CIPA-TV

CTV station in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan

53°3′26″N 105°50′30″W / 53.05722°N 105.84167°W / 53.05722; -105.84167LinksWebsite
  • CTV Prince Albert
  • CTV Saskatoon

CIPA-TV (analogue channel 9) is a television station in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Canada, part of the CTV Television Network. Owned and operated by network parent Bell Media, it is a semi-satellite of CFQC-DT in Saskatoon. CIPA-TV's studios are located on 10 Street West (near the North Saskatchewan River) in Downtown Prince Albert, and its transmitter is located between Louis Reil Trail/Highway 11 and Highway 2, south-southwest of the city.

History

CIPA began transmission on January 12, 1987. In 2002, CTV parent company Bell Globemedia (now Bell Media) sold CIPA's former CBC-affiliated twinstick sister station, CKBI-TV, to the CBC, which then made CKBI a rebroadcaster of CBKST in Saskatoon. CBC shut down the transmitter in 2012, leaving CIPA as the only over-the-air broadcast in Prince Albert.

In November 2023, the station launched its digital signal.[1]

News programming

CIPA's former logo (1998–2001)

CIPA has made several attempts at local newscasts over the years. However, due to recent cutbacks, as of February 12, 2024, its only local newscast is CTV News at Five. The newscast is presented by Chantel Saunders from the CTV Saskatoon studios, with reporters filing stories from Prince Albert. It otherwise simulcasts CTV Saskatoon's 6 p.m. newscast, as well as the provincial newscasts in the morning and at 11:30 p.m. that originate from CTV Regina.

Former transmitters

  • CIPA-TV-1 Alticane
  • CIPA-TV-2 Big River[note 1]
  • CKBQ-TV Melfort
  • CKBQ-TV-1 Nipawin
Notes
  1. ^ CIPA-TV-2 was among a long list of CTV rebroadcasters nationwide to have shut down on or before August 31, 2009, as part of a political dispute with Canadian authorities on paid fee-for-carriage requirements for cable television operators.[2] A subsequent change in ownership assigned full control of CTVglobemedia to Bell Canada; as of 2011, these transmitters remained in normal licensed broadcast operation.[3]

On February 11, 2016, Bell Media applied for its regular license renewals, which included applications to delete a long list of transmitters, including CIPA-TV-1, CIPA-TV-2, CKBQ-TV and CKBQ-TV-1. Bell Media's rationale for deleting these analog repeaters is below:

"We are electing to delete these analog transmitters from the main licence with which they are associated. These analog transmitters generate no incremental revenue, attract little to no viewership given the growth of BDU or DTH subscriptions and are costly to maintain, repair or replace. In addition, none of the highlighted transmitters offer any programming that differs from the main channels. The Commission has determined that broadcasters may elect to shut down transmitters but will lose certain regulatory privileges (distribution on the basic service, the ability to request simultaneous substitution) as noted in Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2015-24, Over-the-air transmission of television signals and local programming. We are fully aware of the loss of these regulatory privileges as a result of any transmitter shutdown."

At the same time, Bell Media applied to convert the licenses of CTV 2 Atlantic (formerly ASN) and CTV 2 Alberta (formerly ACCESS) from satellite-to-cable undertakings into television stations without transmitters (similar to cable-only network affiliates in the United States), and to reduce the level of educational content on CTV2 Alberta.[4][5]

References

  1. ^ "How to keep watching CTV over the air in Prince Albert and Yorkton". CTV News Saskatoon. Bell Media. November 15, 2023. Retrieved February 16, 2024.
  2. ^ CTV list of transmitters to be shut down Archived December 24, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ "CRTC renews licences of most English-language television services: New licence terms to bolster funding for original Canadian programs". Archived from the original on October 5, 2012. Retrieved June 7, 2012.
  4. ^ "The Runtime Service cannot communicate with Entitlements Service".
  5. ^ (CRTC), Government of Canada, Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (June 15, 2016). "Notice of hearing - 22 to 24 November 2016 - Laval, Quebec - 28 November to 2 December 2016 - Gatineau, Quebec - Renewal of television licences held by large English- and French-language ownership groups". crtc.gc.ca. Retrieved April 20, 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

External links

  • CTV Prince Albert
  • CTV Saskatoon
  • CTV Saskatchewan News
  • CIPA-TV at The History of Canadian Broadcasting by the Canadian Communications Foundation
  • CIPA-TV in the REC Canadian station database
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*Currently being sold to other owners pending approval of the CRTC.