CBUT | CHEK | CHAN | CKVU | CHNM | CIVT | CIVI

Channel 2/ CBUT-TV
Cable Channel 3
Network: CBC
Ownership: CBC
Website: vancouver.cbc.ca

CBC's journalistic standards had always been quite high. However, the public broadcaster had also been plagued with lack of funds. The most recent budget cut resulted in the almost cancellation of local newscasts on owned-and-operated stations, including Vancouver's "Broadcast One." Instead, the network premiered "Canada Now," half of which consists of national and international news produced incidentally out of Vancouver. Another half consists of local news produced at local CBC studios. The national/international half is anchored by Ian Hanomansing, the local half in Vancouver by Gloria Macarenko, who used to anchor "Broadcast One."

News Title: "Canada Now"
Slogan: "Breaking News and All the Rules"
Air Time: 6-7pm weeknights (Ian Hanomansing, Gloria Macarenko)
Previous News Title(s): "NewsCentre", "CBC Evening News", "Broadcast One"
(including but not limited to this list)

Channel 6/ CHEK-TV 
Cable Channel 6
Network: Independent/ CH
Ownership: CanWest Global
Website: www.canada.com/victoria/chtv 

Since the launch of its news department in 1972, CHEK-TV had been the only source for local news on the Island. In the days as CHEK-TV, it had newscasts at noon, 5pm and 11:30pm on weekdays. Then came Crossover in 2001, where a couple of changes took place. First, "CHEK-TV News" was renamed "CH News." As the station dropped the simulcast of the News Hour on CHAN-TV, it added in its place a new 30-minute 6pm newscast, followed by a magazine-type of program titled "Go!" "Sports Page" migrated here from CKVU as well. All this took place as CIVI was about to launch, ending CHEK's monopoly on the Island for almost half a century.

News Title: "CH News"
Slogan: "News That's Closer To Home"
Air Time: 
(Weekday)

(Weekend)
5-6pm: CH News at Five

Previous News Title(s): "CHEK-6 News," "CHEK-TV News"
(including but not limited to this list)

Channel 8/ CHAN-TV
Cable Channel 11
Network: Global
Ownership: CanWest Global
Website: vancouver.globaltv.com

BCTV had been the dominant market rating powerhouse for at least the last 2 decades. The News Hour with Tony Parsons was not only the most watched newscast in the Vancouver/ Victoria area, but also the entire province. The newscast would also be among the top 10 most watched programs on most nights, often finishing first. The station's other newscasts would also dwarf the competition if there even was any. It was the only Vancouver station to have newscasts everyday at noon and on weekend mornings. It produced about 40 hours of news each week, one of the most in the Pacific Northwest. It also produced "Canada Tonight," a semi-national newscast which was aired on other WIC stations in the country. It was truly a proud news operation.

Things started to change once CanWest Global took over. First, Canada Tonight became the temporary replacement to First National in Eastern Canada. Then, several months before the affiliation switch, the station lost 2 of its best-known news anchors, Bill Good and Pamela Martin, to distant rival CIVT. More changes followed during the switch. In order to preserve its well-respected name while introducing a Global connection, the news operation was now known as a clumsy "BCTV News on Global." Canada Tonight was axed, replaced by GlobalNational with Kevin Newman, produced at the station's studio. Through all the chaos, the hours and the quality of the newscasts survived, and the suppertime newscast remained invincible. But for how long? Only time will tell.

News Title: "BCTV News on Global"
Slogan: "k(NO)w Sooner"" (for promos)
Air Time: 
(weekday)

(weekend)

Previous News Title(s): "BCTV News" (assumed news title)
(including but not limited to this list)

Channel 10/ CKVU-TV
Cable Channel 13
Network: Independent
Ownership: CHUM Television
Website: www.citytv.com/vancouver 

BCTV's stranglehold on the news ratings in the Lower Mainland had been so strong that its status was never seriously challenged, even long after CKVU signed on in 1976 and began to provide an alternative. Nonetheless, CKVU still managed to become a respectable second-place station. And while BCTV began to experiment with newscasts at other dayparts, CKVU held its own and focused on its existing products in the early evening and late night. Its nightly sportscast, "Sports Page", was also very popular among local sports fans.

That was not the end of the story, as the station continued to see a high turnover rate among its on-air personnel, a trend that had persisted into 2005. Experience has told the station that constant changes do not necessarily translate into ratings; has it listened?

News Title: "CityNews"
Slogan: none
Air Time:
(weekdays)

(weekends)

Previous News Title(s):
"[CKVU] First News" / "1st News" (1970s-80s)
"U.TV News" (U News at Six) (1990s)
"Global News" (1997-2001)
"ckvu News" (2001-2002)
"CityPulse" (2002-2005)

(including but not limited to this list)

Previous Slogans:
"Good Information Goes A Long Way" (-2000)
"A World Worth Watching" (2001)
"Your 24 Hour News Source" (only for hourly updates) (2001-2002)
"Everywhere!" (used briefly as news slogan; still used as general station slogan) (2002)

Channel 32/ CIVT-TV
Cable Channel 9
Network: CTV
Ownership: CTV, Inc.
Website: www.ctv9.ca  

When CIVT was first launched, the independent station was branded as a hip, lively downtown station, like Citytv in Toronto. The news anchors practically never sat down. They read the news as they stood in the middle of the newsroom. The morning show was laid back and goofy and was supposedly fun to watch, even its set consisted of giant eggs and fork and juice box. 

The Citytv style, however, was meant to be temporary, to be replaced by something more conventional in fall 1999, when the station was supposed to become the CTV outlet in British Columbia. Even though the affiliation switch was later postponed to 2001, the conversion of the newscast format went ahead. The set was still in the middle of the newsroom, but now the anchors could sit down. The newscasts became, or at least looked, more serious. But even with the new, more "normal" format, VTV News would still finish last in the ratings, not much of an improvement from the CHUM-CITY style era.

Just a few months before the affiliation switch in 2001, the station hired away from BCTV 2 of BC's most recognized news anchors: Bill Good and Pamela Martin. They were paired up as the primary news anchor team for BC CTV (which later became simply "CTV"). The station also became visibly more aggressive with its news coverage; it boasts a large fleet of live vehicles (which it claims to be the biggest in BC), and in March 2004 became the first (and so far, only) TV station in Western Canada to operate a full-time news helicopter, Chopper 9.

Those efforts have not been in vain; the station's ratings have been increasing (now at 2nd place instead of dead last; practically traded places with CKVU). Even though CHAN-TV (now as Global BC) still holds a commanding lead over its competition, CIVT is nonetheless making significant progress in the race. Could CIVT claim the ratings crown some day? Stranger things have happened.

News Title: "CTV News"
Slogan: "Your Home. Your News."
Air Time:  
(weekday)

(weekend)

Previous News Title(s):
"Vancouver News Live @ _" (1997-1999)
"VTV News" (1999-2001)

Previous Slogans:
"VTV Is News" (1999)
"Building A New Tradition" (2001-2002)
"BC's Live News Leader" (2003-2005)

Channel 42/ CHNM-TV
Cable Channel 8 (tentative)
Network: Independent/ Multicultural
Ownership: Multivan Broadcasting Corp.
Website: www.channelm.ca

Channel M became the first over-the-air TV station in Southwestern BC to provide ethnic language newscasts when it went on air in mid 2003. The station broadcasts news in Cantonese, Mandarin and Punjabi 6 days a week, and call-in shows in those languages on the weekends. Also shown on the weekends are Korean and Tagalog newscasts. As it stands, it is currently the only broadcast station in the Pacific Northwest to air news during the 8pm and 9pm hours, as the station fulfills the promise it made during license application to air multicultural programming during primetime. The station also has a news footage sharing agreement with CIVT/32.

News Title: "Channel M News"
Air Time:
(weekday)

(Saturday)

(Sunday)

Channel 53/ CIVI-TV
Cable Channel 12
Network: Independent/ A-Channel
Ownership: CHUM Television
Website: www.achannel.ca/victoria/

The New VI signed on the air in 2001 with much pomp and circumstance. And rightfully so, as it was, after all, Vancouver Island's first new TV station in 45 years. A big deal was made out of the station's unconventional news presentation and personalities. Stand-up anchors! (in line with CHUM's other TV stations) Weather from a yacht! Moe Sihota! And so it goes.

So far the storyline has eerily paralleled that of CIVT over in Vancouver. It's up to the viewers to decide whether it will have a happy ending.

Newscast Title: "A-Channel News"
Slogan: None
Air Time:
(weekday)

(weekend newscasts were cancelled in 2004)

Previous News Title(s):
"VILand News" (2001-2004)
"VI News" (2004-2005)

Previous Slogan:
"Live, Local, Out There" (2002-2004)
"Vancouver Island's News" (2004-2005)