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| Channels | |
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| Branding |
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| Programming | |
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| Affiliations | |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
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| CHOZ-FM | |
| History | |
First air date | September 6, 1955 (70 years ago) (1955-09-06) |
Former call signs | CJON-TV (1955–2011) |
Former channel numbers | Analog: 6 (VHF, 1955–2011) |
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Call sign meaning | derived from former sister station CJON, nowCJYQ |
| Technical information | |
Licensing authority | CRTC |
| ERP | 482.3kW[1] |
| HAAT | 254.6 m (835 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 47°31′31″N52°42′48″W / 47.52528°N 52.71333°W /47.52528; -52.71333 (CJON) |
| Links | |
| Website | ntv |
CJON-DT (channel 21), brandedNTV (short forNewfoundland Television), is anindependent television station inSt. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, owned by Newfoundland Broadcasting Company Ltd. The station's studios are located on Logy Bay Road in St. John's, and its transmitter is located in the city's Shea Heights section.
In 1955, Newfoundland Broadcasting Company Ltd., owner of CJON radio, applied for and received a licence for the first television station in Newfoundland. Newfoundland Broadcasting was jointly owned by Geoff Stirling andDon Jamieson. The station went on the air later that year on September 6, as aCBC Television affiliate. It was Newfoundland and Labrador's first television station, and remains the province's only privately owned television station to this day. Stirling has contended that this was the only group willing to invest in such a station, although other sources have suggested that Stirling and Jamieson used their political connections to prevent the CBC from opening its own station in Newfoundland first. This scenario is somewhat unlikely because until 1958, the CBC was both the primary broadcast regulator in Canada and a broadcaster in its own right, the former role taken over in 1958 by the independentBoard of Broadcast Governors (the forerunner of theCRTC). However, the CBC-ownedCBYT inCorner Brook launched soon after, in 1959. When it began operations, CJON's first studios and offices were located at the Prince of Wales Building in Buckmaster's Circle and the transmitter on Kenmount Road.
In any event, the CBC launchedCBNT in 1964, and CJON became an affiliate of the new CTV network. During the mid-1970s, it was known as "NBC", for the "Newfoundland Broadcasting Company", until 1978 whenWLBZ-TV, theBangor affiliate of the U.S.-basedNational Broadcasting Company, became available on cable (to be replaced later byWDIV-TV fromDetroit, thenWHDH fromBoston and eventuallyWBTS-LD/CD also from Boston). To avoid confusion, CJON was rebranded as "NTV", although as late as August 1978, theNewfoundland Herald's TV listings continued to refer to NTV as NBC, including listing the local newscasts under the titleNBC News.[2]
In 1972, CJON became one of the first television stations in Canada, if notthe first, to broadcast around the clock every night (see "Overnight programming", below). In 1977, Stirling and Jamieson unwound their partnership, with Jamieson taking the AM radio stations, with CJON radio being renamedCJYQ. In later years, many of the AM stations were eventually sold, and in several cases shut down. Stirling kept NTV and the newly launched stationCHOZ-FM. 1983 saw CJON and CHOZ's operations move to their present building on Logy Bay Road, with a new transmitter on the South Side Hills.
Until the fall of 1992, CTV programming made up a clear majority of NTV's schedule, although acquired programming fromCanWest Global and others was present. However, from 1992 on, when CTV reduced its programming to 40 hours per week, NTV suddenly became much more reliant on other broadcasters, primarily CanWest (which owned the Canadian rights to many dominant programs of the era such asThe Simpsons andSeinfeld), but alsoBaton Broadcasting andWIC. Instead of relying on any one group, it took what it considered the best programming from all the groups, even after the Baton/CTV merger strengthened the CTV schedule considerably.
During this period, and indeed well before, NTV consistently aired4+1⁄2 hours ofprime time programming each night, a great deal of them being American imports, from 8 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. NT (11 p.m. ET), as opposed to the North American norm of three hours. In fact, in 1995–96, first-run prime time programming began at 7:30 p.m. and ran until 12:30 a.m. Although the net result was less than the mandated 50%Canadian content between 6 p.m. and midnight, this was not deemed to violate Cancon regulations asCTV National News did not feed an 11 p.m. AT edition until 1998, although the practice was maintained without CRTC complaint until disaffiliation in 2002.
For almost four decades, CJON had aired the base CTV schedule essentially for free since CTV paid it for the airtime. It then bought additional CTV programming for which it sold all advertising. However, in early 2002, CTV tried to make CJON pay for the base schedule as well, with no possibility of airtime payments. It also increased the fees for additional CTV programming beyond what CJON claimed it could pay. Newfoundland Broadcasting also did not want to continue to carry CTV's national advertising during these programs. Rather than agree to these terms, CJON disaffiliated from CTV at the end of the 2001–02 season.[citation needed]
As of fall 2002, NTV lost access to most CTV programming. However, the station maintained rights toCTV National News,Canada AM, and other CTV news programming free of charge, on the condition that it continue to provide coverage of Newfoundland and Labrador events for CTV andCTV News Channel. Additionally, it purchased rights to some CTV programming, such asDesperate Housewives, on an individual, per-season basis (Desperate Housewives aired on NTV in its first season but not afterward, and currently no CTV entertainment programming appears regularly on NTV; until 2006, some other CTV-owned properties such as theAcademy Awards and theJuno Awards continued to air on NTV, but all have recently been dropped, although the Juno Awards have since reappeared on NTV as of 2009).
Most of NTV's entertainment programming since 2002 has been received via to a program supply agreement with the Global Television Network; for example,Survivor,Family Guy, andThe Young and the Restless. NTV's last public comment on the arrangement, at a CRTC hearing in 2002, was to the effect that it would expire at the end of the 2005–2006 season. However, with the addition of new Global programs to the NTV schedule during the spring and summer of 2006, all indications are that the agreement has been extended.
Unlike most Canadian stations, which fill essentially all of their unsold commercial airtime with program promotions orpublic service announcements, NTV frequently uses minute-long clips ofmusic videos, usually at the end of a commercial break, in addition to its promos and PSAs. Due to licensing issues,[citation needed] video usage has recently been relaxed, at least during parts of the regular broadcast day, with the addition of high-rotation news and weather updates of up to two minutes duration. However, music videos remain common during the overnight hours.
As with many local stations in North America, non-news local programming was common in the station's early days but had decreased significantly by the 1990s. Since 2002, perhaps given the recent ratings dominance of CTV over Global (NTV's chief programming supplier), NTV has attempted to distinguish itself further through additional local programming, mainly from independent local producers. It also airs repeats of programs from the NTV archives, most frequently the retrospective seriesA Little Good News (later renamedNTV.ca), news programCanada in View (on Mondays), and speeches fromGeoff Stirling duringCaptain Atlantis Late Night (on Saturdays).
NTV's overnight schedule (between 1 and 6 a.m.) generally consists ofThe Late Show with Stephen Colbert orSaturday Night Live followed by reruns and overflow programming unable to be accommodated in prime time. The overnight block then concludes withScenes of Newfoundland, a full half-hour or hour dedicated to scenes of the province with traditional music from local artists playing in the background.
On Saturdays, the channel shows a two-hour block offreeform programming under the banner ofCaptain Atlantis Late Night. This block usually consists of speeches and interviews involving Stirling or longtimeNewfoundland PremierJoey Smallwood, but has also included content such as American patriotic montages, recutElvis Presley television specials, holiday movies and specials, and miscellanea. As of 2021,Captain Atlantis (named after anancient alien astronaut character Stirling created) airs in the early Saturday graveyard slot, and on Saturday mornings.[3]
CJON presently broadcasts 16 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with three hours each weekday and one hour on Sundays); the station does not broadcast any news programs on Saturdays.
It has frequently been promoted as "the award-winning NTV Evening Newshour", in reference to aRTNDA Canada "Best Newscast – Medium Market" award from 1998 (for a newscast aired in 1997), and several other awards for individual reports received since. Overall, CBNT has won more RTNDA and AJA awards over the same period, and is the most recent area station to have won an RTNDA Best Newscast award, winning in 2009.[4]
Repackaged versions of theNewshour air at midnight and at 6 a.m. the following day.NTV Newsday, a live newscast that airs weekdays at noon, frequently also relies on content from the previous night'sNewshour. NTV's newscasts are also seen on at least one television station in the United States—WZRA-CD (channel 48), an ethnic station inTampa, Florida, has regularly carried NTV's newscasts as well as select CTV programming. In fact, NTV's website promotes the fact that NTV advertisers can reach Tampa viewers through WZRA, although the station's signal is only received well in northwestern parts of Tampa (WZRA is licensed toOldsmar, Florida, a northwestern suburb of Tampa).[5]
In a rarity for a Canadian television station, CJON's signal ismultiplexed:
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21.1 | 1080i | 16:9 | NTV | Main CJON-DT programming |
| 21.2 | Audio only | OZFM | Simulcast ofCHOZ-FM | |
In May 2011, CJON announced plans to broadcast in digital and in high definition. The analog transmitter serving the St. John's viewing area was shut off on the morning of July 11, 2011, in order to facilitate installation of the new digital HD transmitter. CJON began transmitting its digital signal on August 3, 2011, broadcasting onUHF channel 21.[7] CJON has opted to use channel 21, its actual digital channel, as itsvirtual channel, instead of channel 6, its former analog channel.
The station once operated a network of retransmitters across the province. These transmitters were all analog and never converted to digital. Beginning in the 1990s, transmitters in smaller communities were shut down or spun off to community-based groups. More transmitters were shut down from 2006 to 2013.
The station's transmitters inSwift Current (CJSC-TV channel 10),Glenwood (CHSG-TV channel 7), andSt. Alban's (CJST-TV channel 13) were shut down as of December 31, 2006;[8] transmitters inBay Bulls (CJON-TV-4 channel 10) andLawn (CJLN-TV channel 10) were shut down as of November 2011.[9]
On November 30, 2012, transmitters atRed Rocks (CJRR-TV channel 11) andStephenville (CJSV-TV channel 4) were shut down; the station cited the age of the towers and the costs of the upkeep. The station also announced that their transmitter network would eventually close down in the coming years, due to the high cost of upkeep.[10] Deleted concurrently with CJRR and CJSV was the transmitter atGrand Bank (CJOX-TV-1 channel 2), which left the air in September 2012 following the failure of its transmitter; NTV also chose to close CJOX-1 instead of repairing it.[11]
On July 31, 2013, the remaining over-the-air retransmitters of NTV in Corner Brook, Deer Lake, Norris Arm, Bonavista, Clarenville, Argentia, and Marystown were discontinued.[12] Coupled with the closure of the CBC's analog repeater network in 2012, the St. John's area is the only part of the province that does not need a cable or satellite subscription for "over-the-air" TV. However, few Newfoundlanders lost access to NTV due to the high penetration of cable and satellite in the province.
NTV streams all of its local newscasts live through its website, with no geographic restrictions. The live Internet feed previously carried some of the American syndicated programs; these were dropped in September 2018. It has never carried network programming on the online feed. During times when it is not carrying local news, the NTV online feed simulcasts sister stationCHOZ-FM, accompanied bywebcam shots overlooking St. John's.[13] In 2022, CJON launched the NTV+ app, which carries programming from NTV as well as CHOZ-FM.
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