CKNY-TV

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

CKNY
North Bay, Ontario
Branding	CTV Northern Ontario
Slogan	News for the North.
Channels	10 (VHF) analog, not yet on air digital
Affiliations	CTV
Owner	Bell Globemedia
Founded	December 19, 1955
Call letters meaning	none known
Former affiliations	CBC (1955-1971)
Website	CTV Northern Ontario

CKNY (also commonly known as CTV Northern Ontario) is a Canadian television station, broadcasting in North Bay, Ontario. It is affiliated with CTV.

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

In 1970, the station was acquired by Cambrian Broadcasting, the owner of CKSO in Sudbury, and adopted the current CKNY callsign. In 1971, Cambrian's stations reaffiliated with CTV, and J. Conrad Lavigne's new CBC affiliate, CHNB, went to air in North Bay the day of CKNY's affiliation switch.

Until 1980, CKNY and CHNB aggressively competed with each other for advertising dollars, leaving both in a precarious financial position due to the North Bay market's relatively small size. In 1980, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission approved the merger of the two stations, along with their co-owned stations in Sudbury and Timmins, into the MCTV twinstick.

In 1990, the stations were acquired by 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, serving the Muskoka and Parry Sound area on a transmitter which previously rebroadcast the programming of CKCO. 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.