CTV is the most popular Canadian network, attracting up to 15 percent or more of the English-speaking audience. It has been accused by cultural nationalists and regulatory agencies of airing U.S. imports in prime time and relegating its few, often inexpensive Canadian productions to off-peak hours. Although the network has produced relatively little drama or comedy, it has achieved some notable programming successes. In 1967 CTV launched the news magazine W5, which still enjoys excellent ratings. In 1972, it launched Canada A.M., which became the prototype for ABC’s Good Morning, America. CTV’s news and sports programs have also enjoyed steady success, even at times surpassing the CBC. In the mid-to late 1980s, CTV coproduced such highly successful dramas as Night Heat and E.N.G. Ultimately, CTV’s protestations that its achievements are underappreciated must be balanced against the view that it has failed to contribute fully to the development of national culture.

CTV’s network structure has moved through four distinct phases. From 1961 to 1965, CTV was controlled principally by its founder, Spencer Caldwell. Having won the original license, he planned to supply affiliates with ten hours of programming per week: content acquired internationally, original content produced in the affiliates’ stations, and content controlled by the affiliates but offered to the network. Caldwell hoped to increase the weekly hours until CTV rivaled the CBC.

Three factors prevented the realization of this plan. First, Caldwell underestimated the technological start-up costs and was forced to seek loans from the affiliates. Second, the affiliation agreements worked to the detriment of the network, since affiliates could demand network compensation even if the network had not managed to sell all of its airtime. Third, as CTV supplied only ten hours per week, the affiliates established a parallel acquisition service to fill another 24 hours. The ITO (Independent Television Organization) effectively competed against CTV and drove up prices.

By 1965, on the brink of bankruptcy, Caldwell sold out to the affiliates. Until 1993, CTV operated as a cooperative. As such, each affiliate became a shareholder in the network, each shareholder sat on the board of directors, and each held the power of veto over board decisions. Additionally, the network now provided 39.5 hours of programming per week, thereby obviating the need for the ITO, which was abolished in 1969. Finally, affiliates could no longer demand compensation for unsold airtime.

This structure introduced new tensions. First, the affiliates served highly differentiated markets and held correspondingly divergent views on appropriate programming. Second, as major local independents, affiliates derived as much profit from local market dominance as from network affiliation. Hence, they tended to put their own profitability before the network’s health, treating it at times as a necessary evil and approving only minimal operating budgets. Third, although the larger affiliates attracted a larger share of the audience, and therefore contributed proportionally more to network profits, each of them had only one vote and could be overruled. Fourth, some shareholders acquired more than one affiliate but were nonetheless restricted to a single vote. As a result, some shareholders lobbied for changes to the network structure. Finally, some shareholders owned stations unaffiliated with CTV, thereby creating potential conflicts of interest, especially as these stations sometimes competed against CTV for both program acquisition and market share.

CTV therefore failed to develop as a powerful network. Its weakness as a network curtailed its ability to produce Canadian content and therefore to meet the expectations of the Broadcasting Act.

In 1986 CTV’s corporate structure came to the attention of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), which introduced new conditions at the network’s license renewal hearings. For example, between 1987 and 1994, the CRTC instructed CTV (1) to spend $403 million (Canadian) on Canadian programming; (2) to schedule 120 hours of Canadian dramatic features, miniseries, and limited series in prime time; (3) to provide 24 hours of Canadian musical programming; and (4) to provide a minimum of 1.5 hours of regularly scheduled Canadian programming in prime time, rising to 3.5 hours per week. CTV spent $417 million, scheduled 126 hours of dramatic features, and programmed 40 hours of musical content, but it requested that the minimum number of regularly scheduled dramatic hours not exceed three per week.

Acting under the Canadian Business Corporations Act, CTV now consisted of seven shareholders who had each invested $2 million in the network. Board decisions would be made by majority vote, with no party having a veto. Shares could be sold and transferred so long as they were first offered to the other shareholders. The network also undertook to provide 42.5 hours of programming per week and to purchase airtime from affiliates at a fixed annual sum.

This arrangement brought CTV closer to the U.S. network model although CTV still possessed no owned-and-operated stations and remained an alliance of shareholders who controlled important single stations or strings of stations throughout the country. Furthermore, beginning in 1993, a new sequence of events convulsed CTV. Between 1993 and 1996, one of the shareholders, Baton (a contraction of “Bassett” and “Eaton,” the names of its two controlling families), undertook acquisitions, stock swaps, and mergers that effectively gave it control of CTV. As of 1997, therefore, CTV fully resembles a U.S.-style network, with unified management and owned-and-operated stations in key markets.

In 1996 CTV launched five specialty or cable channels: News1 (now CTV Newsnet), the Comedy Channel, the Discovery Channel, the Outdoor Life Network, and SportsNet. These gave CTV a strategic presence in the increasingly crowded broadcast and cable spectrum, diversified its income streams, multiplied its broadcast windows, and reinforced its relationship with production companies. In 1999, CTV acquired TSN, an all-sports specialty channel and the most profitable of all cable networks, and its French-language counterpart, RDS (Réseau des sports). However, with control of two sports channels—TSN and SportsNet—CTV will be required to dispose of one of them. In September 2000, CTV also launched Talk TV, a specialty channel. By 2000, CTV was the dominant Canadian television network.

In 2000 CTV was acquired by the telecommunications giant Bell Canada Enterprises (BCE) for $2.3 billion. However, in 2001, BCE also acquired the Globe and Mail, a widely respected and influential newspaper. This resulted in a new corporate entity, Bell GlobeMedia, and a new corporate structure: Jean C. Monty became chairman of the board of Bell Globe-Media; Ivan Fecan is president of Bell GlobeMedia and chief executive officer of CTV; Trina McQueen is president and chief operating officer of CTV.

These events mirrored similar developments in the United States, as CTV sought both to consolidate well-known brand names and to develop synergies. In 2001 CTV’s position was further strengthened by the launch of seven new specialty channels: WTSN (women’s sports), CTV Travel, Info Sports, Animal Planet, Discovery Civilization, ESPN Classic Canada, and The NHL Network. In addition to the above, CTV also holds interests in ROB-TV (a spin-off of the Globe and Mail’s “Report on Business” section) and CTV pay-per-view sports. It holds minority interests in Viewer’s Choice Canada (pay-TV movies) and History Television.