CJON

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CJON-TV
Image:Cjon.png
St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador
Branding Newfoundland Television (NTV)
Slogan Canada's Superstation
Analog channel 6 (VHF)
Digital channel Allocation: 42 (UHF)
Affiliations Independent
Owner Newfoundland Broadcasting Company Ltd. (Stirling family)
Founded 1955
Call letters meaning C (St.) JO (h) N ('s) (presumed meaning)
Former callsigns }}}
Former affiliations CBC, CTV
Effective radiated power }}}
Website www.ntv.ca

CJON-TV is a Canadian television station broadcasting on channel 6 (cable channel 5) in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, with additional transmitters and cable coverage throughout the province. It is known on-air as NTV (for "Newfoundland Television"). Owned by Geoff Stirling and family, it is the only privately-owned station in Newfoundland and Labrador.

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History

In 1955, Newfoundland Broadcasting Company Ltd., jointly owned by Geoff Stirling and Don Jamieson and owner of radio station CJON (now CJYQ), applied for and received a licence for the first TV station in Newfoundland. The station went on-air later that year as a CBC affiliate. Stirling has contended that his was the only group willing to invest in such a station, although other sources have suggested that Stirling and Jamieson used their political connections to prevent the CBC from setting up first.

In any event, the CBC launched CBNT in 1964, and CJON became an affiliate of the new CTV network. For a time it was known as NBC, for the "Newfoundland Broadcasting Company", until 1978 when the United States NBC network became available on cable. To avoid confusion, CJON was rebranded NTV.

In 1972, CJON became one of the first, if not the first, TV stations in Canada to broadcast around the clock every night (see "Overnight programming", below).

In 1977, Stirling and Jamieson unwound their partnership, with Jamieson taking the AM radio stations - which were eventually sold, and in several cases shut down - and Stirling retaining NTV and the newly-launched FM station CHOZ.

CJON was the only CTV affiliate not to participate in the network's 1993 restructuring from a cooperative to a private company, remaining a very minor shareholder (with less than 0.1%) until Baton Broadcasting acquired the network in 1997.

NTV became available on C-Band satellite in 1994. The original purpose of this was to ensure that viewers in rural regions, were able to receive the best signal possible; the station became available in Labrador for the first time. However, it became a popular choice for satellite viewers across the continent, as NTV's signal was unscrambled (free). The station began to make reference of its new coverage area in its promotions and branding (it adopted the "globe" logo it maintains today). However, the extent of NTV's actual reach and popularity is unclear and may have been exaggerated somewhat, as C-Band's appeal is largely restricted to hobbyists.

Due to issues involving program rights, it was forced to leave C-Band in 1996. NTV eventually returned to C-Band, but as an encrypted digital signal which required expensive (roughly $1500) received to decode. It also became available on the Bell ExpressVu and Star Choice DBS services, beginning in 1997. The increased audience reach on these services and through digital cable services - far beyond that in Newfoundland and Labrador alone - has led the station to brand itself, most recently, as "Canada's Superstation". Nonetheless its reach pales in comparison to most specialty services, let alone the major networks.

NTV disaffiliated from CTV in 2002 in a dispute over affiliation terms. Historically, NTV had aired 40 hours of network programming per week, including national advertising, for which it received airtime payments from CTV. It then purchased rights to additional CTV programming for which NTV could sell all advertising. NTV wanted to air all its CTV programming on the latter basis only; according to NTV officials, CTV responded by increasing rights fees significantly beyond the station's ability to pay.

The disaffiliation did, however, remove one major side effect of NTV's carriage of CTV programming. Whenever possible, NTV asserted the superiority of its brand over that of CTV, leading to the use of a large opaque bug specifically designed to cover the CTV logo during network time, to the annoyance of many viewers. The opaque bug is used today only for U.S. simulcasts, while the remaining CTV News broadcasts are now "co-branded" with both logos.

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Programming

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Early 1990s to 2002

Until the fall of 1992, CTV programming made up a clear majority of NTV's schedule, although acquired programming from CanWest Global and others was present. However, from 1992 on, when CTV reduced its programming to 40 hours per week, NTV suddenly became much more reliant on other broadcasters, primarily CanWest (which owned the Canadian rights to many dominant programs of the era such as Seinfeld and The Cosby Show), but also Baton Broadcasting and WIC.

During this period, and indeed well before, NTV consistently aired 4.5 hours of prime time programming each night, a great deal of it of American origin, from 8:00 p.m. NT to 12:30 a.m. NT (11:00 p.m. ET), as opposed to the North American norm of three hours. In fact, for at least one season in the mid-1990s, first-run primetime programming began at 7:30 and ran until 12:30. Although the net result was less than the mandated 50% Canadian content between 6 p.m. and midnight, this was not deemed to violate Cancon regulations as CTV National News did not feed an 11:00 p.m. AT edition until 1997, although the practice was maintained without CRTC complaint until disaffiliation in 2002.

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2002 to present

In 2002, NTV lost access to most CTV programming, but maintained rights to CTV National News, Canada AM, and other CTV news programming free of charge, on condition it continue to provide coverage of Newfoundland and Labrador events for CTV and CTV Newsnet. Additionally, it purchased rights to additional CTV programming, such as Desperate Housewives, on an individual, per-season basis. (Housewives aired on NTV in its first season but not since, and presently no CTV entertainment programming appears regularly on NTV.) It remains unclear whether CTV plans on a full return to the market - like NTV, CTV has benefited from satellite and digital cable carriage of several CTV stations in Newfoundland. Nevertheless it has simulcast some flagship series on ASN, which is even more widely available in Newfoundland.

Most of NTV's programming since 2002 has instead come from Global Television, with small contributions from syndicated content. As a result its "prime time" hours have been reduced, now running from 8:00 to 11:30 (now followed immediately by CTV News). While it may be considered the de facto Global affiliate in Newfoundland, NTV does not yet carry Global National or ET Canada, and many entertainment programs do not air day and date with the Global network (although Global stations have significant scheduling flexibility themselves for many programs). In fact, a number of NTV's prime time programs air nationally on CH, not Global itself.

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Local programmming

Until the mid-1990s, NTV's newscasts, under various names and with various anchors, lingered well behind those of CBNT, specifically the long-running Here & Now, in local ratings. The author Michael Harris served as anchor and news director for a few years in the early 1990s but was unable to turn the tide despite presiding over several well-received documentaries.

However, Here & Now's start time was 6:30 p.m., whereas the norm in most markets was 6:00 p.m. NTV capitalized by relaunching its own 6:30 newscast, the NTV Evening News, as the NTV Evening Newshour, a program with a 6:00 start. Ratings for its first half-hour soon climbed above those of Here & Now, although the latter program maintained the overall lead until it was replaced by the hybrid local-national Canada Now newscast in 2000. NTV now claims, citing BBM ratings, that its newscast is the most dominant one in North America, although whether the recent return of Here & Now could affect this remains to be seen.

On weeknights, the Newshour is fronted by news anchors Fred Hutton and Lynn Burry, and weather personality Toni-Marie Wiseman. (As a frequent substitute anchor, and Sunday co-anchor with Larry Jay, Wiseman is credited equally with Hutton and Burry.) While popular, some have criticized its focus on the St. John's area, and particularly events there such as car accidents, while marginalizing reports from the rest of the province. It has frequently been promoted as "the award-winning NTV Evening Newshour", referring to a RTNDA Canada "Best Newscast - Medium Market" award from 1998, and several, less prominent awards (for individual reports) received since.

Repackaged versions of the same newscast air at midnight and at 6:00 a.m. the following day. NTV Newsday, a live newscast that airs weekdays at noon, frequently also relies on content from the previous night's Newshour.

As with many local stations in North America, non-news local programming was common in the station's early days but had decreased significantly by the 1990s. Since 2002, perhaps given the recent ratings dominance of CTV over Global, NTV has attempted to distinguish itself further through additional local programming, mainly from independent local producers. Examples include the late-evening comedy George Street TV and reality series Newfoundland Karaoke Idol and Define Yourself. It also airs repeats of programs from the NTV archives, most frequently Jim Furlong's archival series A Little Good News, under the title ntv.ca (the program, however, has nothing to do with the station's website).

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Overnight programming

As noted above, NTV claims to have been the first television station in Canada to remain on the air continuously, 24 hours a day every day. While this is now the norm at most stations in North America, NTV is unique - particularly among Canadian stations - in that it rarely if ever sells overnight timeslots for paid programming. However, the eclectic alternatives to traditional broadcast fare that have resulted have garnered considerable attention. In its earliest days, a viewer might see a constant shot of a fish tank in the overnight hours.

The overnight programming schedule generally consists of Late Show with David Letterman or Saturday Night Live, followed by additional prime time or syndicated programming that NTV cannot carry during the rest of the day, and in some cases movies on Saturday and Sunday nights. The period then concludes with Scenes of Newfoundland (and Labrador), a full half-hour or hour dedicated to showing viewers scenes of the province with traditional music from local artists playing in the background.

While, in fact, this schedule is followed more often than not, over the years there have been numerous instances where scheduled programming has been pre-empted, presumably at the behest of station owner Geoff Stirling, for "specials" featuring, among other things, Mr. Stirling's metaphysical thoughts, his interviews with likes of the late Newfoundland Premier Joey Smallwood, a "Computer Animation Festival", and other programs that are truly miscellanea. While things like this tend to anger viewers, Geoff Stirling's eclectic programming has its cult following.

Even if programming is not pre-empted, on occasion viewers may still see a message, likely from Mr. Stirling, displaying his opinions and thoughts as a "ticker" on the bottom of the screen. One time, viewers of The Tonight Show (when that show was carried by NTV) claimed to see such a ticker announcement seeking the arrest and prosecution of a man who used NTV's logo on his website - generally considered to be a satirical one - without authorisation. The site has since been taken down.

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Technical information

NTV's other transmitters (not including community-owned rebroadcasters) are:

— * Serving Gander, Grand Falls-Windsor and area.

In addition to its extensive cable carriage, the station is carried by Star Choice on channel 310, and by Bell ExpressVu on channel 199.

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References

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External link

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