Saskatchewan

CIPA-TV, Prince Albert, CTV Inc.

1986
Baton Broadcasting Inc. of Toronto announced plans to make two major purchases in Saskatchewan that would give it domination of the province with only one exception - CJFB-TV Swift Current. Baton already owned CFQC-TV Saskatoon and had now agreed to buy (90%) CKCK-TV Regina from Harvard Developments Ltd. Harvard in turn would purchase 10% of CFQC-TV and would participate in the management of both stations. Baton had owned CFQC-TV (and AM) for 14 years. The deal came only two weeks after Baton agreed to buy Yorkton Television (CKOS-TV/CBC and CICC-TV/CTV Yorkton and CKBI-TV/CBC Prince Albert). Joe Garwood, vice president and managing director of Baton, said the purchases would create a large unit capable of taking on new challenges, such as the recent approval for CanWest Broadcasting to operate new TV stations at Regina and Saskatoon (SaskWest Television Inc.). The CRTC had described CKCK-TV and CFQC-TV as being among the most profitable TV stations in Canada.

A CRTC hearing in April was to hear proposals by Baton to acquire Yorkton Television Co. Ltd. and Prince Albert TV Inc. Prince Albert TV had also applied for a new CTV station at Prince Albert (channel 9 with 27,000 watts video ERP), which if licensed, would be part of the Baton purchase. Included in the deal were some 14 rebroadcast transmitters of the three existing stations. The CKCK-CFQC deal was also to be heard. If approved (Baton 90%, Harvard 10%), both stations would be owned by limited partnerships in each city. The Baton subsidiaries involved in the deals were CFTO-TV Ltd. and Russwood Broadcasting Ltd.

The Baton Saskatchewan deals were approved by the CRTC. This included the application for the new CTV affiliate at Prince Albert. The resulting new twin-stick operation in Prince Albert would employ 15 additional staff. Until now, CTV service was only available in the area via cable and through the signal of CFQC-TV, received over-the-air from Saskatoon, some 132 kilometers to the south. Prince Albert Television Inc. had been owned 100% by Yorkton Television Co. Ltd., licensee of the CBC/CTV twin-stick operation at Yorkton (CKOS-TV and CICC-TV). The new station and CKBI-TV would also be operated as a twin-stick facility, sharing staff and studio facilities.

As part of the overall Saskatchewan purchases, Baton planned to spend $5.6 million to upgrade studio and production facilities, $2.8 million for transmitting facilities, $2.3 million for a 2-way microwave system, and over $1 million for drama production. 44 new jobs were expected to be created. There would be increased regional programming, including a major provincial Mon-Fri 6:30 p.m. newscast, and expanded availability of the CBC network. Baton also undertook provisions to ensure the continued viability of CJFB-TV Swift Current, the only independent TV station left in Saskatchewan.

Baton Broadcasting made the following appointments: R.L. Skinner to president of Shamrock Television Systems Inc., Bruce Cowie to president of CKCK-TV Ltd. and Dennis Fisher to president CFQC Radio. Shamrock was the Baton subsidiary that took ownership of the Prince Albert and Yorkton television stations.

1987
CIPA-TV began broadcasting on January 12.

On December 21, CIPA-TV was authorized to increase power (ERP) from 27,000 to 145,000 watts (video).

1988
Leon Brin was named general manager of CKBI-TV / CIPA-TV. He had been news director at CFQC-TV in Saskatoon. Former CKBI-TV / CIPA-TV general manager Howard Cooper was named president and general manager of CFQC-TV.

James Fusnak was appointed executive vice president and general manager of Russwood Broadcasting, the company which managed a number of Saskatchewan television stations owned by Baton Broadcasting. In a related move, Ronald Skinner, president of Shamrock Television of Yorkton, was promoted to executive vice president of Russwood.

Changes at Baton Saskatchewan's Russwood Broadcasting: James Rusnak, executive vice president and general manager; Ronald Skinner, executive VP; Mel Friesen, general manager of CKCK-TV; Howard Cooper, president and general manager of CFQC-TV; Leon Brin, VP and GM of CKBI-TV and CFQC-TV.

1989
CKBQ-TV Melfort changed its programming source from CFQC-TV Saskatoon to CIPA-TV (it became a rebroadcaster of CIPA).

CIPA-TV / CKBI-TV escaped serious damage on December 27 when fire destroyed two nearby businesses. The building housing the stations suffered water and smoke damage. At the time of the fire, three technical staff were on duty at the stations. On-air programming wasn't affected.

1991
Baton Broadcasting's CKCK-TV Regina, CFQC-TV Saskatoon, CKBI-TV and CIPA-TV Prince Albert and CKOS-TV and CICC-TV Yorkton all had their licenses renewed to June 30, 1996. The stations were owned or controlled by Baton's Russwood Broadcasting, which had spent a total of $16.1 million on the stations, including construction of a microwave system linking the four broadcast centres. The CRTC rejected a bid by the Prince Albert stations to sell local advertising in North Battleford. In addition, CIPA-TV was given approval to add a transmitter at Nipawin, to rebroadcast the programs of that station via CKBQ-TV Melfort. The new transmitter would broadcast on channel 12 with a power of 5,400 watts.

On July 26, Shamrock Television was authorized to add a transmitter at Big River, to rebroadcast the programs of CIPA-TV Prince Albert via CIPA-TV-1 Alticane. The new transmitter would operate on channel 7 with a power of 51 watts.

1995
Baton Broadcasting laid off 34 people at three of its Saskatchewan stations (Regina, Yorkton and Prince Albert). BBS was now using photo journalists to combine the jobs of reporter and camera operator into one.

1997
BBS (Baton) eliminated the job of president of its Saskatchewan group of stations, leaving Deryl Ring out of a job after four years in that position.

1999
Baton Broadcasting changed its corporate name to CTV Inc.

2001
Bell Globemedia (Bell Canada Enterprises, Thomson Canada Ltd., and The Woodbridge Co. Ltd.) purchased CTV Inc.

By this time, CIPA-TV operated the following transmitters: CIPA-TV-1 Spiritwood/ Alticane, CIPA-TV-2 Big River, CKBQ-TV Melfort and CKBQ-TV-1 Nipawin.

On September 1st, CIPA-TV was rebranded as CTV Prince Albert.

2002
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation received CRTC approval to purchase CKBI-TV (it would become a re-broadcaster of CBKST Sasakatoon). CTV held on to CIPA-TV.

2006
On July 21, the CRTC approved an application for ownership restructuring by Bell Globemedia (BGM), parent company of CTV, stemming from a deal in December 2005 that saw two new investors added to the company.  Thomson family's Woodbridge Co. Ltd. increased its stake in BGM to 40 per cent from 31.5 per cent, while BCE Inc. reduced its holding to 20 per cent from 68.5 per cent.  Two other investors were added to the deal, including Torstar Corp. and Ontario Teachers Pension Plan, each with 20 per cent.

On December 14th, it was announced that effective January 2007, Bell Globemedia would be renamed CTVglobemedia Inc.

2009
On May 15th, the CRTC announced a one-year licence renewal, effective September 1st 2009, for all of CTVglobemedia's Over-The-Air stations,  including CIPA-TV, "...to give these broadcasters some flexibility during the current period of economic uncertainty." Group-based licence renewals would then be addressed in the spring of 2010. The Commission also stated that it recognized the impracticability of imposing any conditions relative to 1-1 ratios between Canadian and non-Canadian programming in the ensuing year, given the programming commitments that were already in place.

The Commission would however continue to explore various regulatory measures "...to ensure that English-language television broadcasters devote an appropriate proportion of their expenditures to Canadian programming."

                                                  Written by Bill Dulmage - Updated November, 2009