Craig Wireless Systems, Ltd. (initially Western Manitoba Broadcasters Ltd., then Craig Broadcast Systems, Inc., & next Craig Media, Inc. before its current branding) is a Canadian company which offers Multichannel Multipoint Distribution Service in

Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...

and

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

. In 2004, the company's media assets (its TV stations & A-Channel TV network) were acquired by

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), CHUM-AM 1050 but was acquired by salesman Allan Waters in ...

History

The company has its roots in Western Manitoba Broadcasters, a company John Craig founded alongside Dr. H.O. McDiarmid, Alexander Boyd, Edmund, Fotheringham, Harold Smith, James Rust and M.W. Kerr in 1948. In the mid-1940s, Craig had bought radio station CKX-FM from the Manitoba Government Telephone System upon its relinquishment of its two licenses for CKX-TV & CKY-FM. By 1955, John's son, Stuart Craig, had succeeded his father as President and General Manager of CKX-TV (which brought television to

Brandon, Manitoba Brandon () is the second-largest city in the province of Manitoba, Canada. It is located in the southwestern corner of the province on the banks of the Assiniboine River, approximately west of the provincial capital, Winnipeg, and east of the ...

) & CKX-FM (which followed in 1963). Craig took it upon himself to expand the operations of both CKX stations; those expansion operations resulted in the launch of the broadcast company. The company was based in

, then later in

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

with Drew Craig, John's grandson & Stuart's son, as its CEO. In 1991, Western Manitoba Broadcasters changed its name to Craig Broadcast Systems. Craig Broadcast Systems was the owner of the original A-Channel system; CKX, a CBC affiliate, in Brandon, Manitoba; and three

digital television Digital television (DTV) is the transmission of television signals using Digital signal, digital encoding, in contrast to the earlier analog television technology which used analog signals. At the time of its development it was considered an ...

specialty channels: MTV Canada (now MTV2), MTV2 (now Stingray Juicebox), and TV Land Canada (later replaced by Comedy Gold, now decommissioned). For a time in the 1980s and 1990s, the company also produced a local newscast in Dauphin,

; however, the company did not operate a full television station in that city, but had a contract with

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV, or simply CBC) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language terrestrial television, broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcasting, p ...

to run the newscast as a local insertion on the city's CBWT retransmitter. Eventually, the company was also operating in the telecommunications industry, offering wireless cable television and high-speed Internet services. The company also operated an American subsidiary in

Honolulu Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...

, which in early 2003 slashed its staff ahead of merger talks with Oceanic Cable. In 2003, after securing financing in the area of $145 million ($110 million from Providence Equity Partners & a $35 million line of credit from RBC Capital Markets and BMO Nesbitt Burns), the company reorganized its conventional and specialty television operations, with the conventional TV operations (A-Channel & its stations) under the Craig Media branding, while the specialty television channels were placed within Craig Media under Craig Specialty. Craig Media was the owner of Toronto 1, a local television station in located in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

. In 2004, the company's TV broadcasting operations (A-Channel & its stations) were acquired by

for CA$265 million ($197.8 million) in cash. CHUM did not acquire the company's telecommunications operations, which remain in operation under the Craig Wireless name, which the company took on after CHUM's acquisition of its television broadcasting assets. Upon the name change, another of John's grandsons, Boyd, took over the company.

Former assets

Local stations

* A-Channel (now Citytv) ** CKAL -

** CKEM -

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

** CHMI -

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

* CKX - Brandon,

(ceased operations on October 2, 2009) * CKXT -

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

(ceased operations as of November 2011)

Digital television stations under Craig Specialty

* MTV Canada, now MTV2 Canada - originally conceived as "Connect" (youth lifestyle programming) * MTV2 Canada, now Stingray Juicebox - originally conceived as "Music 5" (a service consisting of 5 separate music video channels: Pop, Dance, Urban, R&B, and "Hot Hits") * TV Land Canada, replaced by Comedy Gold in 2010 (ceased operations as of September 2019) - originally conceived as "Retro" (classic television programming)

Proposed, but never launched

* A-Channel News Now (24 hr. news) * Action Channel (action-oriented programming) * Jazz & Blues TV * PATV (Pets & Animals) * The MET (music and entertainment television dedicated to the presentation and promotion of emerging Canadian artists in the rock genre) * Stampede (western-themed programming) * Click TV (programs about the Internet, computers and e-business) * Style TV (devoted to programming about fashion, design and architecture)

References

External links

Broadcaster Magazine: ''CHUM buying Craig, will spin-off Toronto 1''

Craig, Stuart , History of Canadian Broadcasting

Craig gets financing » Playback
{{CATV Canada Companies listed on the TSX Venture Exchange Internet service providers of Canada Cable and DBS companies of Canada Defunct broadcasting companies of Canada Mass media companies established in 1948 Telecommunications companies established in 1948 Companies based in Brandon, Manitoba 1948 establishments in Manitoba Companies based in Winnipeg Companies formerly listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange