CHCH-DT (channel 11) is an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth ...

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Hamilton has a population of 569,353, and its census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington and Grimsby, has a population of 785,184. The city is approximately southwest of T ...

, Canada. Owned by Channel Zero, the station maintains studios on Innovation Drive in the west end of Hamilton; prior to 2021, it was located near the corner of Jackson and Caroline streets in downtown Hamilton for nearly 65 years. The station has additional offices at the Marriott on the Falls in

Niagara Falls, Ontario Niagara Falls is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is on the western bank of the Niagara River in the Golden Horseshoe region of Southern Ontario, with a population of 88,071 at the 2016 census. It is part of the St. Catharines - Niagara Census M ...

. Its

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which i ...

is located on First Road West in the former city of Stoney Creek. CHCH signed on the air on June 7, 1954, as a CBC affiliate, founded by Ken Soble. Beginning in 1961, it became an independent station which transformed into an national

superstation ''Superstation'' (alternatively rendered as "super station" or informally as "SuperStation") is a term in North American broadcasting that has several meanings. Commonly, a "superstation" is a form of distant signal, a terrestrial television, br ...

on January 1, 1982, and remained as such throughout its existence. In 1990, the station was acquired by

Western International Communications WIC Western International Communications Ltd. (or WIC) was a Canadian media company that operated from 1982 to 2000, with operations including broadcast and specialty television, radio, and satellite distribution via a majority interest in Can ...

. After several years as an independent station, CHCH was acquired by

Canwest Canwest Global Communications Corporation, which operated under the corporate name Canwest, was a major Canadian media conglomerate based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, with its head offices at Canwest Place. It held radio, television broadcasting an ...

in 2000 and became the

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...

station for the CH programming service as sister to the flagship CIII-TV of the

Global Television Network The Global Television Network (more commonly called Global, or occasionally Global TV) is a Canadian English-language terrestrial television network. It is currently Canada's second most-watched private terrestrial television network after ...

. In 2007, the CH stations were rebranded to E! after an American cable network of the same name. Following financial problems by its parent company Canwest, CHCH along with

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

's CJNT-TV was acquired by independent broadcaster Channel Zero in 2009 and changed its format to an all-news and all-movies station. In 2010, the station once again began to air U.S. prime time programming.

History

CBC affiliation (1954–1961)

The station signed on the air on June 7, 1954, operating as an affiliate of

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French-l ...

. Its studios at 163 Jackson Street West were previously used by CJSH-FM (102.9, now

CKLH-FM CKLH-FM is a Canadian radio station, broadcasting at 102.9 FM in Hamilton, Ontario. The station broadcasts an adult hits format branded as ''Bounce 102.9''. The station is owned by Bell Media. CKLH's studios are located on Upper Wentworth Street ...

). After CJSH's shutdown, its studios were converted for CHCH. It is the oldest privately owned television station in the Hamilton–Toronto area. At the time, all privately owned television stations in Canada were required to be CBC affiliates. CHCH-TV was founded by Ken Soble, a leader of Hamilton's urban renewal movement, and owner of radio station CHML (900 AM).

Independent station (1961–1982)

1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba ( Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 ...

, CHCH disaffiliated itself from the CBC and became an

independent station An independent station is an independent radio or terrestrial television station which is independent in some way from broadcast networks. The definition of "independence" varies from country to country, reflecting governmental regulations, market ...

. There were three reasons for disaffiliating from CBC: Hamilton is part of the Toronto market, and Toronto-based CBLT already provided full network service to some of CHCH's viewing area; CBLT was about to increase its transmitter power and change frequencies (from

VHF Very high frequency (VHF) is the ITU designation for the range of radio frequency electromagnetic waves (radio waves) from 30 to 300 megahertz (MHz), with corresponding wavelengths of ten meters to one meter. Frequencies immediately below VHF ...

channel 9 to channel 6, and eventually channel 5), resulting in a near-100 percent overlap with CHCH; and the station's managers wanted to produce more local programming, instead of being forced to carry CBC programming. CHCH became the first (and for over a decade, the only) television station in Canada not to be affiliated with any network, as the other private stations (which signed on the air in

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Ja ...

or early 1961) that were not affiliated with the CBC had formed the CTV network in October 1961.

Possible flagship of a third network (1966–1981)

In the mid-1960s, CHCH was the lead station in United Program Purchase, a consortium of Canadian television stations which began purchasing some programming rights separately from the CTV and CBC networks."Backbone of third TV network takes shape in CHCH schedule". ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'', March 31, 1966. By 1966, UPP was attracting media coverage as the potential foundation for a third Canadian television network. In the fall of that year, Soble's Niagara Television, the licensee of CHCH, put forward a proposal for a network to be branded as NTV."Soble's pitch". ''

'', October 27, 1996. In the original plan, CHCH would have served as the network's flagship station for the

Greater Toronto Area The Greater Toronto Area, commonly referred to as the GTA, includes the City of Toronto and the regional municipalities of Durham, Halton, Peel, and York. In total, the region contains 25 urban, suburban, and rural municipalities. The Greater T ...

. However, the application faced numerous regulatory hurdles and delays, and its main financial backer, Power Corporation of Canada, backed out in 1969. By 1970, however, the network application was revived by former CHCH executive Al Bruner's new Global Communications corporation, with Niagara Television and CHCH no longer involved in the bid; the

network launched in 1974 on the new CKGN-TV. Despite the station's lack of success in developing a full-fledged network, it did become one of Canada's most prominent syndicators of non-network programming in the 1970s and 1980s, with many of its locally produced entertainment programs airing on television stations across Canada and sometimes internationally.

Superstation CHCH (1982–1997)

CHCH became a national

on January 1, 1982, when Cancom (now Shaw Broadcast Services) began carrying the station and three others ( CHAN-TV Vancouver,

CITV-TV CITV-DT (channel 13) is a television station in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, part of the Global Television Network. The station is owned and operated by network parent Corus Entertainment, and maintains studios on Allard Way Northwest in the Pl ...

Edmonton, and TCTV, essentially a rebroadcaster of CFTM-TV Montreal) to cable television providers in remote regions of the country that otherwise only had access to the CBC. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, the station began a branding effort centred around the slogan "Together, we're the ones!" (with different promotional variants referring to either Hamilton or Ontario as a whole, reflecting the station's cable coverage across the province) and a blue-coloured, 3D variant of the longtime "circles" logo; promos used a vocal tune from

Frank Gari Frank Daniel Garofalo (born April 1, 1944), known professionally as Frank Gari, is an American singer-songwriter and composer. Early life Gari was a popular singer and songwriter from the late 1950s and early 1960s. His best known songs as a ...

, part of the ''Pride Inside'' music package also used by the station's newscasts and movie presentations (originally commissioned by another channel 11,

WBAL-TV WBAL-TV (channel 11) is a television station in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is the flagship property of Hearst Television, which has owned the station since its inception, and is sister to the company's sole radio ...

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

ONtv era (1997–2001)

In 1990,

(WIC) purchased CHCH. Although the station had been available on cable television in many Ontario markets for years, its broadcast signal coverage was expanded throughout Ontario in 1997 with the launch of several rebroadcasters, in an effort to compete with the reach of Global's Ontario station CIII (channel 6), and with the Baton Broadcast System, a group of mostly CTV-affiliated stations that served most of the province. In turn, WIC rebranded the station as "ONtv" ("Ontario Television"), in line with the branding conventions of many of the company's other stations, such as CHAN-TV in Vancouver (which was branded as "BCTV"), CITV-TV in Edmonton (which was branded as "ITV"), and CHCA-TV in

Red Deer, Alberta Red Deer is a city in Alberta, Canada, located midway on the Calgary–Edmonton Corridor. Red Deer serves central Alberta, and key industries include health care, retail trade, construction, oil and gas, hospitality, manufacturing and education. ...

(which was branded as "RDTV"). Local news programming shifted focus from the station's core market, the Hamilton area, toward Ontario as a whole, in an attempt to challenge what was then a regional news service provided by Global. However, with Hamilton now being largely an afterthought, and other local stations (in Toronto and elsewhere) already strong in the ratings, the shift was unsuccessful, and CHCH's ratings decreased. During the ONtv years, the station also aired WIC's nightly '' Canada Tonight'' newscast.

Canwest ownership (2001–2007)

In 2000,

purchased WIC's television assets. Since Global had already served the Hamilton area through flagship station CIII-TV's transmitter in

Paris, Ontario Paris (2021 population, 14,956) is a community located in the County of Brant, Ontario, Canada. It lies just northwest from the city of Brantford at the spot where the Nith River empties into the Grand River. Paris was voted "the Prettiest Littl ...

, Canwest rebranded the station "CH" (or "CH Hamilton") on February 12, 2001, and launched the CH television system in September of that year. This move launched a secondary television system for Canwest's stations in medium-sized cities located near larger markets. Local news coverage was revamped and refocused on the Hamilton/ Halton/

Niagara Niagara may refer to: Geography Niagara Falls and nearby places In both the United States and Canada *Niagara Falls, the famous waterfalls in the Niagara River *Niagara River, part of the U.S.–Canada border *Niagara Escarpment, the cliff ov ...

region. Despite the

Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC; french: Conseil de la radiodiffusion et des télécommunications canadiennes, links=) is a public organization in Canada with mandate as a regulatory agency for broadcasti ...

's (CRTC) television station ownership restrictions (one station per owner, per language in each market), Canwest was permitted to maintain CHCH's coverage of other markets throughout most of Ontario. However, it could not broadcast to

Thunder Bay Thunder Bay is a city in and the seat of Thunder Bay District, Ontario, Canada. It is the most populous municipality in Northwestern Ontario and the second most populous (after Greater Sudbury) municipality in Northern Ontario; its population ...

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...

Kingston Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the five most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...

because of opposition from local television stations. Some cable providers outside of Ontario also continue to carry CHCH as a form of "superstation". Its over-the-air signal also easily covers

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

and

Erie, Pennsylvania Erie (; ) is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. Erie is the fifth largest city in Pennsylvania and the largest city in Northwestern Pennsylvania with a population of 94,831 a ...

across the

Canada–United States border The border between Canada and the United States is the longest international border in the world. The terrestrial boundary (including boundaries in the Great Lakes, Atlantic, and Pacific coasts) is long. The land border has two sections: Can ...

. On June 7, 2004, at 8:00 p.m., CHCH-TV celebrated exactly 50 years on the air. At this time, the station aired a documentary profiling the station's history, entitled ''The First 50 Years: A Half Century of CH'', which was hosted by Matt Hayes. It was announced that the CH brand would change starting in 2007; however, it remained in use until September 7, 2007, when Canwest rebranded CHCH's local programming from CH Hamilton to ''CHCH News'' following the relaunch of the national CH service as E! under a

brand licensing Licensing means renting or leasing of an intangible asset. It is a process of creating and managing contracts between the owner of a brand and a company or individual who wants to use the brand in association with a product, for an agreed period ...

agreement with the E! cable channel in the United States. CHCH's non-news schedule was rebranded on the same day as "E! Ontario".

Channel Zero ownership (2009–present)

On February 5, 2009, Canwest announced it would explore "strategic options", including the possible sale or closure, of CHCH and the company's other stations in the E! system, saying "a second conventional TV network is no longer key to the long-term success" of the company. A grassroots group, fronted by ''Live @ 5:30'' co-host Donna Skelly, surfaced with an intent to purchase CHCH from Canwest and return the station to its former local focus. In March 2009, paperwork filed with the CRTC for a one-year renewal of CHCH's licence revealed that the station was projected to lose nearly $30 million during the station's 2010 fiscal year which began on September 1, 2009 – with projected revenues of just $41 million against costs of $69 million. John Douglas, a spokesperson for Canwest, said that CHCH, and its other stations in the E! group, were money losers during the last decade, coupled with the Canadian broadcasters' dependency on American programming for profits. On June 30, 2009, Channel Zero announced that it would purchase CHCH and CJNT-TV in

from Canwest in exchange for $12 in cash and the assumption of various station liabilities. The CRTC approved the sale on August 28, 2009. Channel Zero took control of the station's programming at 12:00 a.m.

Eastern Time The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico, Panama, Colombia, mainland Ecuador, Peru, and a small port ...

on the morning of August 31, beginning its tenure with a film from the 1980s. CHCH disaffiliated itself from E! (which shut down at the end of that day), and adopted a new programming format consisting of local newscasts throughout the day on weekdays and movies at night (as well as all day on weekends, outside of limited newscasts, infomercials and other select programs during the morning and evening hours), and reverted to branding itself as "CHCH". The first film broadcast in prime time that night was ''

Rocky ''Rocky'' is a 1976 American sports drama film directed by John G. Avildsen and written by and starring Sylvester Stallone. It is the first installment in the ''Rocky'' franchise and stars Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers, and Burgess M ...

'', signifying the new ownership's come-from-behind spirit. CHCH would add, in sparse amounts, additional programming during the 2009–10 season, including ''Let's Get It On'', a

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, inc ...

program; Ed the Sock's ''

This Movie Sucks! ''This Movie Sucks!'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''TMS!'') is a Canadian comedy television series hosted by Ed the Sock, premiering on May 28, 2010, two years after '' Ed's Night Party'' went off the air. The show is similar to another former Ed th ...

'', a movie show featuring the former

MuchMusic Much (an abbreviation for its full name MuchMusic) is a Canadian English language specialty channel owned by BCE Inc. through its Bell Media subsidiary that airs programming aimed at teenagers and young adults. MuchMusic launched on August 31 ...

character alongside co-host

Liana Kerzner Ed the Sock is a sock puppet character, created and voiced by Steven Joel Kerzner, who first appeared on Canadian local cable television in 1987. He is best known for his hosting appearances in the 1990s on MuchMusic and his own late night talk sh ...

and comedian Ron Sparks; and

infomercial An infomercial is a form of television commercial that resembles regular TV programming yet is intended to promote or sell a product, service or idea. It generally includes a toll-free telephone number or website. Most often used as a form of dire ...

s. In September 2010, CHCH, for the first time since its purchase by Channel Zero, began airing American network television series; many of the programs that were added, including ''

Smallville ''Smallville'' is an American superhero television series developed by writer-producers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, based on the DC Comics character Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The series was produced by Millar Gough ...

'', ''

Supernatural Supernatural refers to phenomena or entities that are beyond the laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin (above, beyond, or outside of) + (nature) Though the corollary term "nature", has had multiple meanings si ...

'', ''

Jimmy Kimmel Live! ''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'' is an American late-night talk show, created and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC. The nightly hour-long show debuted on January 26, 2003, at Hollywood Masonic Temple in Hollywood, Los ...

'', ''

48 Hours Mystery ''48 Hours'' is an American documentary/news magazine television show broadcast on CBS. The show has been broadcast on the network since January 19, 1988 in the United States. The show airs Saturdays at 10:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific Time, ...

'', ''

20/20 Visual acuity (VA) commonly refers to the clarity of vision, but technically rates an examinee's ability to recognize small details with precision. Visual acuity is dependent on optical and neural factors, i.e. (1) the sharpness of the retinal ...

'', '' Chuck'', and ''

60 Minutes ''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who chose to set it apart from other news programs by using a unique styl ...

'' had been seen in the Toronto-Hamilton market on

CKXT-TV CKXT-DT was a terrestrial television, broadcast television station based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada that broadcast to much of southern and eastern Ontario. It was owned by Quebecor Media Inc., Quebecor Media through its Groupe TVA unit. Although ...

(channel 52; that station's owner, Quebecor, was in the process of replacing it with the all-news cable channel Sun News Network). CHCH also debuted additional original local programs ''Sportsline'' (hosted by Mark Hebscher and Clint "Bubba" O'Neil), and launched a second series with Ed the Sock, the entertainment newsmagazine spoof ''

I Hate Hollywood ''I Hate Hollywood'' is a Canadian television series, which premiered on CHCH-TV and in syndication in May 2012. Hosted by Ed the Sock and Liana Kerzner and featuring co-writer Ron Sparks, the series is a satire of entertainment news Infotai ...

''. Coinciding with the schedule changes was the introduction of an updated version of CHCH's classic multi-coloured logo used from the 1960s to the 1980s. On April 10, 2011

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...

leader Elizabeth May participated in a panel interview on CHCH, which she was invited to attend, as were the leaders of the

Bloc Québécois The Bloc Québécois (BQ; , "Québécois people, Quebecer Voting bloc, Bloc") is a list of federal political parties in Canada, federal political party in Canada devoted to Quebec nationalism and the promotion of Quebec sovereignty movement, Que ...

, Liberals,

New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; french: Nouveau Parti démocratique, NPD) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * t ...

and Conservatives, by Channel Zero, whose president was disappointed by May's exclusion from the 2011 election leaders' debates. On April 18, 2011, CKXT-TV converted from an independent station to a simulcast of the Sun News Network, leaving CHCH as the only independent station in the Toronto/Hamilton area (the station ceased operations approximately seven months later on November 1, 2011). On June 8, 2011, at Channel Zero's upfront presentation for advertisers for the 2011–12 television season, the company announced a programming distribution deal with

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

, giving CHCH and CJNT access to show first-run exclusive broadcast movie premieres, most notably ''

Avatar Avatar (, ; ), is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means "descent". It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, goddess or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearanc ...

'', which first aired in May 2012 on both stations, featuring the

director's cut A director's cut is an edited version of a film (or video game, television episode, music video, or commercial) that is supposed to represent the director's own approved edit in contrast to the theatrical release. "Cut" explicitly refers to the ...

version of the film not shown in theatres. Other debut titles included '' Crazy Heart'', '' Taken'' and '' X-Men Origins: Wolverine''. During a broadcast of ''News Now AM'' on April 20, 2012,

Cogeco Cogeco Inc. is a Canadian telecommunications and media company. Its corporate offices are located at 1 Place Ville-Marie in Montreal, Quebec. The company is structured into three strategic business units (SBU); Cogeco Connexion, Breezeline ( ...

's and Shaw Cable's transmissions of CHCH's signal were interrupted for approximately three minutes by the broadcast of a scene from a hardcore gay pornography film from an unidentified adult-oriented specialty channel. The substitution appeared to have been made by a cable operator during repairs of severed cable lines, and not at CHCH, leaving the station's over-the-air viewers and subscribers of other cable and satellite providers unaffected. Channel Zero denied that the program in question came from any of its adult-oriented Category B specialty channels ( Maleflixxx Television, XXX TV and AOV TV). The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission later announced it would be investigating the incident as a cable transmission issue. In September 2012, CHCH acquired the rights to ''

Wheel of Fortune The Wheel of Fortune or ''Rota Fortunae'' has been a concept and metaphor since ancient times referring to the capricious nature of Fate. Wheel of Fortune may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Art * ''The Wheel of Fortune'' (Burne-Jo ...

'' and ''

Jeopardy! ''Jeopardy!'' is an American game show created by Merv Griffin. The show is a quiz competition that reverses the traditional question-and-answer format of many quiz shows. Rather than being given questions, contestants are instead given genera ...

'' from CBC Television, after the network's exclusive contract to carry both game shows expired. The shows were dropped for the fall 2014 season and ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, ...

'' began airing on Friday nights. In June 2014, CHCH celebrated its 60th anniversary of broadcasting.

2015 news department bankruptcy and aftermath (2015–present)

On December 11, 2015, CHCH cancelled that evening's 6:00 p.m. newscast amid fears the station was facing a shutdown. Though the station remained on the air, CHCH's daytime rolling news format was discontinued at 4:00 p.m., with Channel Zero CEO Romen Podzyhun appearing on the air to announce that the station's local newscasts would remain off the air through the weekend, and would return on December 14. In addition, Channel Zero announced that Channel 11, L.P., the subsidiary that had produced CHCH's newscasts since 2009, had filed for

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...

. Podzyhun blamed this on a loss of federal subsidy and an inability to draw national advertising revenue to a locally oriented station, but stated that the station itself was not shutting down. CHCH's news output would be scaled back to what it determined to be its "core news programs", only producing 17.5 hours of newscasts a week (a morning show and 6:00 and 11:00 newscasts, with no weekend news), after having produced 80 weekly hours of news before the cutbacks; the local news is mainly being maintained to meet the station's licence requirements. A few programs from

Bloomberg Television Bloomberg Television (on-air as Bloomberg) is an American-based pay television network focusing on business and capital market programming, owned by Bloomberg L.P. It is distributed globally, reaching over 310 million homes worldwide. It is head ...

such as ''Studio 1.0, Good Fortunes'' and ''The Daily Brief'' were added to the station's schedule the following week. Coincidentally, CHCH's former program ''The Morning Market'' used resources from Bloomberg twenty years before CHCH shared common ownership with Bloomberg TV Canada. The news graphics that had been used for morning and daytime news programming were kept intact for Morning Live and daytime programming produced by Channel Zero and Bloomberg TV Canada such as ''The Pinkertons'' and ''The Daily Brief.'' In 2015, CHCH-DT teamed up with fellow independent CJON-DT and the three Yes TV stations (including nearby station CITS-DT) to share and syndicate YesTV's secular programming in arrangement referred to in advertising sales information as the Net5 alliance (referring to the three O&Os and two affiliates). Since Fall 2016, CHCH has replaced many airings of these programs with newly acquired daytime shows on weekdays, and movies on the weekends. Net5 was rebranded as indieNET following the addition of two other independent stations. In the spring of 2016, Channel Zero put the studios of CHCH-DT (from which the station has continuously operated, starting in 1954) on the market. The studios include the historic stone mansion "Pinehurst" (built in 1850 by local politician Tristram Bickle and owned by

William Southam William Southam (August 23, 1843 – February 27, 1932) was a Canadian newspaper publisher. Born in Montreal, Quebec, he began his newspaper career working for the '' London Free Press''. The first newspaper he bought was the ''Hamilton Specta ...

from 1892 until his death in 1932), as well as the large silver addition dubbed "Spaceship 11" for its futuristic appearance (built in 1983), for . The sale was to a private investor group named Television City, who would rent out half of "Spaceship 11" to CHCH-DT for two and a half years, while looking for other tenants (Pinehurst is protected by the ''

Ontario Heritage Act The ''Ontario Heritage Act'', (the ''Act'') first enacted on March 5, 1975, allows municipalities and the provincial government to designate individual properties and districts in the Province of Ontario, Canada, as being of cultural heritage ...

'' and will not be altered). It was expected for the sale to close by the middle of November 2016. In October 2018, CHCH announced a new location for its studios, leaving its long-time location on Jackson Street West in downtown Hamilton, and moving to 4 Innovation Drive in Dundas. The property was renovated for a news operation, which the station had originally intended to have up and running by the spring of 2021. While the station left the Jackson Street studio in June 2021, delays in renovations to 4 Innovation Drive forced it to move to a temporary studio across the street. On April 11, 2022, CHCH had begun broadcasting from its 4 Innovation Drive studios.

Programming

As an independent station, CHCH produced local programs such as the children's talent show ''

Tiny Talent Time ''Tiny Talent Time'' is a Canadian children's television series, which has aired in various formats on CHCH-TV in Hamilton, Ontario, and in other markets via syndication, since 1957.Jane Gray's ''Hobby Time'' and a daily talk show hosted by Elaine Callei. The station also produced a number of important Canadian syndicated series in the 1970s and 1980s, including ''

The Pierre Berton Show ''The Pierre Berton Show'' was a television show on CHCH TV, hosted by Pierre Berton. It ran from 1962 to 1973, and Berton regularly interviewed important artists, actors, and other public figures. His interviewees included Malcolm X in 1965, Lenn ...

'', '' The Hilarious House of Frightenstein'', ''

Me & Max ''Me & Max'' was a situation comedy produced for Canadian television station CHCH-TV in 1985."Meet Red, er, Steve Smith". ''Toronto Star'', July 27, 1996. Evolving out of the sketch comedy series '' Smith & Smith'', ''Me & Max'' starred husband ...

'', '' Party Game'', ''

The Baxters ''The Baxters'' is a sitcom that aired in broadcast syndication from September 1979 to August 1981. The original American incarnation of the series aired locally from 1977 to 1979 on the Boston station WCVB; in 1979, Norman Lear took over produc ...

'', the Canadian version of '' Supermarket Sweep'', and '' Smith & Smith'', and was the original television home of '' The Red Green Show''. Hamilton native

Martin Short Martin Hayter Short (born March 26, 1950) is a Canadian-American actor, comedian, and writer. He has received various awards including two Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Tony Award. In 2019 Short became an Officer of the Order of Canada. He ...

also made his television debut on the station. The 1986–87 syndicated revival of '' Split Second'' hosted by Monty Hall was also taped at CHCH's studios; their involvement was noted in the credits of the show in Canadian broadcasts, whereas the American copies only noted distributor

Viacom Enterprises Viacom Productions (formerly Viacom Enterprises) was a television production arm of Viacom International. The division was active from 1974 until 2004, when the company was folded into Paramount Network Television 10 years following Viacom's acqu ...

. As of September 2018, CHCH's daytime programming consists of locally produced newscasts geared primarily to the Golden Horseshoe region of Southern Ontario, and a block of classic television series airing weekdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and featuring sitcoms and dramas from the 1970s and 1980s. In prime time, the station runs only a handful of first-run domestic and American entertainment programs during prime time and the late evening hours as well as movies. A syndication deal with

20th Television 20th Television (formerly 20th Century Fox Television, 20th Century-Fox Television, and TCF Television Productions, Inc.) is an American television production company that is a division of Disney Television Studios, part of The Walt Disney Compa ...

provided the station with programming from both the

National Geographic Channel National Geographic (formerly National Geographic Channel; abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo or Nat Geo TV) is an American pay television television network, network and flagship (broadcasting), flagship channel owned by the National Geograp ...

and MTM Enterprises libraries, but by September 2018, most of the National Geographic programming was dropped as the station had reformatted to emphasize its retro programming. Some of CHCH's imported programs air on CHEK-DT in

Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Greater Victoria area has a population of 397,237. Th ...

, a separately-owned independent station which had been CHCH's sister station during the WIC, CH and E! eras. Upon the initial dissolution of the E! system, the two stations jointly purchased a virtually identical lineup of prime time programming at first, although their prime time schedules later began to diverge. CHEK currently airs entertainment programs from Yes TV, which already serves the Toronto–Hamilton market with CITS-DT.

Sports programming

The station broadcast home games from the Hamilton Red Wings (a

minor league hockey Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nor ...

team in the OHA Junior "A" league that was an affiliate of the

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

Detroit Red Wings The Detroit Red Wings (colloquially referred to as the Wings) are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit. The Red Wings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the East ...

) from the

Hamilton Forum Barton Street Arena, also known as the Hamilton Forum, was the main sports arena located in Hamilton, Ontario, on Barton Street between Sanford Street and Wentworth Street. It was built in 1910 at what was at that time the east end of the cit ...

(which were both owned by Ken Soble) on Thursday nights in the 1960s, with Norm Marshall doing the play-by-play. For a time, CHCH broadcast local mid-week telecasts of NHL games from the

Toronto Maple Leafs The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Div ...

, and co-produced

Buffalo Sabres The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. The Sabres compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team was established in 1970, along w ...

games with

Adelphia Cable Adelphia Communications Corporation was an American cable television company with headquarters in Coudersport, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1952 by brothers Gus and John Rigas after the pair purchased a cable television franchise for US$300. C ...

and the Sabres' owners. It also produced a wrestling show called ''Ringside Wrestling'', which was filmed in the Telecentre, before later moving to the Hamilton Forum. The station later reproduced

World Wrestling Federation World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...

programs for Canadian audiences before the company's focus shifted entirely to cable television. For a number of years, CHCH also broadcast Sunday afternoon coverage of regular season games from the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. ...

because CTV (and later, the Global Television Network) had to choose the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

for its Ontario stations as part of that network's NFL coverage (the Bills are now seen primarily on

Sportsnet Ontario Sportsnet Ontario (formerly known as CTV Sportsnet Ontario and Rogers Sportsnet Ontario) is a Canadian regional sports specialty channel owned by Rogers Sports & Media serving most of all Ontario. It is one of four Sportsnet regional feeds. It ...

; the Lions have returned to CTV).

McMaster Marauders The McMaster Marauders are the athletic teams that represent McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Athletics at McMaster is currently managed by the university's student affairs, under their athletics & recreation department. The unive ...

university football was broadcast on the station during the late 1990s and early 2000s; beginning in 2015, CHCH resumed carrying Ontario University Athletics football, carrying the conference's playoff tournaments and, beginning in 2017 after

City A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

passed on the package, some regular season games as well. In August 2020, the Canadian Premier League announced a deal with CHCH to broadcast one game per week, every Sunday, in addition to the two games per week on

CBC Sports CBC Sports is the division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for English-language sports broadcasting. The CBC's sports programming primarily airs on CBC Television, CBCSports.ca, and CBC Radio One. (The CBC's French-languag ...

. In 2022, CHCH began airing final round coverage of LIV Golf events; it is the tour's only traditional Canadian broadcaster (entire events are streamed on LIV Golf's

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

and

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

pages).

Current programming

First-run

*''

'' *'' American Song Contest'' (since March 2022) * Canadian Premier League soccer *''

Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

'' *'' Fresh Off the Boat'' *'' Inside Edition'' *''

Nightline ''Nightline'' (or ''ABC News Nightline'') is ABC News' late-night television news program broadcast on ABC in the United States with a franchised formula to other networks and stations elsewhere in the world. Created by Roone Arledge, the progra ...

'' *''

OJHL The Ontario Junior Hockey League (OJHL) is a Junior A ice hockey league in Ontario, Canada. It is under the supervision of the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) and the Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL). The league was listed as the 7th best d ...

Game of the Week'' *'' OUA University Rush'' *'' To Tell the Truth'' *''andPOP'' *''Morning Live'' *''Tiny Talent Time'' * LIV Golf Invitational Series

Re-runs

*''

Bewitched ''Bewitched'' is an American fantasy sitcom television series that originally aired for eight seasons on ABC from September 17, 1964, to March 25, 1972. It is about a witch who marries an ordinary mortal man and vows to lead the life of a typic ...

'' *''

Community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, tow ...

'' *''

Dr. Ken ''Dr. Ken'' is an American multi-camera sitcom that aired on ABC from October 2, 2015, to March 31, 2017. The series was created, written, and co-executive produced by its lead actor, Ken Jeong, who based the concept on his experience as a physici ...

'' *'' Funny You Should Ask *''

I Dream of Jeannie ''I Dream of Jeannie'' is an American fantasy sitcom television series, created by Sidney Sheldon that starred Barbara Eden as a sultry, 2,000-year-old genie and Larry Hagman, as an astronaut with whom she falls in love and eventually marrie ...

'' *'' The Lone Ranger'' *''

Lost in Space ''Lost in Space'' is an American science fiction television series, created and produced by Irwin Allen, which originally aired between 1965 and 1968 on CBS. The series was inspired by the 1812 novel ''The Swiss Family Robinson.'' The series fo ...

'' *''

M*A*S*H ''M*A*S*H'' (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) is an American media franchise consisting of a series of novels, a film, several television series, plays, and other properties, and based on the semi-autobiographical fiction of Richard Hooker. The ...

'' *''

The Mary Tyler Moore Show ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' (also known simply as ''Mary Tyler Moore'') is an American television sitcom created by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns and starring actress Mary Tyler Moore. The show originally aired on CBS from 1970 to 1977. Moor ...

'' *'' Mission: Impossible'' *'' The Pinkertons'' *'' Rawhide'' (only for seven seasons from 1959 until 1965) *''Rock Icons'' *'' Science of Stupid'' *''Top Million Dollar Agent'' *''

White Collar White collar may refer to: * White-collar worker, a salaried professional or an educated worker who performs semi-professional office, administrative, and sales-coordination tasks, as opposed to a blue-collar worker, whose job requires manual labor ...

Feature films

*''CHCH at the Movies''

Former programs

*''Bloomberg Markets Canada'' *''Bloomberg North'' *''

'' *''Sportsline'' *''Sportscope'' *''

'' *''At Home'' *''

'' *''

'' *'' Canada Tonight'' – National news program aired during WIC ownership. *'' Chuck'' *''CHCH News Now'' *''CHCH Noon News'' *''CHCH Niagara Express'' *''CHCH Straight Talk'' *''First Edition'' *''Square Off'' *''

'' *''The Morning Market'' – Morning financial news program; aired in the late 1990s *'' The Originals'' *''

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

'' *''

FABLife ''FABLife'' (''FAB'' being an acronym for "Fun And Beautiful") was an American syndicated daily lifestyle panel talk show that aired from September 14, 2015 until June 22, 2016. Production The series, which made its debut on September 14, 2015, ...

'' *'' Access Hollywood'' *'' Dateline Mystery'' *''

Wynonna Earp Wynonna Earp is a horror Western comic book miniseries created and owned by Beau Smith. The series was initially published by Image Comics, and from 2003 by IDW Publishing. Plot summary Wynonna is a present-day descendant of the famous ...

'' *'' Raising Hope'' *''Killer Comebacks'' *''British Drama Night'' *'' Judge Judy'' *''

Strong Strong may refer to: Education * The Strong, an educational institution in Rochester, New York, United States * Strong Hall (Lawrence, Kansas), an administrative hall of the University of Kansas * Strong School, New Haven, Connecticut, United Sta ...

'' *''

The X-Files ''The X-Files'' is an American science fiction on television, science fiction drama (film and television), drama television series created by Chris Carter (screenwriter), Chris Carter. The series revolves around Federal Bureau of Investigation ...

'' *'' Rosewood'' *''

Cheers ''Cheers'' is an American sitcom television series that ran on NBC from September 30, 1982, to May 20, 1993, with a total of 275 half-hour episodes across 11 seasons. The show was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions in association w ...

'' *'' Numb3rs'' *'' Happy Days'' *'' Last Man Standing'' *''

CSI: NY ''CSI: NY'' (''Crime Scene Investigation: New York'', stylized as ''CSI: NY/Crime Scene Investigation'') is an American police procedural television series that ran on CBS from September 22, 2004, to February 22, 2013, for a total of nine seaso ...

'' *'' House of Cards'' *'' Hoff the Record'' *''

Krown Countdown U Gridiron Nation presented by Krown Produce is a weekly college football recap and features show focusing on Canadians in the NCAA and USPORTS football. The show was previously known as Krown Countdown U until 2019 when the show moved to TSN acro ...

'' *''Justice With Judge Mablean'' *''

Right This Minute ''Right This Minute'' (alternatively abbreviated as ''RTM'') was an American syndicated television program that debuted on September 12, 2011. Produced by MagicDust Television in conjunction with television station groups Cox Media Group, Gray ...

'' *''Studio 1.0'' *''

The Americans ''The Americans'' is an American historical drama, period spy fiction, spy drama television series created by Joe Weisberg that aired on the FX (TV channel), FX television network for six seasons from January 30, 2013, to May 30, 2018. Weisberg ...

'' *''

Batman Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on ...

'' *''

Betty White's Off Their Rockers ''Betty White's Off Their Rockers'' is an American comedy television series launched in 2012, that broadcast on NBC for its first two seasons and Lifetime for its third. The series is hosted by Betty White, and is based on the Belgian television ...

'' *'' The Bob Newhart Show'' *''

Brain Games ''Brain Games'' is a collection of memory video games programmed by Larry Kaplan and released by Atari, Inc. for the Atari 2600 in 1978. It is a group of memory games, in which the player is faced with outwitting the computer in sound and pictur ...

'' *'' Degrassi: The Next Generation'' *'' Genius'' *''Good Fortunes'' *''

The Incredible Dr. Pol ''The Incredible Dr. Pol'' is an American reality television show on Nat Geo Wild that follows Dutch-American veterinarian Jan Pol and his family and employees at his practice in rural Weidman, Michigan. The series premiered October 29, 2011 an ...

'' *'' The Monkees'' *'' Newhart'' *'' The Partridge Family'' *'' The Red Green Show'' *'' Sleepy Hollow'' *''

The Strain ''The Strain'' is a 2009 vampire horror novel by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan. It is the first installment in ''The Strain Trilogy'', and was followed by '' The Fall'' (2010) and ''The Night Eternal'' (2011). Plot synopsis A Boeing 77 ...

News operation

CHCH airs 30½ hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with 5½ hours each weekday and 1½ hours each on Saturdays and Sundays)."CRTC wants TV stations to air 7 hours a week of local news"
''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

'', June 15, 2016. CHCH Television truck, Summer 2012

Since 2008

In late 2008, Canwest placed CHCH's longest serving news anchors, Connie Smith (whose last day on the air occurred on November 28, 2008) and Dan McLean (who left on December 12) on forced retirement, blaming financial troubles and budget cuts. After their departures, Annette Hamm began handling anchoring duties on a shortened noon newscast, and co-hosting ''Morning Live'' with Bob Cowan, while Nick Dixon took over anchoring duties on the 6:00 p.m. newscast. Since being taken over by Channel Zero on August 31, 2009, Hamm and Cowan have co-hosted a restored hour-long newscast at noon. A few local non-news programming were also cancelled at this time including ''At Home'', ''Sportscope'', ''Niagara Express'', and ''Straight Talk''. In January 2009, CHCH's ''Morning Live'' program began to be simulcast on former Toronto sister station CIII-TV owing to the cancellation of its own morning newscast ''

Global News Morning ''Global News Morning'' (previously known as ''Morning News'' and the ''Saturday Morning News'' or the ''Sunday Morning News'' on Saturdays and Sundays respectively and the ''Early Morning News'' from 5-6 AM) is the name of local morning newscas ...

''. The simulcast on CIII was dropped at the end of August after Channel Zero took control of CHCH, with CIII replacing it with lifestyle programming reruns and rebroadcasts of its 11:00 p.m. newscast from the previous night. While the station continued to share helicopter traffic services provided by the Canadian Traffic Network, the arrangement between Canwest and CHCH ended on December 31, 2009, as Canwest held the exclusive rights to CTN services in the Greater Toronto Area. Upon becoming an independent station on August 31, 2009, the station adopted a news-intensive format, replacing network programming in the 9:00 a.m. to noon and 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. periods on weekdays with expanded newscasts. On September 12, 2011, CHCH increased its local news programming by launching a 90-minute extension of ''Morning Live'', titled ''Morning Live First Edition'', airing weekdays from 4:00 to 5:30 a.m.; this made CHCH the first Canadian television station (and the first in the Buffalo–Niagara region; WGRZ would follow with a 4:30 a.m. newscast in 2012) to air a morning newscast that starts before 5:30 a.m. The program expanded to two hours, extending it from 4:00 to 6:00 a.m. on September 10, 2012. As a result, the station moved the original ''Morning Live'' broadcast's start time by a half-hour and its end time by one hour, running it from 6:00 to 10:00 a.m.CHCH-TV To Launch Canada's Earliest Morning Show
/ref> Its heavy weekday newscast total was largely due to a prominent daytime rolling news block on weekdays (airing from 4:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., along with an hour-long newscast at 6:00 p.m., and 11:00 p.m.). In addition, the station also produced a half-hour sports discussion program called ''Sportsline'', which aired each weeknight at 5:00 p.m.; and a half-hour political discussion program ''Square Off'', which immediately followed ''Sportsline'' at 5:30 p.m. The rolling news block was removed for an hour at 1 p.m. to air ''Justice with Judge Mablean.'' On December 11, 2015, at 4:00 p.m., Channel Zero CEO and Chairman Romen Podzyhun announced, in a pre-recorded message, that Channel 11 L.P., the division responsible for providing news programming for CHCH and the employer of the relevant staff, was declaring bankruptcy, and news programming was suspended immediately. He added that a major restructuring and changes to news coverage would start the following Monday.

Restructuring of the news operation

Because of the bankruptcy, the entire staff of 165 was cut in the news organization. The new company that was formed in the restructuring offered jobs to 81, including 58 full-time and 23 part-time positions. Chris Fuoco, Channel Zero vice-president, said that by 3 p.m. on December 15, 77 people had accepted the offer of employment with the new company. The restructuring was viewed by some as a

union-busting Union busting is a range of activities undertaken to disrupt or prevent the formation of trade unions or their attempts to grow their membership in a workplace. Union busting tactics can refer to both legal and illegal activities, and can range ...

attempt in light of a December 14 note sent by a CHCH News Account manager, Kathleen Marks, to a prospective advertiser indicating that the new company would not be burdened by the union or old CanWest debt. The union, Unifor, asked Channel Zero to honour its commitment. According to the''

'', "Under Ontario law, businesses must honour existing collective agreements when they take over a company unless they dramatically change the nature of the work being performed." A ''

Hamilton Spectator ''The Hamilton Spectator'', founded in 1846, is a newspaper published weekdays and Saturdays in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. One of the largest Canadian newspapers by circulation,''The Hamilton Spectator'' is owned by Torstar. History ''The Hami ...

'' article on December 16 indicated that a meeting between Channel Zero and Unifor was scheduled for later that day and that Channel Zero insisted that the note about the union was written by an individual who was not a company spokesperson. Sarah Gardiner of Channel Zero also countered the union-busting allegation, stating that it was false and adding that "Many unionized employees were hired" y the new company The amount offered to laid-off employees is in dispute with Channel Zero claiming a minimum of $4000 to be paid per person (for any accrued vacation, expense reimbursements and regular pay) and some employees disputing that amount. A news item on the CHCH web site, dated December 15, indicated that no severance pay had been offered to any employee, although all were union members. The bankruptcy documents indicate $1.6 million owed to employees, though without specifics. After several calls, emails and social media posts from viewers over the two months since the restructuring, CHCH announced on February 18, 2015, that ''Morning Live'' would return to a start time of 6am on February 22. The show would be live from 6am to 9am, with the 8am hour repeated from 9am to 10am. On September 7, 2016, CHCH announced the return of local weekend news programming with two half hours of news at 6pm and 11pm starting October 29, 2016, citing advertiser and viewer demand. The announcement came three months after the CRTC announced plans to launch a local news fund to subsidize local newscasts.

Affected on-air employees

The CHCH web site stated that "Going forward, ''Morning Live'' will air between 7 a.m. to 9 a.m., the 6 o'clock newcast will be anchored by Nick Dixon and Taz Boga, and Taz will return for a half hour at 11:00 p.m."

Metroland Media Metroland Media Group (also known as Community Brands) is a Canadian mass media publisher and distributor which primarily operates in Southern Ontario. A division of the publishing conglomerate Torstar Corporation, Metroland publishes more than 7 ...

reported that Nick Dixon would also produce the 6 p.m. newscast, and that the on-air personalities or reporters who had been laid off include Lori D'Angelis, Matt Hayes, Sean Cowan, Donna Skelly, Ken Welch, Scot Urquhart, Lauran Sabourin, Liz West, Mark Hebscher, Jaclyn Harper (Colville), Natalie Marconi, Miranda Anthistle and Elise Copps. The shorter ''Morning Live'' show would continue to be anchored by Bob Cowan and Annette Hamm. ''Square Off'' was revived into a podcast called ''Unplugged,'' and later ''No Fun Intended'' by former co-hosts Mark Hebscher and Liz West, with the same format. However, it appears this podcast has ended, with both Hebscher and West moving on to independent projects. Hebscher now hosts a sports podcast, and West is working in independent productions.

Notable on-air staff

Annette Hamm Annette Hamm (pronounced Haum) is a Canadian news anchor and reporter. Along with Bob Cowan, she currently co-hosts ''Morning Live'', a three-hour morning show that airs on CHCH-TV in Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian ...

– Co-Host, ''Morning Live''

Former on-air staff

Michelle Dubé Michelle Dubé is a Canadian television journalist and news anchor for Bell Media. She is the co-anchor for ''CTV News at Noon'' and ''CTV News at 6'' for CTV News Toronto with Ken Shaw until January 6, 2020 and with Nathan Downer since. She ...

– reporter and anchor; now reporter and anchor for

CTV Toronto CFTO-DT (channel 9) is a television station in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, serving as the flagship station of the CTV Television Network. It is owned and operated by network parent Bell Media alongside Barrie-based CTV 2 outlet CKVR-DT, channel 3 ...

Lisa Hepfner Lisa Hepfner (born 1971) is a Canadian politician who was elected to represent the riding of Hamilton Mountain in the House of Commons of Canada in the 2021 Canadian federal election The 2021 Canadian federal election was held on Septem ...

– reporter; now a federal Member of Parliament for

Hamilton Mountain Hamilton is located on the western end of the Niagara Peninsula and wraps around the westernmost part of the Lake Ontario. Most of the city including the downtown section lies along the south shore. Situated in the geographic centre of the Golden ...

Heather Hiscox Heather Hiscox (born 18 November 1965) is a Canadian news anchor who hosts ''CBC News Now'' from 6 to 10 a.m. on weekdays on CBC News Network. She was also the host of the CBC's former flagship morning television program '' CBC News: Morning'' ...

– anchor and executive producer; now news anchor for

CBC News Network CBC News Network (formerly CBC Newsworld) is a Canadian English-language specialty news channel owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). It broadcasts into over 10 million homes in Canada. As Canada's first all-news channel, it is th ...

* Dan McLean – senior news anchor (1970–2008); later news anchor at

CIXK-FM CIXK-FM, branded as ''Mix 106.5'', is a Canadian FM radio station, broadcasting from studios on 9th Street East in downtown Owen Sound, Ontario. CIXK is the most listened to radio station in Owen Sound. History In 1987, Bayshore Broadcasting Co ...

Owen Sound Owen Sound ( 2021 Census population 21,612) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. The county seat of Grey County, it is located at the mouths of the Pottawatomi and Sydenham Rivers on an inlet of Georgian Bay. The primary tourist attract ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

; retired June 2013 *

Jennifer Mossop Jennifer F. Mossop (born ) is a former politician and journalist in Ontario, Canada. She was a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 2003 to 2007 who represented the Hamilton, Ontario riding of Stoney Creek. Background Pri ...

– news anchor and executive producer; later Liberal Member of Provincial Parliament for Stoney Creek, and now a communications consultant * Geoffrey Scott – Ottawa correspondent in the late 1960s and early 1970s; former Canadian Member of Parliament for the riding of Hamilton—Wentworth, 1978–1993.

Technical information

Subchannel

Analogue-to-digital conversion

The station launched its digital signal on

UHF Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter (on ...

channel 18 on April 18, 2008. CHCH shut down its analogue signal, over VHF channel 11, on August 15, 2011, two weeks prior to the August 31 date on which Canadian television stations in CRTC-designated mandatory

markets Market is a term used to describe concepts such as: * Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand * Market economy *Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market Geography *Märket, a ...

transitioned from analogue to digital broadcasts. The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 18 to its former analogue-era VHF channel 11.Digital Television – Office of Consumer Affairs (OCA)
Archived a
Ghostarchive
and th
Wayback Machine
The analogue signal was discontinued immediately preceding the switch. CHCH-DT is available on

digital cable Digital cable is the distribution of cable television using digital data and video compression. The technology was first developed by General Instrument. By 2000, most cable companies offered digital features, eventually replacing their previou ...

and over-the-air through digital tuners and converter boxes. Since September 12, 2011, CHCH's HD feed has been carried by satellite provider Bell Satellite TV on channel 1057. On March 9, 2012, Channel Zero-operated

numbered company A numbered company is a corporation given a generic name based on its sequentially assigned registration number. For instance, an entity incorporated under the Canada Business Corporations Act and assigned the corporation number 1234567 would be e ...

2190015 Ontario Inc. was granted permission to move the station's broadcasts from VHF channel 11 to UHF channel 15 (which had recently been vacated by CKXT-DT-1), in response to poor reception of CHCH-DT along its fringes in the Greater Toronto Area, compared to its former analogue signal on VHF channel 11 and transitional digital signal on UHF channel 18. During the application process, the station also claimed that

Mobile DTV Mobile television is television watched on a small handheld or mobile device. It includes service delivered via mobile phone networks, received free-to-air via terrestrial television stations, or via satellite broadcast. Regular broadcast stand ...

services perform better in the UHF band, and this move would allow the station to plan for a potential Mobile DTV feed.

Industry Canada Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED; french: Innovation, Sciences et Développement économique Canada; french: ISDE, label=none)''Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada'' is the applied title under the Federal I ...

stated that this application is technically feasible, though

pirate broadcaster Pirate radio or a pirate radio station is a radio station that broadcasts without a valid license. In some cases, radio stations are considered legal where the signal is transmitted, but illegal where the signals are received—especially w ...

Star Ray TV Star Ray TV is an independent pirate community television station in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The station, which broadcasts in digital on channel 22 in Toronto's Beaches neighbourhood, was launched in 1997 when Jan Pachul, an amateur radio ope ...

, had broadcast in analogue on UHF channel 15 from a transmitter in

The Beaches The Beaches (also known as "The Beach") is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is so named because of its four beaches situated on Lake Ontario. It is located east of downtown within the "Old" City of Toronto. The approximate boundar ...

neighbourhood of Toronto. (Star Ray would convert to digital following CHCH's reassignment to channel 15, broadcasting on UHF channel 22.) Tri-State Christian Television's WNYB from

Jamestown, New York Jamestown is a city in southern Chautauqua County, in the U.S. state of New York. The population was 28,712 at the 2020 census. Situated between Lake Erie to the north and the Allegheny National Forest to the south, Jamestown is the largest pop ...

also has a Buffalo-based translator, WBNF-CD, on UHF channel 15, which would require addressing by the CRTC due to the closer location of CHCH's transmitter to WBNF-CD. On November 12, 2013, CHCH began transmitting a test signal on UHF channel 15, displaying

colour bars SMPTE color bars are a television test pattern used where the NTSC video standard is utilized, including countries in North America. The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) refers to the pattern as Engineering Guideline ( ...

and tone with text message reading "CHCH-DT RF15 Testing". On December 2, 2013, CHCH moved its digital signal to channel 15, allowing CHCH to broadcast with a considerably higher power of 132 kW compared to 6 kW on channel 11 and 60 kW from their former transitional digital frequency on channel 18. The station's virtual channel continues to be mapped as 11.1.

Transmitters

On August 28, 1996, CHCH received CRTC approval to add new rebroadcast transmitters across most of Ontario.Decision CRTC 96–544
/ref> The launch of the transmitters in 1997 coincided with the rebranding of the station as "ONtv". During the analog television shutdown and digital conversion in August 2011, CHCH's transmitters in Ottawa, London, and Muskoka (serving

Barrie Barrie is a city in Southern Ontario, Canada, about north of Toronto. The city is within Simcoe County and located along the shores of Kempenfelt Bay, the western arm of Lake Simcoe. Although physically in Simcoe County, Barrie is politically i ...

, part of the Toronto market) were converted to digital, since the transmitters were in or near markets that were mandated to make the switch. At the time, the transmitters broadcast the channel in standard-definition

480i 480i is the video mode used for standard-definition digital television in the Caribbean, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Philippines, Laos, Western Sahara, and most of the Americas (with the exception of Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay). The ''480 ...

due to depending on Shaw Broadcast Services, which did not carry CHCH HD. By September 2014, transmission was upgraded to 1080i.

References

External links

CHCH official websiteCanadian Communications Foundation – CHCH-DT History
* {{Navboxes, , list1={{Toronto TV {{Ottawa TV {{Ontario TV {{CanindTVstations {{Television news in Canada {{LocalCableNews {{ChannelZero HCH-DT HCH-DT Channel Zero (company) Television channels and stations established in 1954 HCH-DT 1954 establishments in Ontario Former Corus Entertainment networks Classic television networks