Canterbury Television

Canterbury Television is an independent television station broadcasting in Canterbury, New Zealand.

The name is synonymous with regional television in New Zealand as it was the name of the first regional broadcaster to operate in New Zealand. CTV produces and screens more than twenty hours of locally based programming every week. It also screens overseas programming from Deutsche Welle, Bloomberg Television, CCTV-9, Voice of America and Al Jazeera. It broadcasts from the Sugarloaf transmitter on the Port Hills.

After the 22 February 2011 Christchurch earthquake and collapse of the CTV Building, CTV was unable to produce or broadcast any services. On 18 April 2011 CTV resumed service at a new base location at the Mainland Press building in the Christchurch suburb of Harewood.^[1]

History

In 1999, yet to be signed New Zealand soprano Hayley Westenra performed on CTV. The appearance led to her being signed by Universal Music Group New Zealand.

In 2006, CTV was the chief sponsor of the Canterbury United soccer team.

Today in Canterbury, a nightly news programme, started in March 2008.

In late 2008 CTV gained popularity with the New Zealand professional wrestling promotion Impact Pro Wrestling airing IPW Ignition weekly. The first episode premiered on the 5 October 2008.

In March 2009, CTV started screening Graham Kerr's Kitchen and Nick Stellino's Cucina Amore, half-hour cooking programmes from the 1990s.

In September 2010, the CTV Building had received superficial damage in the 4 September 2010 Canterbury earthquake, but was "given a clean bill of health" by structural engineers, according to the owners.^[2] Reports of the building's construction date vary: Chip Le Grand of The Australian said 1960;^[3] a 1 March 2011 NZPA report said 1991 or shortly before;^[4] and a 4 March 2011 New Zealand Herald editorial said 1972.^[5]

On 18 April 2011, CTV was back on air at 5.30 pm for the first time since February's earthquake.^[1] The station began with a two-hour broadcast of news and then another hour of interviews with people involved in the earthquake recovery. Shows would screen nationwide on Māori Television the day after each CTV broadcast.^[1]

2011 Christchurch earthquake

The six-storey CTV Building^[2] located at 249 Madras Street, on the Cashel Street corner (), collapsed in the 22 February 2011 Christchurch earthquake^[6] and CTV lost transmission. CTV's main studios were destroyed and the building's lift cavity, the main part of the structure left upright, caught fire. On 23 February, police decided that the damage was not survivable, and rescue efforts at the building were suspended. Initially more than 100 people were believed to have died in the building. Fire-fighting and recovery operations resumed that evening.^[7] Of the 166 confirmed dead by 12 March 2011, 94 were recovered from the CTV building.^[8][9] Many of the dead and missing were faculty and students at the King's Education school for English language, located on the third floor of the CTV building.^[10] King's drew students from Asia and elsewhere.^[11] The school was attempting to provide as much information as possible to families.^[12]

The Port Hills transmitters were understood to be undamaged. CTV's sister channel VTV (Visitors Television) also ceased broadcasting because of the quake.

CTV's website was still functioning immediately after the earthquake, but was later replaced with this statement:

Presenters

• Emily Cooper – journalist 'CTV News'
• Rob Cope-Williams – host of 'Rob's Country'
• Pete Smith – host of 'Pete Smith Hosts'
• Sue Wells – host of 'Susan Sells'
• Natalie Slade – host of 'Onwards and Upwards'
• Jo Kane – host of 'One on One'
• Kineta Knight – host of 'City Life'

Past presenters

• George Balani – co-host of 'Gifford & Balani'
• Matty Beaumont – co-host of 'POWA Live' and 'The Auto Hour' (Died in the 2011 Canterbury Earthquake)^[14]
• Samuel Gibb – host of 'Today in Canterbury' (Died in the 2011 Canterbury Earthquake)^[14]
• Phil Gifford – Co-host of 'Gifford and Balani'
• Jo Giles – host of 'Shopping with Jo' and 'In Depth' (Died in the 2011 Canterbury Earthquake)^[14]
• Janice Gray – host of 'The D.O.G. Show'
• Simon Green – co-host of 'The Hub'
• Chris Lynch – host of Cry Music TV (now a producer for TVNZ's Close Up show)
• Jim Hopkins – host of 'The Knackered Chef,' 'Jim Hopkins Tonight' and 'A Smattering of Ominions'
• Ali Jones – host of 'At Home With the Joneses'
• Bronwen King – host of 'Healthy Eating'
• Grant Mangin – host of 'Flicks' and 'Good Living'
• Donna Manning – co-host of 'Good Living' (Died in the 2011 Canterbury Earthquake)^[14]
• Michelle Mollard – host of 'Thunder at the Glen'
• Kerry Pierson – host of 'Good Living'
• Andrew Sepie – host of 'Classic Hits Retro'
• Peter Townsend – host of 'Canterbury Business Week'
• Vanessa Wells – host of 'Good Living'
• Rob Wilkinson – host of 'CTV Racenight' and 'CTV Sportsnight'

References

External links

• CTV, Canterbury Television
• The Story of CTV on the Close Up show http://tvnz.co.nz/close-up/story-ctv-5-49-video-4039315
• Impact Pro Wrestling – IPW: New Zealand Pro Wrestling's Leading Promotion
• 3News, "One of the saddest scenes – Canterbury TV – Video", 23 February 2011
• "The Story of CTV" www.stuff.co.nz, 28 February 2011