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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/5f711cab_d494_4de1_ad4a_f74d521fe969.png]]
2
3->''Tuned into you...''
4-->-- Network advertising slogan during the early 1990s
5
6The [[https://www.ctv.ca CTV Television Network]] is Canada's oldest private broadcaster, and second-oldest network behind the publicly owned Creator/{{CBC}}. It began broadcasting in 1961, nine years after the CBC, and was established for many of the same reasons that Creator/{{ITV}} was in the United Kingdom: to end the public monopoly over Canadian broadcasting and provide choice for viewers. (Throughout the history of analog transmission, most Canadians have been able to watch the [[Creator/AmericanBroadcastingCompany three]] (and later [[Creator/{{Fox}} four]]) [[Creator/{{NBC}} American]] [[Creator/{{CBS}} networks]], plus Creator/{{PBS}}, as well. Simulcasts with Canadian stations are plastered over on cable.) "CTV" doesn't legally stand for anything, but nearly everyone [[CommonKnowledge assumes]] it to mean "Canadian Television". [[note]](The network initially wanted to call itself the Canadian Television Network [CTN], but the CBC objected by claiming it had [[DisneyOwnsThisTrope exclusive rights to the "Canadian" term]].)[[/note]] In fact, many of its {{Station Ident}}s from the late 1990s and early 2000s (designed by American branding firm Pittard Sullivan) have capitalized on this assumption.
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8Today, it is owned by Creator/BellMedia, [[LongList who also owns]] Creator/{{The Comedy Network}}, Creator/{{MuchMusic}}, [[Creator/SpaceChannel Space]], TSN (which is heavily aligned with Creator/{{ESPN}}), The Movie Network, and Canadian versions of Creator/{{MTV}}, Creator/{{Discovery Channel}} (along with Creator/{{Animal Planet}} and Creator/{{Investigation Discovery}}), [[Creator/{{E}} E!]], and Creator/{{HBO}} among others.
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10The network took a long time to find its feet. It began with only seven affiliates (Calgary, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Halifax).Most shows were simulcasts (essentially, authorized network feeds) from the three American networks, which remains true to this day. However, "[=CanCon=]" content laws required some local broadcasting. During the early years, most of these were very cheaply produced game shows. Famously, the network's first well-known attempt at a sitcom was the notorious flop ''The Trouble With Tracy'', regarded as one of the worst shows ''of all time''. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFLEvAhSTwQ Judge for yourself.]] Also, unlike CBC, CTV has never had an OTA affiliate in the northern territories, with viewers relying on cable relays of affiliates such as Edmonton's CFRN.
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12For a short time in 1966-69, CTV was the first Canadian TV network to have an American affiliate: WNYP-TV, UHF channel 26, licensed to Jamestown, NY but serving Buffalo, owned by Lowell "Bud" Paxson (who later founded the Home Shopping Network and Creator/IonTelevision). WNYP used Toronto flagship CFTO's over-the-air signal to get CTV's networked programming, which sometimes led to interference problems as WNYP relayed the signal from another TV station on the same channel (such as WNYS in Syracuse, NY or WWTV in Cadillac, MI, both on VHF channel 9 like CFTO) or from a nearby Jamestown radio station. The station was also prone to blunders such as airing the same episode of ''The Aquanauts'' every day for two weeks or neglecting to switch out the CFTO station ID for WNYP's in violation of FCC rules. CTV's reliance on American simulcasts proved to be WNYP's undoing, as the Big Three affiliates in Buffalo threatened legal action and forced WNYP to drop their CTV affiliation; Paxson tried using a prototype of the Home Shopping Network format to stay afloat, but the station was forced to go dark in 1969 when it learned WUTV would sign on the next year and it became clear that Buffalo was too small for two independent TV stations. [[note]](Its equipment was sold to newly-launched ABC affiliate WENY in Elmira, NY; after a couple decades as a translator relay for WNED, channel 26 had a brief revival in 1988-91 as independent WTJA, then came back in 1995 as Creator/TCTNetwork affiliate WNYB)[[/note]]
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14After over a decade in the doldrums, the network's fortunes began to change in the [[TheSeventies mid-1970s]]. Lloyd Robertson, a star news anchorman for the CBC, was lured over to CTV with the promise of editorial control, and remained at the news desk [[LongRunners for 35 years]], until his retirement in 2011. Canada's most popular game show, ''Series/{{Definition}}'', began running in 1974. The network also has a knack for taking American programs and making [[CaptainErsatz Canadian versions]] of them. It actually beat ''60 Minutes'' to the punch by two years with their own newsmagazine show called ''W-Five''. A morning show called ''Canada AM'' began running in 1972. One of the iconic Canadian series, ''The Littlest Hobo'', debuted in 1979.
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16But the CBC remained the dominant network well into TheNineties, at which point public funding began to dry up in the face of federal budget problems. At the same time, the CBC made the well-intentioned but boneheaded decision to stop simulcasting American programs (except for strip repeats of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', for some reason). This allowed CTV (and rival network Creator/GlobalTelevisionNetwork, which had begun to expand its programming presence outside of Ontario) to become incredibly dominant. One major homegrown success from this period was ''Series/DueSouth'', which was the first series produced for Canadian audiences to be simulcast in primetime by an ''American'' network, in this case Creator/{{CBS}} — a rare and incredibly satisfying role reversal. The ''CTV National News'' also pulled ahead of the CBC's late evening news in the ratings during this decade, following a botched revamp of ''The National'' into ''CBC Prime Time News'' (with the show being moved from 10PM to 9PM, ratings cratered); even after the CBC brought ''The National'' back and moved it back to 10PM, CTV remained well ahead of it ratings-wise.
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18In the early 90's, Baton Broadcasting (a major owner of CTV affiliates, most notably Toronto flagship CFTO-9) made a few tricky moves with an intent to either gain more power within CTV, or subvert it entirely and build its own network; it bought several CTV affiliates from various owners, but then realized that under its cooperative bylaws, Baton still only had one vote on business decisions in the network. In 1991, it launched Ontario Network Television as a secondary affiliation across its Ontario CTV stations (as well as several independents and even private CBC stations), to fill in the gaps already provided in the network schedule for local primetime programs.
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20When CTV was faced with a re-organization in 1993 (which changed its structure from a cooperative to a private company with shares divided based on station ownership, and reduced network primetime programming further), a consulting firm suggested that Baton go for the ultimate prize of majority ownership and control of the CTV brand. But just to be on the safe side, Baton introduced BBS (Baton Broadcasting System), a new primary brand for its stations, and an expanded lineup of supplemental programming. It then formed a joint venture with fellow CTV affiliate owner Electrohome (which gave them joint ownership of several stations, which they later sold to Baton), but part of the deal gave Baton control of Electrohome's shares, giving it 42.9% control. For a grand finale, Baton swapped stations with CHUM Limited; giving it the Atlantic Television System (ATV) and ASN (Atlantic Satellite Network, a cable/satellite exclusive sister to ATV which in practice was the Creator/{{Citytv}} affiliate for the Maritimes) in exchange for Baton's independents, giving it majority control.
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22After triggering an option to allow the remaining owners to sell their stakes, Baton's mission was accomplished. The BBS brand was ultimately replaced by CTV in early 1998; however, BBS remained as a technicality for affiliates that had not yet reached an affiliation deal to air programs beyond the base CTV schedule.[[note]]The most notable of these affiliates was CHAN-TV in Vancouver; which Baton decided to [[ExecutiveMeddling meddle with]] after it launched the BBS-related independent CIVT, which was a [[SerialNumbersFiledOff clone of the original]] Citytv in Toronto; Citytv head Moses Znaimer even accused Baton of stealing the Citytv format outright. Considering that Baton's then-head Ivan Fecan had worked under Znaimer at Citytv before, it wasn't a totally unreasonable assumption. A purchase of its parent company by Canwest and CIVT eventually picking up CTV in 2001 led to DisasterDominoes for just about ''every'' private station in Vancouver.[[/note]]
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24In the new millennium, CTV decided to start producing substantial Canadian programming, and has for the most part been very successful. It lured some of the producers of the old ''Degrassi'' shows away from the CBC for the {{Revival}} series ''Series/DegrassiTheNextGeneration''. But their greatest success was ''Series/CornerGas'', reckoned by many as the best Canadian sitcom since ''King of Kensington'' in TheSeventies. Both ''Degrassi'' and ''Corner Gas'' also became [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff very popular in the States]]. Later in the decade, the WGA strike resulted in American networks investing in several Canadian productions. One of these, ''Flashpoint'', has aired on Creator/{{CBS}} as well as CTV (just like ''Series/DueSouth'', in fact) and became a moderate success for both networks. Another, ''The Bridge'', started airing in summer 2010, but it quickly flamed out south of the border. At the same time, two new sitcoms, ''Hiccups'' and ''Series/DanForMayor'', produced by and starring many of the same people from ''Series/CornerGas'', were unveiled with much fanfare.
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26In TheNewTens, recent [=CanCon=] efforts have not been quite so fruitful. ''Series/DegrassiTheNextGeneration'' saw its ratings fall so far that the show had to make a ChannelHop to cable sibling Creator/MuchMusic (avoiding outright cancellation [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff thanks to its immense popularity in the lucrative American market]]); ''The Bridge'' was cancelled after a season; and ''Hiccups'', ''Series/DanForMayor'', and the popular ''[[Series/SoYouThinkYouCanDance So You Think You Can Dance Canada]]'' were all cancelled in September 2011. On the flip side, CTV saw far better success with newer hour-long dramas such as ''Series/{{Motive}}'' and ''Series/SavingHope''.
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28Famously, CTV wrested the Olympics away from the CBC starting with the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, paying top dollar and nearly being bankrupted when the recession hit; luckily, and unlike in the case of Creator/{{NBC}}'s infamous experience with the 1980 Olympics, they were a huge success. CBC did, however, regain the rights to the Olympics starting with the 2014 Winter Olympics. CTV has also succeeded with gaining the rights to the World Cup until 2026. Also, the network had also shown an interest in poaching ''Series/HockeyNightInCanada'', the CBC's last remaining bastion in the ratings, but they've been unable as of yet, having lost the new NHL broadcast contract to Rogers Media. They ''did'', however, succeed in taking the famous ''[[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic theme music]]'', currently owned by sister cable channel TSN (which is not only a Canadian version of Creator/{{ESPN}}, but is itself partly owned by the network); perhaps someday they'll be [[StarCrossedLovers reunited]]...
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30CTV 2 was established for the 2011-12 television season. It's actually a re-branding of what was formerly called "A" (before that, A-Channel, and before ''that'', [=NewNet=], as well as, in Atlantic Canada, the aforementioned ASN, and in Alberta, the mostly-educational "Access"), and has a UsefulNotes/PrimeTime schedule composed primarily of [[ReRun reruns]] and lower-rated American simulcasts. In these areas and in most communities outside the Toronto, Ottawa, London and Windsor markets in Ontario as well as Victoria/Vancouver, Terrace and Dawson Creek in British Columbia, CTV 2 is available only on cable or satellite.
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32The network has spawned several other spinoffs; such as CTV News Channel, CTV Travel (now T+E and owned by Blue Ant Media), and CTV Sportsnet (now owned by Rogers). In 2019, Bell Media relaunched four of its specialty networks - Creator/TheComedyNetwork, Bravo (Canada), Gusto, and [[Creator/SpaceChannel Space]] - under the CTV brand (CTV Comedy Channel, CTV Drama Channel, CTV Life Channel, and CTV Sci-Fi Channel, respectively) and launched two new ad-supported streaming hubs on its website - CTV Movies and CTV Throwback - in partnership with Creator/SonyPictures[[note]]Prior to the announcement, Sony pulled their Crackle service out of Canada[[/note]].
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34Compare to Creator/{{TVA}}, the Quebec-based, French-language equivalent that similarly began as a cooperative owned by its affiliate stations.
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36Not to be confused with the many TV stations around the world that share its initials, including [[http://www.ctv.co.jp Chukyo Television]] in Nagoya, Japan; China Television in Taiwan; Canterbury Television in New Zealand, and the television service owned by [[UsefulNotes/VaticanCity the Vatican]].
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38!! Original programs broadcast by CTV (including co-productions)
39[[index]]
40* ''Series/NineteenTwo''
41* ''WesternAnimation/{{Birdz}}''
42* ''Series/{{Bizarre}}'' (co-production with Creator/{{Showtime}})
43* ''WesternAnimation/ABunchOfMunsch''
44* ''Series/{{Cardinal}}''
45* ''Series/ColdSquad''
46* ''WesternAnimation/{{Committed}}''
47* ''Series/CornerGas'' (also aired on Creator/TheComedyNetwork)
48* ''Series/DanForMayor''
49* ''Series/{{Definition}}''
50* ''Series/DegrassiTheNextGeneration'' (later moved to Creator/MuchMusic)
51* ''WesternAnimation/DMynaLeagues''
52* ''Series/DueSouth''
53* ''Series/{{Flashpoint}}''
54* ''Series/{{Hiccups}}''
55* ''Series/{{Jann}}''
56* ''Series/TheLittlestHobo'' (1979 revival of the 1963-1965 series)
57* ''Series/{{Motive}}''
58* ''Series/RobsonArms''
59* ''Series/SavingHope''
60* ''Series/SightUnseen2024''
61* ''Series/TheSpencerSisters''
62* ''Series/SpunOut''
63* ''Series/TheStarlost''
64* ''Series/{{Transplant}}''
65* ''Series/TwiceInALifetime''
66* ''Series/YouCantDoThatOnTelevision'' (produced at affiliate station CJOH-TV in Ottawa)
67[[/index]]
68
69!! Notable foreign programs with their own page that have aired on CTV
70[[index]][[/index]]
71* Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse[[index]]
72** ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD''
73** ''Series/AgentCarter''
74* ''Series/TheAmazingRace''
75** ''The Amazing Race Canada'' (Original)
76* ''Series/AmericanIdol''
77** ''Series/CanadianIdol'' (Original)
78* ''Series/AmericanNinjaWarrior''
79* ''WesternAnimation/TheBeatles1965''
80* ''Series/TheBigBangTheory''
81* ''Series/{{Blindspot}}''
82* ''Series/TheBradyBunch''
83* ''Series/CriminalMinds''
84** ''Series/CriminalMindsSuspectBehavior''
85** ''Series/CriminalMindsBeyondBorders''
86* ''Series/{{CSI}}''
87** ''Series/CSIMiami''
88** ''Series/{{CSINY}}''
89** ''Series/CSICyber''
90* Live-action shows based on Creator/DCComics / Creator/VertigoComics
91** ''Series/{{Arrow}}''
92** ''Series/TheFlash2014''
93** ''Series/{{Gotham}}''
94** ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'' (New episodes also aired on Space, due to [[ScrewedByTheNetwork scheduling conflicts]])
95** ''Series/Lucifer2016''
96* ''Series/DesperateHousewives''
97* ''Series/FamilyMatters''
98* ''Series/FullHouse''
99* ''Series/GilligansIsland''
100* ''Series/TheGoodDoctor''
101* ''Series/GreysAnatomy''
102* ''Series/TheIndianDetective''
103* ''Series/LawAndOrder''
104** ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit''
105** ''Series/LawAndOrderCriminalIntent''
106** ''Series/LawAndOrderTrialByJury''
107** ''Series/LawAndOrderLA''
108* ''Series/{{Reign}}'' (Aired in simulcast on CTV Two, with new episodes airing a day earlier on Bell Media-owned cable networks)
109* ''Series/{{Roseanne}}'' and ''Series/TheConners''
110* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' - the series premiere aired on CTV stations on September 6, 1966, two days before it would air on Creator/{{NBC}}, making Canadians[[note]]and any Americans who could pick up broadcast signals from Canadian stations - yes, it does theoretically work both ways[[/note]] the first people in the world to see ''Franchise/StarTrek''.
111* ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery''
112* ''WesternAnimation/SonicTheHedgehogSatAM''
113* ''Series/Tracker2024''
114* ''Series/TwoAndAHalfMen'' (Later seasons)
115* ''Series/UnsolvedMysteries'' (Som
116* ''Series/TheVampireDiaries'' (Also aired on Creator/MuchMusic, M3, and CTV Two)
117* ''Series/TheVoice'' (American version)
118* ''Series/TheWeakestLink''
119* ''Series/WhoWantsToBeAMillionaire'' - also a one-off special "Canadian Edition" (filmed on the same New York soundstage) advertised as the first worldwide to be hosted by a woman (broadcaster and future Canadian Senator Pamela Wallin).
120[[/index]]

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