CHEX-TV-2

CHEX-TV-2
Oshawa, Ontario
Canada
Branding Global Durham (general)
Global News (news)
Channels Analog: 22 (UHF)
Affiliations CTV, Global (news only)
Owner Corus Entertainment
(591989 B.C. Ltd.)
First air date 1992 (as transmitter of CHEX-TV)
2004 (as separate station)
Sister station(s) CHEX-DT
Former affiliations CBC Television (1992–2015)
Transmitter power 5.5 kW
Height 133.5 m
Transmitter coordinates 43°57′16″N 78°48′22″W / 43.95444°N 78.80611°W / 43.95444; -78.80611
Licensing authority CRTC
Website www.channel12.ca

CHEX-TV-2, UHF analogue channel 22, is a low-powered CTV-affiliated television station serving the Regional Municipality of Durham that is licensed to Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. The station is owned by Corus Entertainment. CHEX-TV-2 maintains studio facilities located on Simcoe Street (just north of King Street) in Downtown Oshawa, and its transmitter is located on Enfield Road in Clarington. Although branded on-air as "Global Durham", the station's Global content is limited to only news programming. The station is carried in Oshawa on Rogers Cable channel 12; the station is also available on Rogers Cable digital channel 129 in the Greater Toronto Area.

Although operating as a separate station from Peterborough sister station CHEX-DT, it retains the CHEX-TV-2 callsign used when the station operated as a rebroadcaster of CHEX.

CHEX-TV-2 ended its affiliation with CBC Television on August 31, 2015, when it became an affiliate of CTV.[1]

History

CHEX-2's former logo used until February 2004.

Oshawa, although larger in population density than Peterborough, had not been granted a television station in the original channel assignments issued during the 1950s. Instead, the city was folded into the Toronto market. CHEX-TV-2 signed on the air in 1992, when CBC Television affiliate CHEX-TV in Peterborough began relaying its programming on a new rebroadcast transmitter in Oshawa; prior to 1988, the UHF channel 22 allocation had been used by CIII-TV's Toronto-area transmitter (and de facto flagship transmitter) in Uxbridge.

In 1993, the Oshawa transmitter became a semi-satellite with some slight differences in local programming. In 2004, the station relaunched as a full-fledged station with a very different schedule; for instance, the station produces a separate local newscast, Studio 12 News and current affairs program In Depth with Dan Carter, that are produced independently from CHEX and focus on the Durham Region. The station remained affiliated with CBC despite the fact its signal overlaps with that of the network's Toronto owned-and-operated station (O&O) CBLT-DT; as a result, the Toronto market was served by two CBC stations (the first since 1961, when CHCH-TV became an independent station).

Former logo used until October 2016.

On May 20, 2015, Corus and Bell Media announced an agreement whereby Corus' CBC affiliates, including CHEX-TV-2, would leave the public network and instead affiliate with CTV. The affiliation switch took effect on August 31, 2015.[2] Due to the overlapping coverage discussed above, most TV service providers serving the region already carry CBLT, and any that do not will have to add a CBC affiliate such as CBLT to their basic services in order to comply with CRTC regulations.[3] CTV also serves the CHEX-TV-2 viewing area through its Toronto O&O CFTO-DT; in consequence, the Toronto market is now served by two CTV outlets in most parts of the market (CFTO plus either CHEX-TV-2 or CKCO-DT Kitchener). However, CHEX-TV-2 provides exclusive terrestrial coverage of CTV programming in most of the Durham Region and Toronto's east side, as CFTO's digital signal on channel 9 is nulled to the east.[4]

The switch was approved by the Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission on August 27, 2015, when it dismissed objections by Rogers Media and by a resident who complained that as he only received television over the air, he would lose his ability to receive CBC Television as a result of the disaffiliation.[5]

Legally, CHEX-TV-2's affiliation with CTV is described as a "program supply agreement", and not as an "affiliation" (a term with specific legal implications under CRTC rules), as Corus maintains editorial control over the stations' programming and the ability to sell local advertising, and is not delegating responsibility for CTV programs aired by the station to Bell Media.[6]

Programming

Most of the CTV Television programs broadcast by CHEX-TV-2 includes the network's daytime programming, as well as primetime and weekend programs—the rest of the station's schedule is filled with syndicated shows and local programming.

As with CHEX-TV in Peterborough, due to the station's overlapping coverage area with CBLT, CHEX-TV-2 was occasionally used during the early 2010s to carry Stanley Cup Playoff games that CBC owned the rights to but which were not aired on any other CBC stations due to another game deemed to be of greater national interest occurring simultaneously, providing an option for viewers in the Greater Toronto Area that wished to see the secondary game without resorting to Internet streaming. This practice ended following the 2014 Stanley Cup playoffs, as the CBC's rights are now sub-licensed from Rogers Communications and any conflicting games are simply reassigned to other Rogers-owned channels.

CHEX-TV-2's current local programs include Global Durham News, a series of newscasts that air weekdays at 5 p.m., 7 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. Also, CHEX-TV-2 simulcasts other newscasts from CHEX.

Starting on September 6, 2016, CHEX-DT Peterborough, CHEX-TV-2 Oshawa and CKWS-DT Kingston will begin airing Global National at 5:30 PM, as well as simulcasting The Morning Show from CIII-DT in Toronto.[7] The station was rebranded as Global Durham on October 31, 2016, although entertainment programming is still supplied from CTV.

Digital television and high definition

Despite serving part of the Greater Toronto Area, as an Oshawa-licensed station, CHEX-TV-2 was not required to participate in the August 31, 2011 digital switch for major markets, and thus is now the last remaining analogue television signal still operating in the GTA. However, a separate high-definition feed is available to Bell Fibe TV subscribers in its primary coverage area.[8]

References

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/3/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.