View source for CKNY-DT

{{Short description|Television station in North Bay, Ontario}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2024}}
{{Infobox television station
| callsign = CKNY-DT
| logo = CTV logo 2018.svg
| logo_size = 200px
| branding = {{ubl|[[CTV Northern Ontario]] (general)|''[[CTV News]] [[Northern Ontario]]'' (newscasts)}}
| digital = 12 ([[VHF]])
| virtual = 10
| network = CTV Northern Ontario
| affiliations = [[CTV Television Network|CTV]]
| airdate = {{start date and age|1955|12|19|p=y}}
| location = [[North Bay, Ontario]]
| country = Canada
| former_callsigns = {{ubl|CKGN-TV (1955–1960)|CFCH-TV (1960–1970)|CKNY-TV (1970–2020)}}
| former_channel_numbers = '''Analog:''' 10 (VHF, 1955–2020)
| owner = [[Bell Media Inc.]]
| former_affiliations = [[CBC Television]] (1955–1971)
| erp = 28 [[kW]]
| haat = {{convert|192|m|ft|0|abbr=on}}
| coordinates = {{coord|46|3|47|N|79|26|7|W|type:landmark}}
| licensing_authority = [[CRTC]]
| website = {{URL|https://northernontario.ctvnews.ca|CTV Northern Ontario}}
}}

'''CKNY-DT''' (channel 10) is a [[television station]] in [[North Bay, Ontario]], Canada, [[owned and operated]] by the [[CTV Television Network]], a division of [[Bell Media]]. The station maintains a transmitter adjacent to Ski Hill Road (southwest of [[Ontario Highway 534|Highway 534]]) in [[Nipissing, Ontario|Nipissing]].

CKNY-DT is part of the [[CTV Northern Ontario]] [[television system|sub-system]], and is the only station in the sub-system to broadcast a [[digital terrestrial television|digital]] signal. It essentially operates as a ''de facto'' [[semi-satellite]] of [[CICI-TV]] in [[Greater Sudbury|Sudbury]], running the same programming as that station at all times (except for certain commercials and regional news inserts during its newscasts). CKNY-TV's studios were located on Oak and Wyld Streets (near the shoreline of [[Lake Nipissing]]) in downtown North Bay, and were closed in 2020.

==History==
CKNY was originally launched by local businessmen Gerry Alger and Gerry Stanton in 1955, as a [[CBC Television|CBC]] affiliate with the callsign CKGN. The station was subsequently acquired by [[The Thomson Corporation]] in 1960, and recalled as CFCH.

In 1970, Thomson reached a deal to sell the station to [[CJOH-DT|Bushnell Communications]] of Ottawa, although the transaction was never completed.<ref>"Timmins showman at CRTC". ''[[The Globe and Mail]]'', June 18, 1970.</ref> Around the same time, the [[Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission]] (CRTC) rejected all of the applicants in the first round of license hearings to extend CTV service to [[Greater Sudbury|Sudbury]], the largest market in the region; because the North Bay and [[Timmins]] markets were deemed too small to support competing television stations, the commission directed Cambrian Broadcasting of Sudbury and [[J. Conrad Lavigne]] of Timmins to collaborate on an alternative plan in which all three cities would receive CTV service without losing CBC.<ref name=partnership>"CRTC proposes CBC-CTV partnership for alternative Northern Ontario service". ''[[The Globe and Mail]]'', March 6, 1970.</ref> Effectively, the decision declared all three cities to be a single television market, and prevented new television companies from entering and potentially upsetting the balance.<ref name=partnership/>

In the first revised plan, Cambrian's [[CKSO-TV]], which was now slated to become the CTV affiliate, would simply have added a rebroadcaster in North Bay on channel 4, while leaving the ownership status and affiliation of CFCH unchanged.<ref name=rebroadcast>"Rebroadcast programs: CRTC grants Sudbury licences". ''[[The Globe and Mail]]'', August 6, 1970.</ref> The CRTC rejected this proposal, however, as it did not adequately resolve the commission's concerns about CFCH's financial viability in the face of competition.<ref name=rebroadcast/> Accordingly, in 1971 the station was directly acquired by Cambrian Broadcasting and became an affiliate of CTV and a semi-satellite of CKSO, while Lavigne's new CBC affiliate, [[CHNB-TV|CHNB]], went on the air at the same time.

For a number of years in the 1960s and '70s, CFCH/CKNY operated rebroadcast transmitter CJTK-TV in [[Témiscaming, Quebec]] on channel 3. It is not known when it was shut down.

Throughout the 1970s, CKNY and CHNB aggressively competed with each other for advertising revenue; by 1980, however, the stations ran into exactly the problem the CRTC had been trying to prevent by linking them to Sudbury in the 1970 hearings: they were losing money and very nearly bankrupt.<ref name=approves>"CRTC approves amalgamation of Northern Ontario TV firms". ''[[The Globe and Mail]]'', February 29, 1980.</ref> In 1980, the CRTC approved the merger of the two stations, along with their co-owned stations in Sudbury and Timmins, into the [[Mid-Canada Communications|MCTV]] [[duopoly (broadcasting)#Canada|twinstick]].<ref name=approves/>

[[File:MCTV CKNY North Bay.jpg|thumb|right|An MCTV logo with its CKNY call sign from the 1980's. Less frequently, versions of this logo were sometimes seen over the Mid-Canada Television stations which included both the call sign and the MCTV branding.]]

In 1990, the stations were acquired by [[Baton Broadcast System|Baton Broadcasting]]. Baton subsequently became the sole corporate owner of CTV, and sold CHNB to the CBC in 2002.

In 1999, CKNY began rebroadcasting on channel 11 in [[Huntsville, Ontario]] (CKNY-TV-11), licensed to [[Dwight, Ontario|Dwight]] and serving the [[District Municipality of Muskoka|Muskoka]] and [[Parry Sound District|Parry Sound]] area on a transmitter which previously rebroadcast the programming of [[CKCO-DT|CKCO]] (as CKCO-TV-4).<ref>[http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/1999/DB99-163.HTM Decision CRTC 99–163]</ref> Initially a semi-satellite with a very small amount of local programming, the Huntsville station subsequently lost local programming, and then changed its programming and advertising feed source to CICI.<ref>[http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2005/db2005-57.htm Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2005–57]</ref>

Since the acquisition of CTV by [[Bell Canada]], CKNY has gradually downsized its local operations, with all newscasts across the CTV Northern Ontario system (formerly MCTV) centralized out of Sudbury; as of 2020, the station only had three local employees (two reporters and a cameraman). In May 2020, CKNY closed its local studio on Oak Street, with the remaining employees now working remotely.<ref>{{Cite web|title=CTV closes its North Bay location|url=https://www.sootoday.com/local-news/ctv-closes-its-north-bay-location-2395851|access-date=June 2, 2020|website=SooToday.com|language=en}}</ref>

Just after midnight on October 30, 2020, CKNY-TV turned off its analog signal and signed on its digital signal on channel 12.<ref>{{Cite web|date=October 26, 2020|title=Upcoming Signal Frequency Update Changes Viewer Access to CTV2 Barrie and CTV North Bay, Effective October 30, 2020|url=https://www.bellmedia.ca/the-lede/press/upcoming-signal-frequency-update-changes-viewer-access-to-ctv2-barrie-and-ctv-north-bay-effective-october-30-2020/|access-date=November 18, 2020|website=The Lede|publisher=[[Bell Media]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_m-aTNsMTVc|title=CTV (2020) - Last analog transmission in North Bay|via=[[YouTube]]|date=October 30, 2020}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://northernontario.ctvnews.ca CTV Northern Ontario]
*[https://broadcasting-history.ca/television/television-stations/ontario/ontario-northern/ckny-tv/ CKNY-DT] at The History of Canadian Broadcasting by the [[Canadian Communications Foundation]]
*{{RecnetCanada|CKNY-DT}}
{{Bell Media}}
{{Ontario TV}}
{{CTV Stations}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ckny-Dt}}
[[Category:1955 establishments in Ontario]]
[[Category:CTV Television Network stations|KNY-DT]]
[[Category:Television channels and stations established in 1955]]
[[Category:Television stations in North Bay, Ontario|KNY-DT]]