 | 2004 | Former A-Channel station |
| Regina/Saskatoon,Saskatchewan | Citytv Saskatchewan | Cable-only | 2012 | 2012 | Licensed as an educational television service for the province of Saskatchewan, educational programming airs daily from 6 a.m.-3 p.m. CT.[35] |
| Vancouver,British Columbia | CKVU-DT | 10.1 (33) | 2002 | 2001 | Former Global station |
The Citytv brand has been licensed to local television stations inBogotá, Colombia, and formerly inBarcelona, Spain. Toronto's CITY-DT is broadcast on a number of cable television providers in the Caribbean. In Barbados, Citytv is carried on channel 507 of the terrestrial subscription service known asMulti-Choice TV.
| City of license/market | Station | Analog channel | Digital RF channel1 | Year of affiliation | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kamloops,British Columbia | CFJC-TV | 4 | 43 | 2009 | Jim Pattison Group |
| Medicine Hat,Alberta | CHAT-TV | 6 | 40 | 2009 | |
| Prince George,British Columbia | CKPG-TV | 2 | 34 | 2009 | |
| Lloydminster,Alberta/Saskatchewan | CKSA-DT | - | 2 | 2021 | Stingray Radio |
| Bogotá,Colombia | Citytv Bogotá | 21 | 27 DVBT2 | 1999 | El Tiempo Casa Editorial |
1 Italicized channel numbers indicate a digital channel allocated for future use by theCanadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.
| City of license | Station | Year of affiliation | Year of disaffiliation | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barcelona,Catalonia,Spain | Citytv Barcelona | 2001 | 2006 | Licence agreement expired in 2006, station was renamed TD8 and later 8TV. Ceased operations in October 2023. |
| Fajardo, Puerto Rico | WRUA-TV | 2006 | 2007 | Rogers Media discontinued the licensing for WRUA after it took over Citytv, and the station now serves as a translator forWECN inNaranjito. Was the first Citytv franchise in a United States territory. |
| Halifax/Atlantic Canada | ASN | 1983 | 2008 | Carried Citytv programming. Now known as CTV 2 Atlantic and owned byBell Media. |
In 2003, CHUM Limited launched ahigh definition simulcast of its Toronto stationCITY-TV. In October 2006, Citytv installed a new control room, becoming one of the first fully HD broadcasters in Canada. On March 2, 2010,CKVU-TV in Vancouver launched its HD simulcast.CKEM-TV in Edmonton began testing its digital signal on May 26, 2010, and began regular HD broadcasts on June 29, 2010. CITY-DT-3 in Ottawa began testing its digital feed on June 12, 2010, and regular digital broadcasts on June 18, 2010.CKAL-TV began testing its high definition signal on August 31, 2010. ByAugust 31, 2011, all Citytv owned-and-operated stations had their primary transmitters and most retransmitters broadcasting exclusively in digital.
Citytv HD is available nationally via satellite and on digital cable. It is also available for freeover-the-air using a regular TV antenna and a digital tuner (included in most new television sets) via the following stations and retransmitters:
| City | Station | OTA digital channel (virtual channel) |
|---|---|---|
| Calgary,Alberta | CKAL-DT | 20 (5.1) |
| Edmonton,Alberta | CKEM-DT | 17 (17.1) |
| Lethbridge,Alberta | CKAL-DT-1 | 29 (2.1) |
| Montreal,Quebec | CJNT-DT | 17 (62.1) |
| Ottawa,Ontario | CITY-DT-3 | 17 (65.1) |
| Toronto,Ontario | CITY-DT | 18 (57.1) |
| Vancouver,British Columbia | CKVU-DT | 33 (10.1) |
| Victoria, British Columbia | CKVU-DT-2 | 27 (27.1) |
| Winnipeg,Manitoba | CHMI-DT | 13 (13.1) |
| Woodstock, Ontario | CITY-DT-2 | 31 (31.1) |
Video on demand access to Citytv programming has been available in various forms, such as through TV provider's set-top boxes, orstreaming media through the network's website and mobile apps.
In June 2018, Rogers announced it would launch an expanded service calledCitytv Now (stylizedCitytv NOW) forauthenticated customers of partnered TV service providers, such as corporate sibling Rogers Cable. Citytv Now features fulls-season (and several past season) availability of shows airing on Citytv. For a time, the service also featured exclusive programs not airing on the broadcast network.[64]
On April 12, 2022, Rogers announced the launch ofCitytv+ (pronouncedCitytv Plus), an add-on channel for Amazon'sPrime Video. The service includes most of the programming available on Citytv and its siblings, includingOmni Television, as well as recent and selected past programming aired by the CanadianFX andFXX networks.[65] The service succeedsShomi, a joint venture between Rogers Communications and the now-defunctShaw Media prior to the latter's merger withCorus Entertainment; and has been compared to the latter company'sStackTV service.Bravo was added following its relaunch under Rogers in September 2024.
Live linear feeds of most Citytv stations, as well asCityNews 24/7, also became available to Amazon Prime subscribers at no additional cost through Prime Video. CityNews 24/7 is a headline news channel, similar to those offered online byGlobal News, and an indirect successor to theCityNews Channel (which operated from 2011 to 2013, following the separation of Citytv andCP24 in 2009).[65]
On January 1, 2025, Rogers'sauthenticated streaming platform was relaunched under the Citytv+ name, replacing the separate websites and mobile apps for Citytv and FX/FXX. Access to Rogers'snewly-launchedWarner Bros. Discovery-branded channels was added to both this platform and the Prime Video add-on at this time.[66][better source needed]
