CHAN-DT (channel 8), branded on-air as Global BC (formerly British Columbia Television or BCTV), is a
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 ...
in
Vancouver, British Columbia
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
, Canada, serving as the West Coast
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 ...
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 ...
.
Owned and operated
In the broadcasting industry, an owned-and-operated station (frequently abbreviated as an O&O) usually refers to a television or radio station owned by the network with which it is associated. This distinguishes such a station from an affiliate ...
by network parent
Corus Entertainment
Corus Entertainment Inc. is a Canadian mass media company. Formed in 1999 as a spin-off from Shaw Communications, it has prominent holdings in the radio, publishing, and television industries. It is headquartered at Corus Quay in Toronto, Onta ...
, the station has studios on Enterprise Street (across from the
Lake City Way SkyTrain station) in the suburban city of
Burnaby
Burnaby is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada. Located in the centre of the Burrard Peninsula, it neighbours the City of Vancouver to the west, the District of North Vancouver across the confluence of the Burrard I ...
, which also houses
Global's national news headquarters. Its transmitter is located atop
Mount Seymour
Mount Seymour is a mountain located in Mount Seymour Provincial Park in the District of North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It is a part of the North Shore Mountains, rising to the north from the shores of Burrard Inlet and Indian Arm t ...
in the district municipality of
North Vancouver.
History
![Chan-chek](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/Chan-chek.png)
The station first signed on the air at 4:45 p.m. on October 31, 1960. Founded by Art Jones' Vantel Broadcasting, it originally operated as 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 ...
.
It acquired several programs from
CTV upon that network's launch on October 1, 1961; it would eventually join the network formally in 1965.
The station operated from a temporary studio housed at 1219 Richards Street in
Downtown Vancouver
Downtown Vancouver is the central business district and the city centre neighbourhood of Vancouver, Canada, on the northwestern shore of the Burrard Peninsula in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. It occupies most of the north sh ...
, until its full-time studio facility at 7850 Enterprise Street in Burnaby was opened in 1962. Soon after the station's launch, CHAN began installing relay transmitters across the province, and now reaches 96% of British Columbia. Through its over-the-air signal, CHAN also reaches an American audience in neighbouring
Whatcom County, Washington
Whatcom County is a county located in the northwestern corner of the U.S. state of Washington, bordered by the Canadian Lower Mainland (the Metro Vancouver and Fraser Valley Regional Districts of British Columbia) to the north, Okanogan Coun ...
.
In 1963, local entrepreneur
Frank Griffiths
Frank A. Griffiths (December 17, 1916 – April 7, 1994) was a Canadian media executive through his company, Western International Communications Ltd. (WIC).
Frank Griffiths was born in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. In 1956, along with ...
, owner of radio station
CKNW
CKNW is a news/talk formatted radio station in Vancouver, British Columbia, owned by Corus Entertainment. It broadcasts on an assigned frequency of AM 980 kHz, and is unusual in that it is a 50,000-watt, Class A station broadcasting on a region ...
(980 AM), purchased CHAN-TV from Vantel, along with nearby
CBC affiliate
CHEK-TV
CHEK-DT (channel 6) is an independent television station in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, serving Vancouver Island and Greater Vancouver. The station is owned by the CHEK Media Group, a consortium made up of station employees and local in ...
(channel 6) in the
Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are o ...
city of
Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
, from its original owner, David Armstrong. At that point, CHEK began airing a few CTV programs, usually scheduled at different times than when CHAN aired them. It would become a full-time CTV affiliate in January 1981, but maintained a shuffled schedule. Griffiths' Western Broadcasting Communications later sold a minority share of the station to
Selkirk Communications
Selkirk Communications was a Canadian radio and television broadcasting company, which operated from 1959 to 1989. Evolving out of Taylor, Pearson & Carson, a local broadcaster in Vancouver founded in 1934, the company grew to own 14 radio statio ...
, before buying back full control in 1989.
In 1986, BCTV set up a fully functional broadcast studio
pavilion
In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings:
* It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...
at the Vancouver
Expo 86
The 1986 World Exposition on Transportation and Communication, or simply Expo 86, was a World's Fair held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada from May 2 until October 13, 1986. The fair, the theme of which was "Transportation and Communicatio ...
, whose theme was transportation and communication. The BCTV pavilion allowed visitors to see, and participate, in every step of how a television station operates, as well as how newscasts and television shows were produced. The pavilion was also used by the station for coverage of the Expo, and by visiting journalists.
As early as 1971, CHAN unofficially began using the brand "BCTV". In 1973, BCTV became CHAN's official on-air branding, which remained in use until 2001, when it adopted the "Global BC" brand. The "BCTV" brand was retained for its local newscasts until February 2006. However, the "BCTV" brand became so firmly established in the province that many people still call the station by that name today.
Hostility to CTV
CHAN was CTV's third-largest affiliate, and by far the largest in
Western Canada
Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces, Canadian West or the Western provinces of Canada, and commonly known within Canada as the West, is a Canadian region that includes the four western provinces just north of the Canada†...
. As such, it was one of the backbones of the CTV network for many years and one of the network's most successful affiliates. However, it was always somewhat hostile toward CTV. Management believed that the network's flagship station,
CFTO-TV
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 ...
in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
, had too much influence over the network. In particular, CHAN felt CFTO received favouritism in the production of CTV's Canadian programming in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Nonetheless, until 1997, CHAN bought the provincial rights to several popular series from CFTO's parent company,
Baton Broadcasting
Bell Media Inc. ( French: ) is a Canadian company formed by the amalgamation of several companies.
Establishment (2011–13)
On December 9, 2011, the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan announced the sale of its majority stake in Maple Leaf Sports ...
. However, tensions were exacerbated that year when Baton won a licence to operate a new television station in Vancouver,
CIVT-TV (channel 32), and immediately moved much of CHAN's stronger programs there. Baton won controlling interest in CTV soon after channel 32's launch, and it became an open secret that CIVT would eventually replace CHAN as the CTV station for the Vancouver
market
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, an ...
.
CHAN had signed a long-term contract with CTV several years earlier that would not expire until 1999, but was extended to 2001. However, the sign-on of CIVT meant that CHAN could only air CTV's base schedule of 40 hours of programming per week. The station had to fill the schedule with its local newscasts and lower-profile programming supplied by parent company
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 ...
. A small amount of
CHUM Limited
CHUM Limited was a Canadian media company based in Toronto, Ontario in operation from 1945 to 2007. The company was founded in 1945 as York Broadcasters Limited when it launched CHUM-AM 1050 but was acquired by salesman Allan Waters in 1954. CHU ...
-produced programs also aired on CHAN at times during the period from 1997 to 2001, including ''
CityLine
''CityLine'' is a Canadian talk show and lifestyle television program hosted by Tracy Moore produced for the Citytv network at Toronto flagship station CITY-DT. Each show has a theme that changes daily. These include "Around the House", "Fami ...
''.
The affiliation shakeup of 2001
On June 6, 2000 WIC's stations were purchased by
Canwest Global Communications
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 ...
, which owned 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 ...
. As a result, CHAN was due to become the Global outlet for all of British Columbia. Although Global already owned a station in Vancouver,
CKVU-TV
CKVU-DT (channel 10) is a television station in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, serving as the West Coast flagship of the Citytv network. It is owned and operated by network parent Rogers Sports & Media alongside Omni Television station CHN ...
(channel 10), it opted to sell CKVU to CHUM Limited and move its affiliation to CHAN. By this time, CHAN operated a network of over 100 transmitters covering almost all of the province, and had been the province's dominant news station for three decades. In contrast, CKVU operated only three transmitters covering the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island.
CHAN-TV's affiliation agreement with CTV expired on September 1, 2001, sparking a major shakeup in British Columbia television:
*The CTV affiliation, jointly held by CHAN and sister station CHEK, moved to CIVT, which became a CTV O&O station that branded for a short time as "BC CTV" (later revised to "CTV British Columbia"). Both switches left CTV dependent on cable and satellite coverage to reach the rest of the province, as CTV has refused to set up rebroadcasters in the rest of the province. CHAN retained the rights to ''
The Oprah Winfrey Show
''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', often referred to as ''The Oprah Show'' or simply ''Oprah'', is an American daytime broadcast syndication, syndicated talk show that aired nationally for 25 seasons from September 8, 1986, to May 25, 2011, in Chicag ...
'', which was carried by CTV in all of its other O&O markets, until the talk show ended its run in
2011
File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...
.
*The Global affiliation, held by CKVU, moved to CHAN, which became the network's new O&O under the "Global BC" brand. CKVU meanwhile adopted the "ckvu13" brand and briefly became an independent station carrying CHUM-supplied programming, some of which had aired the previous season on
KVOS-TV
KVOS-TV, virtual channel 12 ( UHF digital channel 14), is a Heroes & Icons owned-and-operated television station licensed to Bellingham, Washington, United States. Owned by Chicago-based Weigel Broadcasting, it is part of a duopoly with Seatt ...
(channel 12) in
Bellingham, Washington
Bellingham ( ) is the most populous city in, and county seat of Whatcom County in the U.S. state of Washington. It lies south of the U.S.–Canada border in between two major cities of the Pacific Northwest: Vancouver, British Columbia (locat ...
. The station became a
Citytv
Citytv is a Canadian television network owned by the Rogers Sports & Media subsidiary of Rogers Communications. The licence of the original Citytv station, granted the callsign of CITY-TV by the CRTC on November 25, 1971 to Cable Television Ass ...
owned-and-operated station (the eventual
television system
In Canada, a television system is a group of television stations which share common ownership, branding and programming, but which for some reason does not satisfy the criteria necessary for it to be classified as a television network under Cana ...
-turned-network's first expansion outside of Toronto) several months later, after the sale to CHUM was approved.
*Most of CHAN's former WIC-supplied programming, which migrated to Canwest's newly launched
CH system, moved to CHEK (where other WIC programs already aired). The station was rebranded "CH Vancouver Island"; it was later renamed ''CHEK News'' in 2007 as part of CH's rebranding to E! and to simply "CHEK" in 2009 following the demise of the E! system.
*Religious station
CHNU (channel 10; later a
Joytv
Joytv is a Television in Canada, Canadian television brand owned by ZoomerMedia. Joytv was formerly a television system formed in September 2008, comprising two religious independent stations acquired from Rogers Media by S-VOX. The stations c ...
station, now an independent station), launched two weeks later, and a CHUM-owned
NewNet
CTV 2 is a Canadian English-language television system owned by the Bell Media subsidiary of BCE Inc. The system consists of four terrestrial owned-and-operated television stations (O&Os) in Ontario, one in British Columbia and two regional cabl ...
station in Victoria,
CIVI-TV
CIVI-DT (channel 53) is a television station in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, part of the CTV 2 system. It is owned and operated by Bell Media alongside Vancouver-based CTV station CIVT-DT, channel 32 (although the two stations maintain s ...
(channel 53), launched just over two weeks after that.
Programming
For the most part, CHAN does not deviate much from the Global schedule. Some programs carried on Global's daytime schedule in other markets – primarily library programs from Corus Entertainment's specialty channels – are not cleared on CHAN in order to make room for the station's various local news programs.
In February, the station broadcasts the annual
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
''Show of Hearts''
telethon
A telethon (a portmanteau of "television" and "marathon") is a televised fundraising event that lasts many hours or even days, the purpose of which is to raise money for a charitable, political or other purportedly worthy cause.
Most telethons f ...
.
Selected former non-network programs
* Vancouver based ''
NWA All Star Wrestling
NWA All Star Wrestling (sometimes referred to as NWA Vancouver) is a Canadian professional wrestling promotion, based in Vancouver, British Columbia. All-Star Wrestling folded in 1989 but returned in 2007 no longer affiliated with the National Wr ...
'' (1962-1989)
* ''
Late Show with David Letterman
The ''Late Show with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS, the first iteration of the The Late Show (franchise), ''Late Show'' franchise. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and was produced by ...
'', aired weeknights at 12:37 a.m. from February 1994 to August 1995
* ''280-JOCK'' followed ''News Hour Final'' at 12:05 a.m. until it was cancelled in late 1994, which pushed back ''Late Show'' to 12:37 a.m. for several months.
* ''
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Jay Leno that first aired from May 25, 1992, to May 29, 2009. It resumed production on March 1, 2010 and ended on February 6, 2014.
The fourth incarnation of the ...
'', aired weeknights at 12:07 a.m. from August 1995 to August 2001
*As
CHUM Limited
CHUM Limited was a Canadian media company based in Toronto, Ontario in operation from 1945 to 2007. The company was founded in 1945 as York Broadcasters Limited when it launched CHUM-AM 1050 but was acquired by salesman Allan Waters in 1954. CHU ...
held the rights to this program throughout the rest of the country, when
CIVI-TV
CIVI-DT (channel 53) is a television station in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, part of the CTV 2 system. It is owned and operated by Bell Media alongside Vancouver-based CTV station CIVT-DT, channel 32 (although the two stations maintain s ...
launched in nearby
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 ...
, the broadcast rights transferred over to that station.
*''
The Oprah Winfrey Show
''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', often referred to as ''The Oprah Show'' or simply ''Oprah'', is an American daytime broadcast syndication, syndicated talk show that aired nationally for 25 seasons from September 8, 1986, to May 25, 2011, in Chicag ...
'' (1986–2011) aired at 4:00 p.m. on CHAN because the station owned the provincial television rights to this show, dating back to its days as a CTV affiliate. In every other market in which CTV owned a station, that network owned the local rights to ''Oprah''.
News operation
![Global BC van](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/Global_BC_van.jpg)
CHAN-DT presently broadcasts 47½ hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with 7½ hours on weekdays and 5 hours on Saturdays and Sundays); in regards to the number of hours devoted to news programming, it is the highest local newscast output among Global's television stations (either owned-and-operated or affiliated), as well as among all Canadian television stations (after the drastic reduction of
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 ...
's
CHCH-DT
CHCH-DT (channel 11) is an independent television station in Hamilton, Ontario, 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 Jack ...
total weekly news programming due to budget cuts in December 2015).
The station's Burnaby studios also serve as the production facilities for Global's Vancouver-based English national evening newscast ''
Global National
''Global National'' is the English language flagship national newscast of Canada's Global Television Network. Editorial and production staff are based out of Global's national news centre at Global BC in Burnaby, British Columbia, with Dawna Fries ...
'' and the
Shaw Multicultural Channel
Shaw Multicultural Channel (or simply Shaw Multicultural) is a Canadian ethnic cable television community channel, offering programming in 20 different languages. It is owned and operated by Shaw Communications, and is available on cable systems ...
Mandarin
Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to:
Language
* Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country
** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China
** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...
national evening newscast ''Global National Mandarin'' (2012–2016). Unlike most Global stations that carry midday newscasts, CHAN airs its noon newscast seven days a week.
The station's newscast schedule is very similar to that of an affiliate of the
Big Three television networks
In the United States, there are three major traditional commercial broadcast television networks — CBS (Columbia Broadcasting System), NBC (National Broadcasting Company), and ABC (American Broadcasting Company) — that due to their longev ...
(
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
,
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
and
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
) in the United States, although as Global lacks a national morning news program, CHAN's weekday morning newscast runs a length similar to that of many
Fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelve sp ...
and other news-producing non-Big Three U.S. stations.
CHAN's news operation is well respected in the industry. Ever since the station first aired an hour-long newscast in the 1960s, a major part of the station's cash flow has gone into its news department, and it has garnered high ratings and major awards since then. The station's 6:00 p.m. ''
News Hour'' broadcast has been the highest-rated local
newscast
News broadcasting is the medium of broadcasting various news events and other information via television, radio, or the internet in the field of broadcast journalism. The content is usually either produced locally in a radio studio or televis ...
in the province for many years, as well as the most-watched in all of Canada.
The station's on-air news style was even used as an inspiration for
Ted Turner
Robert Edward "Ted" Turner III (born November 19, 1938) is an American entrepreneur, television producer, media proprietor, and philanthropist. He founded the Cable News Network (CNN), the first 24-hour United States cable news, cable news ch ...
's
CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...
, as both use the newsroom as a backdrop during the broadcast. The current newsroom was constructed in 1975; it was rebuilt in the early 1990s, moving the studio out of the newsroom, but keeping it as a backdrop, and was later remodeled in 2001 and 2006.
Starting in the early 1990s, CHAN harboured ambitions of producing an early evening national newscast from its studios. In fact, several newscast pilots were produced at CHAN, suggesting the network was seriously considering such a move. However, that newscast never materialized; instead, CHAN began producing ''
Canada Tonight
''Canada Tonight'' is a Canadian television newscast which aired on stations owned by Western International Communications (WIC) from 1993 to 2001. It was produced out of the studio of CHAN-TV (BCTV) in Burnaby, British Columbia. There were two ...
'', which aired on most WIC-owned stations beginning in 1993.
Two versions were produced: one for British Columbia itself, hosted by CKNW radio commentator
Bill Good
Bill Good Jr. (born 1945) is a Canadian television personality and host of talk radio shows, all in the province of British Columbia. After 21 years with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, first doing radio before moving to Television news, ...
(who later went to CTV's current Vancouver O&O station, CIVT-TV, and retired in December 2010) and a national version, hosted by
Tony Parsons, who also anchored CHAN's nightly news program, the ''News Hour''. When Canwest purchased CHAN, the stories that were once sourced from CTV's other affiliates throughout the country were replaced by stories sourced from Global's affiliates.
From 2001, when the station became "Global BC", the news department underwent a minor retitling as ''BCTV News on Global''. CHAN opted to keep the "BCTV" name for its newscasts, since that brand was still very well respected in the province; it also wanted to keep CIVT from using the name itself, as it contained the letters "CTV." In addition, CHAN became the headquarters for Global's national news centre and the production facility for a new national newscast, ''Global National'' (which is currently anchored by former CTV and NBC correspondent
Dawna Friesen
Dawna Friesen is a Canadian television journalist, currently the chief anchor and executive editor of ''Global National''.L. ScrivenerDawna Friesen: From shy prairie girl to Global News anchor ''Toronto Star'', September 20, 2010. She was previ ...
on weeknights and on weekends by Robin Gill; originally anchored beforehand by
Kevin Newman), thus fulfilling its longstanding dream of producing a national newscast. The program is broadcast live-to-tape from Vancouver at 5:30 p.m. (
Pacific Time Zone
The Pacific Time Zone (PT) is a time zone encompassing parts of western Canada, the western United States, and western Mexico. Places in this zone observe standard time by subtracting eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time ( UTC−08:00) ...
), airing locally prior to the 6:00 p.m. ''News Hour'' broadcast.
The "BCTV" brand was finally discontinued when Global introduced its new logo and on-air identity on February 6, 2006; CHAN's newscasts were rebranded as ''Global News'' (with its overall branding changing to "Global BC") at this point. In 2006, Global struck an agreement with the Canadian Traffic Network to supply the station with a
Robinson R44
The Robinson R44 is a four-seat light helicopter produced by Robinson Helicopter Company since 1992. Based on the company's two-seat Robinson R22, the R44 features hydraulically assisted flight controls. It was first flown on 31 March 1990 and ...
news
helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...
with gyroscopic camera mounts. The helicopter is branded as "Global 1" – the same designation used for the news helicopters used by other Global stations – which is shared with CKNW, and is the second news helicopter in Vancouver (after that used by CIVT).
On December 16, 2009, Tony Parsons anchored his final newscast at CHAN after 34 years as anchor of the ''News Hour''. It was expected that he would remain until after the
2010 Winter Olympics
)''
, nations = 82
, athletes = 2,626
, events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines)
, opening = February 12, 2010
, closing = February 28, 2010
, opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean
, cauldron = Catriona Le May DoanNancy GreeneWayne Gretz ...
, but left much earlier than expected for unknown reasons. Parsons joined CHEK as anchor of its 10:00 p.m. newscast on March 15, 2010 and also began anchoring the evening newscasts at CBC Television O&O
CBUT
CBUT-DT (channel 2) is a television station in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, serving as the West Coast flagship of CBC Television. It is part of a twinstick with Ici Radio-Canada Télé station CBUFT-DT (channel 26). Both stations sh ...
(channel 2) on April 12, 2010, remaining at both stations until his retirement in 2013.
CHAN began broadcasting its local newscasts in
high definition on September 20, 2010 (Dawna Friesen was named anchor of ''Global National'' on that same date); the station debuted a new graphics package as well as an HD-ready virtual set two weeks later on October 4, which utilized the same set with minor changes to the desk. CHAN-DT uses
Betacam SP
Betacam is a family of half-inch professional videocassette products developed by Sony in 1982. In colloquial use, "Betacam" singly is often used to refer to a Betacam camcorder, a Betacam tape, a Betacam video recorder or the format itself.
All ...
analogue videotape for all of its local advertisements and for pre-recorded segments within its newscasts; however, the station is slowly moving to a digital format for video production.
MPEG-2
MPEG-2 (a.k.a. H.222/H.262 as was defined by the ITU) is a standard for "the generic video coding format, coding of moving pictures and associated audio information". It describes a combination of Lossy compression, lossy video compression and ...
transmission is used on nearly all non-local broadcasts.
On January 11, 2012, Shaw Media filed a license application with 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 ...
(CRTC) – which was approved on July 20, 2012 – to launch a
Category B digital-only specialty service
A specialty channel (also known in the United States as a cable channel or cable network) can be a commercial broadcasting or non-commercial television channel which consists of television programming focused on a single genre, subject or targete ...
that would serve as a British Columbia-focused news channel operated by CHAN-DT and utilizing its news staff. The channel, which was given the name
Global News: BC 1, launched on March 14, 2013. It became the fourth regional news channel in Canada and the first outside of Ontario (joining Toronto-based 24-hour services
CP24
CP24 is a Canadian English-language specialty news channel owned by Bell Media, a subsidiary of BCE Inc. and operated alongside the Bell-owned CTV Television Network's owned-and-operated television stations CFTO-DT (CTV Toronto) and CKVR-DT ( ...
and the now-defunct
City''News Channel'', and Hamilton-based independent station – and former CHAN sister station under their prior Canwest ownership – CHCH-DT, which carries a heavy local newscast schedule along with some entertainment programming).
On August 27, 2012, CHAN-DT expanded its weekday morning newscast to four hours, with the addition of a half-hour at 5:00 a.m. (making it only the second Canadian station with a pre-5:30 a.m. morning newscast, after CHCH-DT), the 5:00 to 6:00 a.m. hour of the newscast was re-titled as the ''Early Morning News''; in addition on September 2, 2012, the station also expanded its Sunday morning newscast to three hours with the addition of an hour at 7:00 a.m. The expansions of CHAN's morning newscasts were part of a benefits package that was included as a condition of the sale of the Global Television Network to Shaw Communications.
Notable current on-air staff
*
Dawna Friesen
Dawna Friesen is a Canadian television journalist, currently the chief anchor and executive editor of ''Global National''.L. ScrivenerDawna Friesen: From shy prairie girl to Global News anchor ''Toronto Star'', September 20, 2010. She was previ ...
(2010–present); anchor of ''
Global National
''Global National'' is the English language flagship national newscast of Canada's Global Television Network. Editorial and production staff are based out of Global's national news centre at Global BC in Burnaby, British Columbia, with Dawna Fries ...
''
*
Chris Gailus (2006–present); Global News Hour at 6 co-anchor (weekdays)
Notable former on-air staff
*
Jennifer Burke Jennifer Burke, née Lo, also known as Jennifer Mather is a Gemini-award-winning Canadian television journalist, previously a national news anchor for CTV News Channel in Toronto.
For years Burke was a reporter and anchor for television stations i ...
(1991–1998); now at
CTV News Channel
*
Robin Gill – (Sunday 2008–2021 and Saturday 2011–2021) anchor of ''
Global National
''Global National'' is the English language flagship national newscast of Canada's Global Television Network. Editorial and production staff are based out of Global's national news centre at Global BC in Burnaby, British Columbia, with Dawna Fries ...
''
*
Bill Good Jr. (1993–2001); was co-anchor at
CTV Vancouver
CIVT-DT (channel 32) is a television station in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, serving as the West Coast flagship of the CTV Television Network. It is owned and operated by network parent Bell Media alongside Victoria-based CTV 2 station ...
from 2001 to 2010, retired at
CKNW
CKNW is a news/talk formatted radio station in Vancouver, British Columbia, owned by Corus Entertainment. It broadcasts on an assigned frequency of AM 980 kHz, and is unusual in that it is a 50,000-watt, Class A station broadcasting on a region ...
in 2014
*
Frank Griffiths
Frank A. Griffiths (December 17, 1916 – April 7, 1994) was a Canadian media executive through his company, Western International Communications Ltd. (WIC).
Frank Griffiths was born in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. In 1956, along with ...
(1963–1994)
*
Rena Heer (2005–2007); was at
CIVT-DT
CIVT-DT (channel 32) is a television station in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, serving as the West Coast flagship of the CTV Television Network. It is owned and operated by network parent Bell Media alongside Victoria-based CTV 2 station C ...
in Vancouver
*
Deborra Hope (1981 – March 27, 2014)
*
Jill Krop; (2005–2020); former reporter & anchor from 2005 to 2015 and Global BC news director and station manager from 2015 to 2020
*
Mi-Jung Lee
Mi-Jung Lee (born September 12, 1966) (; born in Chuncheon, Gangwon-do, South Korea) is a Canadian television journalist and news anchor based in Vancouver, British Columbia. She formerly co-anchored the weeknight 6pm newscast alongside Scott Robe ...
(1992–1998); now at
CIVT-DT
CIVT-DT (channel 32) is a television station in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, serving as the West Coast flagship of the CTV Television Network. It is owned and operated by network parent Bell Media alongside Victoria-based CTV 2 station C ...
in Vancouver
*
Pamela Martin (1977–2001); was Director of Engagement for Premier
Christy Clark
Christina Joan Clark (born October 29, 1965) is a former Canadian politician who was the 35th premier of British Columbia (BC), from 2011 to 2017. Clark was the second woman to be premier of BC, after Rita Johnston in 1991, and the first female ...
& Liaison to the Leader of the
British Columbia Liberal
*
Tara Nelson Tara Nelson is a Canadian television journalist and news anchor, and most recently was the European bureau chief for Global Television Network's news division. In 2010, Nelson assumed the role as the anchor of the News at 6 at CTV Calgary, replacing ...
(February 26, 2005 – 2008); now at
CFCN-DT
CFCN-DT (channel 4) is a television station in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, part of the CTV Television Network. It is owned and operated by network parent Bell Media alongside cable-exclusive CTV 2 Alberta (based in Edmonton with sister station CFRN ...
in Calgary
*
Kevin Newman (2001–2008); served as Ottawa-based anchor of ''
Global National
''Global National'' is the English language flagship national newscast of Canada's Global Television Network. Editorial and production staff are based out of Global's national news centre at Global BC in Burnaby, British Columbia, with Dawna Fries ...
'' from 2008 to 2010, now with
CTV News
CTV News is the news division of the CTV Television Network in Canada. The name ''CTV News'' is also applied as the title of local and regional newscasts on the network's owned-and-operated stations (O&Os), which are closely tied to the national ...
*
Harvey Oberfeld (1979–2006)
*
Tony Parsons – ''News Hour'' anchor (1975–2009) later anchor at
CHEK-DT
CHEK-DT (channel 6) is an independent television station in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, serving Vancouver Island and Greater Vancouver. The station is owned by the CHEK Media Group, a consortium made up of station employees and local inv ...
and
CBUT-DT
CBUT-DT (channel 2) is a television station in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, serving as the West Coast flagship of CBC Television. It is part of a twinstick with Ici Radio-Canada Télé station CBUFT-DT (channel 26). Both stations sh ...
from 2010 to 2013
*
Jack Webster (1978–1987)
Technical information
Subchannels
Analogue-to-digital conversion
CHAN has been broadcasting in digital since April 11, 2008 on
UHF channel 22. On June 29, 2011, CHAN-DT increased its effective radiated power (ERP) from 8.3 kW to its post-transitional allotment of 40 kW. CHAN's primary Vancouver transmitter was the station's only one required to go digital by the transition deadline.
CHAN shut down its analogue signal, over
VHF channel 8, on August 31, 2011, the official date in which Canadian television stations in CRTC-designated mandatory markets
transitioned from analogue to digital broadcasts. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 22.
[Digital Television – Office of Consumer Affairs (OCA)](_blank)
Through the use of
PSIP
The Program and System Information Protocol (PSIP) is the MPEG (a video and audio industry group) and privately defined program-specific information originally defined by General Instrument for the DigiCipher 2 system and later extended for the AT ...
, digital television receivers display CHAN-DT's
virtual channel
In most telecommunications organizations, a virtual channel is a method of remapping the ''program number'' as used in H.222 Program Association Tables and Program Mapping Tables to a channel number that can be entered via digits on a receiver's ...
as its analogue-era VHF channel 8. The station's electronic program guide began functioning properly on January 28, 2012.
On October 15, 2012, CHAN-DT's transmitters in Kelowna, Penticton and Vernon were converted to digital signals.
These were the station's first rebroadcast transmitters to be converted to digital as part of Shaw's efforts to convert all of its television transmitters to digital by 2016.
Transmitters
Note that the transmitters in
Kelowna
Kelowna ( ) is a city on Okanagan Lake in the Okanagan Valley in the southern interior of British Columbia, Canada. It serves as the head office of the Regional District of Central Okanagan. The name Kelowna derives from the Okanagan word ''kiÊ ...
and the surrounding area (CHKL-TV) are ''in addition'' to
CHBC-DT
CHBC-DT (channel 2) is a television station in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada, part of the Global Television Network. It is owned and operated by network parent Corus Entertainment, and maintains studios on Leon Avenue (near Water Street) in ...
, a co-owned separate Global station in Kelowna that originates its own local evening newscasts, but which carries Global BC's programming at virtually all other times. CHAN is the last owned-and-operated station of the three major Canadian broadcast networks (CBC, CTV and Global) in the Vancouver market to still operate rebroadcasters throughout most of the province.
''
Semi-satellites are displayed in bold italics.''
References
External links
Global BCCorus Entertainment corporate websiteCanadian Communications Foundation – CHAN-DT History*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chan-Dt
Mass media in Burnaby
HAN-DT
Corus Entertainment
Television channels and stations established in 1960
HAN-DT
1960 establishments in British Columbia
National Hockey League over-the-air television broadcasters