CFSK-DT
Global TV station in Saskatoon
52°10′28″N 106°26′3″W / 52.17444°N 106.43417°W / 52.17444; -106.43417CFSK-DT (channel 4) is a television station in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, part of the Global Television Network. Owned and operated by network parent Corus Entertainment, the station has studios on Robin Crescent on the northwest side of Saskatoon (near the Saskatoon John G. Diefenbaker International Airport), and its transmitter is located on Agra and Settlers Ridge Roads (near Highway 41), northeast of the city.
History
The station first signed on the air on September 6, 1987, under the ownership of Canwest. CFSK and its sister station in Regina, CFRE-TV, were initially branded as "STV" (short for "Saskatchewan Television"). It joined the Canwest Global System in 1990. At the time that STV went on the air, it was Saskatoon's third locally based over-the-air television station, joining a market that included CTV's CFQC and the then-operational CBC affiliate, CBKST. However, technically it was Saskatoon's second fully licensed station; CBKST was licensed as a rebroadcaster of Regina's CBKT.
Canwest discontinued the STV branding, along with all other individual local station brandings in 1997, when the Global Television Network brand was expanded to all of Canwest's stations. One of STV's major broadcasts in its early years was the children's program Size Small Island (that show was originally broadcast on sister station CKND-TV in Winnipeg), which was syndicated around the world (the show's host, Helen Lumby, officially launched the mini-network's first broadcast in Saskatoon in 1987). Since the closure of CBKST in 2012, CFSK is one of only two over-the-air broadcast stations originating from Saskatoon.
News operation
CFSK-DT presently broadcasts 24+1⁄2 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with 4+1⁄2 hours each weekday and one hour each on Saturdays and Sundays); it is among the few Global stations (and one of the few television stations in Canada) to carry a prime time newscast during the 10 p.m. hour.
On December 5, 2011, CFSK-DT debuted a three-hour newscast on weekday mornings (under Global's Morning News brand), which runs from 6 to 9 a.m. Around the same time, CFSK became the first television station in Saskatoon to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition.
On August 20, 2012, CFSK expanded its half-hour 10 p.m. newscast to one hour, which was retitled from Prime News to News Hour Final; the addition of the morning newscast and the expansion of the prime time newscast is part of an expansion of local news programming on Global owned-and-operated stations across Canada as part of a benefits package that was included as a condition of the sale of the Global Television Network to Shaw Communications.[2]
As of September 2023, Global Saskatoon's only newscast presented from its studios is Global News Morning from 6 to 9 a.m.
Global News at 5, Global News at 6 and Global News at 10 are presented by Lisa Dutton from the Global Winnipeg studios. The 5 p.m. newscast is a province-wide show (also seen on Global Regina), while the 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts are Saskatoon-focused. Weather reports for both Global Regina and Saskatoon are produced by meteorologist Peter Quinlan from the Saskatoon studios.
Global News at 10 was previously presented by Global Toronto anchors Crystal Goomansingh and Antony Robart from September 2015 until 2018. From 2018, presentation of the 10 PM news returned to Saskatchewan, albeit anchored from Global Regina by anchors Carlyle Fiset and Elise Darwish.
The weekend editions of Global News at 6 and Global News at 10 are presented from the Global News Centre in Toronto by Mark Carcasole.
With CFQC-DT cancelling several of its local news programming in September 2023 (replaced with provincial news programming), CFSK is the only station in Saskatoon to provide local news in the morning, late night and on weekends.
Notable former on-air staff
- Darren Dutchyshen – sports (anchor of the prime time edition of SportsCentre on TSN)
- Jay Onrait – sports (later and now back with TSN; was with Fox Sports 1 in August 2013 – March 2017)
Technical information
Subchannels
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4.1 | 1080i | 16:9 | CFSK-HD | Main CFSK-DT programming / Global |
| 4.2 | 480i | 4:3 | CFSK-SD | SD simulcast of CFSK-DT 4.1 |
Analogue-to-digital conversion
On August 15, 2011, 2+1⁄2 weeks before Canadian television stations in CRTC-designated mandatory markets were slated to transition from analogue to digital broadcasts, CFSK flash cut its digital signal into operation on UHF channel 42. Through the use of PSIP, television receivers will list CFSK-DT's virtual channel number as 4.1.[4]
References
- ^ Ownership Chart 32H – CORUS – TV & Discretionary Services
- ^ Global News Boosts Local Programming Across the Country Archived 2014-01-07 at the Wayback Machine, Broadcaster Magazine, May 30, 2012.
- ^ RabbitEars TV Query for CFSK
- ^ "Digital Television – Office of Consumer Affairs (OCA)". Archived from the original on 2013-07-07. Retrieved 2013-07-13.
External links
- Global Saskatoon
- CFSK-DT at The History of Canadian Broadcasting by the Canadian Communications Foundation
- CFSK-TV in the REC Canadian station database
