CityNews Channel

CityNews Channel
CityNews Channel logo
Launched	October 3, 2011
Closed	May 30, 2013 (end of live broadcasts) June 30, 2013 (full closure)
Owned by	Rogers Media
Picture format	1080i (HDTV) 480i (SDTV)
Slogan	Toronto's News
Country	Canada
Language	English
Broadcast area	Ontario
Headquarters	Toronto, Ontario
Sister channel(s)	CITY-DT, CFMT-DT, CJMT-DT, CFTR

CityNews Channel was a Canadian English language Category B specialty digital cable television channel from 2011 to 2013. It was owned by the Rogers Media division of Rogers Communications, and primarily focused on the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). The channel was only available in Ontario and broadcast a single feed in high definition which was also accessible through standard definition televisions.

The channel's branding was shared with its Rogers-owned conventional television network, City (formerly Citytv), and its news brand CityNews. The channel broadcast from 33 Dundas Street East in Downtown Toronto which also houses studios for City flagship CITY-DT, and Omni Television flagships CFMT-DT (channel 47) and CJMT-DT (channel 40).

Format

CityNews Channel broadcast as an all-news format, consisting of local news and information from the GTA, and national and international news. It operated on a 24-hour news wheel as seen on-screen, with traffic and weather reports every 10 minutes on the :1s, sports news at :15 and :45 past the hour, and business news (under the title CityBiz) at :26 and :56 past the hour, a similar format used on Rogers-owned all-news radio station in Toronto, CFTR (680 AM; known by its brand "680 News"), and two of CITY-DT's local newscasts, CityNews at Five and Breakfast Television.

The station also aired simulcasts of all CITY-DT-produced local programming. Encore broadcasts of CityNews at Six were seen on CityNews Channel at 7 p.m. while the 11 p.m. newscast, CityNews Tonight was repeated on CityNews Channel at midnight. During the overnight hours when CityNews Channel did not broadcast live programming or CITY news broadcasts, between 1 a.m. (originally midnight until September 2012) and 5:30 a.m. weekdays and midnight and 7 a.m. ET weekends, it aired an audio simulcast of 680 News and live traffic camera feeds from the Toronto area. Conversely, CityNews Channel had aired simulcasts of its weekend morning news programming on CITY-DT from April 14, 2012 until the channel's closure, on Saturday mornings from 7-8 a.m. and Sunday mornings from 7-9 a.m.

The channel incorporated a large news ticker consisting of news headlines, weather information, sports scores and advertisements. In addition to sharing branding and content with CITY-DT and content from 680 News, the channel aired content and features from several other Rogers-owned outlets including specialty channel Sportsnet, and Maclean's, MoneySense, Today's Parent and Hello! Canada magazines.

History

Under the ownership of CHUM Limited, Citytv had operated CablePulse 24 (CP24), another Toronto-based local news channel, from 1998 to 2007. However, CHUM Limited was purchased in 2007 by Bell Globemedia (later renamed CTVglobemedia, and again renamed Bell Media in 2011 following its purchase by Bell Canada), which then sold the Citytv stations to Rogers Media. CTV retained ownership of CHUM's cable channels, including CP24, which was paired with CTV's CFTO-DT (channel 9) instead of Citytv.

Rogers was granted approval for a specialty channel licence for CityNews Channel by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) on December 10, 2008. The channel was then tentatively known as CITY News (Toronto), and was set to be launched in late 2009. However, this was delayed due to economic conditions as well as the reconstruction of Citytv's new headquarters at 33 Dundas Street East.

On May 30, 2011, the same day that Citytv's 2011-2012 television broadcast schedule was unveiled, Rogers announced plans to launch the new channel in the fall of the same year. The channel was launched on October 3, 2011, as CityNews Channel.

Rogers Cable initially carried the new channel on digital cable channel 1 in the GTA. However, on November 22, 2011, the channel was moved to Rogers digital cable channel 15, the former cable slot for CKXT (which had shut down on November 1, 2011 and had its licence revoked by the CRTC on November 18, 2011). Digital channel 1 has reverted to serving as a Rogers promotional channel. The channel was later added on Cogeco Cable in July 2012.

Like all specialty channels launched since 2001, CityNews Channel was not eligible to be carried on analogue cable, and thus PBS member station WNED-TV/Buffalo was moved to the channel 15 position for Toronto-area Rogers subscribers without a set-top box (WNED remained on channel 61 for digital cable subscribers).

Due to financial difficulties, Rogers Media ceased live broadcasts of the CityNews Channel on May 30, 2013, in order to redirect its news resources in Toronto to 680News and City Toronto's "CityNews" newscasts. Until June 30, 2013, the channel maintained the news ticker, with the live video portion of the channel broadcasting live traffic camera feeds, weather maps, and promotions. At Rogers' request, the CRTC revoked CityNews Channel's broadcasting licence on October 1, 2013.

Former on-air staff

Below is a roster of CityNews Channel's on-air staff:

Anchors and reporters

• Audra Brown - videojournalist
• Francis D'Souza - also CityNews at Five anchor and general assignment reporter
• Kevin Frankish - host of Breakfast Television (weekday mornings, 5:30-9:30 a.m.)
• Avery Haines - also feature reporter for The Inside Story
• Tom Hayes - also CityNews at 5:30 anchor and general assignment reporter
• Shauna Hunt - also general assignment reporter
• Jim Junkin - crime specialist
• Saphia Khambalia - also general assignment reporter
• Peter Kim - general assignment reporter
• Gord Martineau - weeknights at 6 p.m. on CityNews at Six
• Cynthia Mulligan - also general assignment reporter
• Melanie Ng - substitute anchor on Breakfast Television; also general assignment reporter
• Roger Petersen - weeknights at 11 p.m. on CityNews Tonight
• Andrea Piunno - also general assignment reporter
• Keeley Rogers - general assignment reporter; also CityNews producer
• Dina Pugliese - host of Breakfast Television (weekday mornings, 7-9:30 a.m.)
• Pam Seatle - also CityNews at Six and CityNews Tonight Sunday's anchor and general assignment reporter
• Galit Solomon - "CityNews at Six and CityNews Tonight" anchor Saturday's also general assignment reporter
• Tammie Sutherland - also general assignment reporter
• Anna Vlachos - also general assignment reporter

Weather team

• Adam Stiles - meteorologist on CityNews at Five, CityNews Tonight and occasionally on CityNews Channel
• Natasha Ramsahai (CMOS-endorsed weathercaster) - meteorologist on CityNews at Six and occasionally on CityNews Channel
• Frank Ferragine - weather anchor; Breakfast Television (weekday mornings, 5:30-9:30 a.m.), also gardening specialist
• Stella Acquisto - weather specialist for CityNews Channel and occasionally on CityNews at Six and CityNews Tonight weekends
• Jennifer Young - traffic and weather specialist
• Eva Fragiskatos - traffic and weather specialist for CityNews Channel and Breakfast Television
• Kerry Prunskus - traffic and weather specialist
• Diana Petrucci - weather and traffic specialist for CityNews Channel on Saturday evenings

Traffic

• Stella Acquisto - traffic specialist for CityNews Channel
• Russ Holden - traffic specialist; weekday mornings Breakfast Television (5:30-9:30 a.m.) and CityNews Channel
• Jennifer Young - traffic and weather specialist
• Eva Fragiskatos - traffic and weather specialist
• Kerry Prunskus - traffic and weather specialist
• Diana Petrucci - traffic and weather specialist; Saturday evenings

Sports team

• Kathryn Humphreys - lead sports anchor; weekday evenings (6 p.m. - 11 p.m.)
• Hugh Burrill - sports anchor