9/2/2001: "CH News"

CHEK-TV became CH yesterday during the affiliation switch. The first ever CH newscast came on at 5pm. It was anchored by Phillip Campbell. There wasn't an opening animation to the newscast, just the new theme music being played over a live shot of Victoria's Inner Harbour for a couple of seconds. The newscast came from the newsroom, as the main studio is being renovated. The station now uses similar or even identical lower-third name graphics used by CHCH Hamilton, also known as CH. Toward the end of the newscast, there was a preview of the new CH news set. I missed the exact date of the new set's debut, but from the looks of it it should be sometime this week.

9/1/2001: Television in Vancouver: Dawn of A New Era

September 1st, 2001. The day had finally come, as Vancouver played host to the largest affiliation switch ever to happen in this country. 4 TV stations were involved in this switch: CHEK-TV6 in Victoria, CHAN-TV8, CKVU-TV10 and CIVT-TV32 in Vancouver. Here are the Crossover news from CHAN-TV and CIVT-TV.

CHAN-TV: now Global BC

Anchors on Morning News and Noon News Hour did comment briefly on the switch to Global, on the station's last day as BCTV. However, it wasn't until the Early News when anchor Deborra Hope explained the switch in more details.

The last ever edition of Canada Tonight, anchored by Ted Chernecki, began at 5:30pm. This BC edition (I believe) used the maple leaf symbol instead of the usual BCTV logo. At about 5:50, Ted Chernecki explained the switch to the viewers once again, and was joined in studio by GlobalNational host Kevin Newman, who gave a brief preview of the new national newscast. Canada Tonight ended at around 5:57.

The News Hour began at 6pm. At about 6:20, the switch was once again explained to the viewers, this time by Tony Parsons, who urged viewers not to change the dial. That was followed by a taped, lengthier preview of GlobalNational by Kevin Newman. Toward the end of the preview, there even was a sneak peek at the new studio, as well as the opening animation to GlobalNational. At the end of the show, there was brief mention of the switch during the closing chit-chat, and the News Hour ended at around 7pm.

News Hour Final with Ted Chernecki began at around 11:35pm. The switch to Global was the second headline mentioned during the opening animation. At some point of the newscast, Ted Chernecki reminded viewers that BCTV would switch to Global at midnight, and the taped preview of GlobalNational that was played on News Hour was shown once again. During the toss-over to Barry Deley for sports, Ted mentioned that it would be BCTV's last ever sportscast. The newscast ended at around 12:10am, with Ted telling viewers to stay tuned for the new look Saturday Morning News. Following the newscast was The Late Show with David Letterman, but there wasn't a Global ident preceding that show.

While the station was off-air, colour bars were shown on-screen with the Global crescent logo at the center. At about 6am (I believe), the colour bars switched over to a black screen, also bearing the crescent logo at the center.

The new Global "People" ident(s) starting playing this morning. One such ident preceded the BCTV Saturday Morning News on Global. The new Global graphics, new music and a new studio debuted on Global BC's first newscast, anchored by Jill Krop. 

CIVT-TV: Now BC CTV

Yesterday was Aamer Haleem's last day at CIVT. At the end of CTV Breakfast, they showed some flashback clips of Aamer during his 4 years at the station. Tamara Stanners will officially take over as the show's host next Tuesday.

Mi-Jung Lee anchored the last VTV News at Five. She also explained the switch to the viewers. She will move to the late news on weeknights, while CTV News at Five will be co-anchored by Ravi Baichwal and Coleen Christie. Baichwal anchored the last VTV News at Six.

Sonja Nordahl anchored the last VTV News Late Night. Starting next week, Mi-Jung Lee will take over anchor duty for the late news, and Nordahl will return to reporting. Nordahl and sports anchor Kathy Kovacs hugged at the end of the show.

This morning at 6am, the start of the broadcast day, the station showed a start-up sequence (featuring our national anthem O Canada) that lasted a little more than 2 minutes. That was followed by legal ID information that featured the "BC CTV" brand both visually and aurally.

Bridget Anderson will anchor the first newscast on BC CTV tonight at 6pm.

CKVU: now ckvu13

Right now I only have limited information on CKVU. But here's what I know:

- Last night at the end of Global News, Dag Sharman told viewers that Global has become ckvu13, even showing the changing of signs outside their building. Then the Global News logos that were displayed on the monitors behind Sharman were replaced by "ckvuNews" logos. As the newscast ended, the standard studio shot revealed that the Global crescent logo that was usually at the front of the desk was covered up.

- This morning I saw a ckvu13 ID, featuring 2 construction workers supposedly working on something. Then it says "under construction; ckvu13."

- This morning at 7:52 there was a news update with Dag Sharman. It still uses the wireframe globe symbol, the news theme and the graphics left over from the Global era, only substituting the "Global News" text with the "ckvuNews" text. Also apparently their new slogan is "Your 24 Hour News Source."

More details of the switches on CHEK and CKVU will be coming soon (hopefully tomorrow).

The Third Party

Last night on Chinese Fairchild TV there even was a report on Crossover Television. CIVT GM Robert Hurst and CHAN News Director Steve Wyatt were interviewed. However, they wrongly reported that CKVU will switch from Global to CHUM TV. They had no mention of CHEK-TV.

Aamer Haleem Leaves CIVT

VTV/ CTV Breakfast host Aamer Haleem announced on air this morning that he will leave the station. His surprise departure was only announced to the staff members yesterday. Tomorrow will be his last day, where he will co-host the show with Tamara Stanners, his official replacement. He is looking into other opportunities outside of CTV BC. TVYVR wishes Aamer the best of luck in the future.

CH News Anchors Lineup

I got a bit confused about the station's new talent lineup after reading that TV Week article. So I turned to my source for help. Here's the lineup...

Bruce McAllister: Noon
Hudson Mack: 5pm
Meribeth Burton and Bruce McAllister: 6pm
Nancy Sinclair: Go! Magazine (6:30pm)
Barry MacDonald: Sports Page (from Vancouver)
Sophie Lui: Late News
Phillip Campbell: Weekends

CHEK-TV: CHEK-TV/ CH

An insider from CHEK-TV contacted me last night regarding what the station's doing in preparation for the switch to CH...

-The station's already putting "CH News" logos on several news vans. 

-Employees are told not to wear any clothing with the old checkmark logo on it.

(I remember seeing an ad last night about a joint giveaway with La-Z-Boys where Gordie Tupper wears a shirt that bears the checkmark logo. But then they must have shot this ad a couple of weeks ago.)

-A party is planned for Friday the 31st: "CHEK Out" for current and former staff members. More civilized CH launch parties are planned for Nanaimo and Victoria September 4th.

Thanks to the insider who wishes to remain anonymous.

CIVT-TV: VTV/ CTV BC

This morning, CIVT Vice-President Robert Hurst and News Director Tom Walters appeared on the 1000th show of "VTV Breakfast." During the interview with host Aamer Haleem, they explained the changes coming to the CIVT newsroom September 1st. They first talked about the morning news and information time slot, which consists of local "CTV Breakfast" and network "Canada AM." Then they explained the addition of Bill Good and Pamela Martin to the news team. Toward the end of the interview, viewers even got a sneak peak at the new news set, built for the switch to "CTV British Columbia." The set consists of a lot of wood, which they claim makes the news department look "more traditional." By the way, the flatscreen TV behind Aamer Haleem showed the "CTV Breakfast" logo. It's basically the current "VTV Breakfast" sign, except the VTV logo's taken out and replaced by the CTV network logo.

Quite a few things happened while I was on vacation, enough that I have to start a new page for them. Here's a recap of what happened, with the news items from Stickguy, Northwest Broadcasters and The Province.

CHAN-TV: BCTV/ Global BC

When BCTV becomes Global BC, there will be changes in the anchor lineup as well. Deborra Hope, the current noon news anchor, will become the anchor of the Early News at 5pm, as the replacement for Pamela Martin who jumped to CTV BC. Randene Neill will be promoted to the noon news anchor spot. Ted Chernecki will leave the anchor post for reporting, and Jill Krop will move to weekdays as the News Hour Final anchor. Replacing her in the weekend spots will be Suzette Meyers, who used to co-anchor the news on CKVU. And in an act against tradition, a newscast on CHAN-TV will have 2 co-anchors. The extended morning news will be co-hosted by Lynn Colliar, currently the solo-anchor of the AM news, and Steve Darling, the current weekend sports anchor. Newly-hired Jay Durant will now handle sports duty on weekends. (Got all that?)

Also, the news on CHAN-TV will be known for the time being as "BCTV News on Global (BC)."

CKVU-TV: Global/ ckvu13

CKVU's new, apparently temporary brand will be "ckvu13." So it does seem very possible that the station's newscasts will be called "ckvu13 news." CKVU is expected to be re-branded as "Citytv" in fall 2002.

(Earlier I guessed that CKVU's new brand will be simply "CKVU." So my guess wasn't that far off...) 

Talent-wise, The Province reported that the station had hired Deb Matejicka and Dan O'Toole for sports duties, as most of its current sports anchors will be gone. Earlier rumors had it that Russ Froese and Jennifer Mather might leave the station, but they turn out to be false as both recently signed 2-year contract extensions.

CIVT-TV: VTV/ CTV BC

Stickguy reported that CTV BC's morning show will be called "CTV Breakfast," instead of "Vancouver Breakfast" as earlier speculated. The morning show will run from 5 to 7am.

Speaking of the breakfast show, the caller hotline (where the 9th caller of the day gets whatever they're giving away) had changed from (604)280-VTV-9 to 604-280-CTV-9.

Also, current CIVT reporter Danelle Balfour will become CTV's correspondent in Mexico City.

Meanwhile, as the station is heavily promoting its new anchor team of Bill Good and Pamela Martin, it turns out Ms. Martin will not debut on CTV BC until October. A non-compete clause was included in her previous contract with BCTV, therefore prohibiting her from appearing on any other rival stations until October 8th. So until then, Bill Good will solo-anchor the suppertime news on CTV BC.

On another note, the former chief anchor team of Ravi Baichwal and Bridget Anderson will be split up. Baichwal will co-anchor the 5pm news with Coleen Christie. Anderson will move to the weekends. Jina You takes on the AM news in replacement for Coleen Christie.

CIVI-TV: The New VI

CIVI-TV Victoria and its re-broadcaster CIVI-TV-2 (CITT-TV) had already started test transmissions as of August 21st. The station and the re-broadcaster will officially launch October 4th.

NOWTV

The station will launch September 15th. It will occupy cable channel 10. Its desired call sign, CFVT, was not approved, and the station's official call sign had not yet been made public. Also, there haven't been reports so far on any test transmissions.

Crossover Promos 

I've seen the following since my return (the descriptions might be somewhat inaccurate):

CH promos on CHEK: So far I've seen 2 variants (there's probably more). Both involve a TV set showing the station's current checkmark logo, which then is somehow replaced by the CH crescent logo.

"ckvu13" Trailers: Those program trailers bear the "ckvu13" name. Otherwise I myself have yet to see a promo proclaiming the name change from Global to ckvu13.

Joint Ad Campaign (I saw this on CKVU): The ad that I saw basically consists of an out-of-vision guy reading the text displayed on a full screen graphic. I can't remember the v/o (and I have yet to capture a screenshot of the ad), but basically the guy says that "exciting changes will be coming to the BC television market," that some programs will be seen on a different station, that "new stations with new programs" will be coming to the market as well, and that BC broadcasters urge viewers to check www.shaw.ca for more information.

Screenshots and (where applicable) Real Videos of the promos/trailers/etc. will be coming up on TVYVR (that is, if I can tape them). The same goes for any "Global BC" promos once I spot and capture them.

Ads on Billboards and in Publications

On my way home from the airport, I saw a billboard ad by Global that reads "The stars have re-aligned." with pictures of 4 actors/ actresses featured on Global programs. Underneath the pictures reads "Moving September 1st" and the Global crescent logo is at the bottom right corner. Similar ads are also published in TV Week and The Province, even with broadcast, cable and satellite channel listings of CHAN-TV as well, but no actual mentions of CHAN-TV or BCTV.

I also saw a billboard ad version of the CHEK/CH promo on Burrard Street.