Central Television Network

The Central Television Network (also known as Central and abbreviated as CEN or CTN) is a North American English-language terrestrial television network launched in 1957. Owned by Central International Media Inc.; the network serves six countries (including two special administrative regions) worldwide.
==History==
===Beginnings===
Central traces back to 1955, when a man named James Franklin, opened his own radio station in Montreal, CJAD 704 (now 800). Within years since its first broadcasts, the huge triumph of the station and its growing number of listeners made clear the move to modern facilities in University Street (now known as Robert-Bourassa Boulevard). 
Franklin went on to learning technical work on television and later applied for a license to the Canadian Radio and Telecommmunications Commission (CRTC) in 1956. The license was approved early 1957. On October 5, 1957, the company launched its first television station, CHCT-TV 3, being the first private television station (and eventually the first private TV network) in Canada. The first program of the network is a live coverage of a hockey match between the Montreal Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs.
In 1961, the network had its first provincial station in Canada, from Ottawa, Ontario. The station was CHAN-TV (channel 9).
In August 1964, Central began its color test broadcasts. The first show to be shot fully-colored was their own English adaptation of the known Quebec téléroman (telenovel) show La famille Plouffe (The Plouffe Family), which was based from Roger Lemelin's novel Les Plouffes. The network became the country's first fully-colored television network by 1966. The network also broadcast the opening of Expo '67.
Beginning in 1966, the network started to expand down south to the United States. Mount Royal Telecasters, Franklin's founded company, acquired five independent stations in major markets to form as network owned-and-operated stations, and got its first affiliate, WATU in Roscoe, Michigan.
In 1967, Central reached the shores of Singapore when it signed on SGCN-TV channel 40.
Starting in 1971 until 1992, the network provided limited television service to remote and northern communities in Canada. Transmitters were built in a few locations and carried a four-hour selection of black-and-white videotaped programs each day. The tapes were flown into communities to be shown, then transported to other communities, often by the "bicycle" method used in television syndication. Transportation delays ranged from one week for larger centers to almost a month for small communities.
Central expanded to the Philippine shores in August 1972, but was closed just only after being more than a month on the air, because of the then-president Ferdinand Marcos declaring Proclamation No. 1081, which declared martial law. It was subsequently revived back in 1973 but under joint custody of the National Media Production Center Inc. and eventually local investors.
In March 1984, Capitol States Broadcasting Company of Paradise City, California announced its acquisition of the Central Television Network for $275 million. The sale was approved in November that year, however a number of television stations stations from both Central and Capitol States were forced to be divested to stay within Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ownership limits of the era.
The Capitol States-Central Inc. company was renamed into Central International Media Inc. in July 1986.
Central became the first television network in the United States to fully broadcast in high definition in January 2006, with the help of the then-experimental equipment of network owned-and-operated station WTVD. It also became the first in the Philippines to do with DWCE-TV's equipment.
The Central Networks Corporation was reorgranized in 2009 to manage programming on the network, including its owned-and-operated stations and co-owned channels.
==Programming==
The Central Television Network provides 83 hours of programming each week. It provides 17 hours of primetime programming to its affiliates from 8-11 PM Monday through Saturday, and 7-11 on Sundays.
Daytime programming is also provided from 11:00 am to 3:00 PM weekdays (with a break at 12 PM Eastern/Pacific for stations to air newscasts, locally produced programming or syndicated programs) featuring The Lee and Hayley Show, Broadchurch and Meeting Unknown Worlds, among others. Central News programming includes Waking Up With Central from 7-9 AM weekdays (alongside with one hour editions on the weekends); nightly editions of Central Newsnight (whose weekend editions are occasionally subject to abbreviation or preemption due to sports telecasts overrunning into the program's timeslot), and the weekly nightly newsmagazine Viewpoint.
==Stations==
Since its inception, the network has had over 350 television stations that have carried programming from the network at various times throughout its history, including its first two owned-and-operated and affiliated stations, founding O&O CFCF-DT and inaugural affiliate WATU. As of 2020, Central has 106 owned-and-operated stations, and current and pending affiliation agreements with 281 additional television stations across its entire coverage area worldwide; which makes it one of the largest multinational networks with affiliates.
Currently, Delaware is the only U.S. state where Central does not have a locally licensed affiliate (the state is served by WJTV in the northern third and Salisbury, Maryland). Central maintains affiliations with low-power stations (broadcasting either in analog or digital) in a few markets, such as Phenac City, Orre (WPHN-CD) and Palm Springs, California (KSBB-LD). In some markets, including the former two mentioned, these stations also maintain digital simulcasts on a subchannel of a co-owned/co-managed full-power television station.
Not counting owned-and-operated stations, Tegna is the largest operator of Central affiliates by numerical total, owning or providing services to 53 full, primary Central affiliates, including a digital subchannel of WALT in Walton, Vermont.
==Brand identity==
Central's initial logo used from its inception until 1966 consisted of a "C" block letter with a small circle in its inner part.
In 1966, graphic designer Jan Postles redesigned the Central logo into its current and best-known form, the "eye" logo. It has since become a widely recognized symbol. While the logo has been used in different ways, the Eye device itself has not been redesigned in its history. From 1975 to 1979 the eye had a long shadow effect put into, with accompanying cel-animated idents done by Catherine Chaillet.
A wordmark was not part of the network's logo identity until 1982, when an identity pack was made for the fall season that year. 
In May 1984, Central unveiled one of the most successful network image campaigns in the United States with the launch of the "Spirit of Central". The promotions that aired as part of the campaign focused on the cultural heritage of various regions, accompanied by an imaging theme written by James R. Kirk of TM Productions, who composed it as part of an associated music package originally made for . In addition, the TM Productions theme's seven-note musical signature was used throughout in tandem with Central's trademark four-note musical signature originally introduced in 1975. The "Spirit" campaign was used well throughout 2019, when it began to use the "That's My" campaign, leaving the four-note musical signature as the network's sole sounder.
Various typefaces were used throughout the years for its corporate font until 2021, when they adopted the use of Apple's San Francisco font; in addition to Proxima Nova, which has been on use since 2015.
===Slogan history===
*Welcome to Central (1966, signalling their entrance and expansion to the United States)
*America's Full-Color Network (1969-1974)
*Discover Central (1974-1976)
*America's Fastest-Growing Network (1976-1979, referring to its continuous expansion in multiple markets)
*Comin' On (1979-1980)
*The Leader (1980-1982)
*Lighting Up America (1982-1984)
*Spirit of Central (1984-1988)
*The One to Watch (1989-2000)
*Bringing 21st Century Television to America (1993-1995)
*Good Times Always (2015-2021)
*Let's Get Together (2021-present)
===Station IDs===
cen-id-1969.png|Network ID (America's Full-Color Network, 1969-1974)
central ID 1974.png|Network ID (Discover Central, 1974-1976)
Central AFGN ID 76.png|Network ID (America's Fastest-Growing Network, 1976-1979)
Central ID 1979.png|Network ID (Comin' On, 1979-1980)
central id 1980 2.png|Network ID (The Leader, 1980-1982)
cenid1982.png|Network ID (Lighting Up America, 1982-1984)
Spirit of Central.png|Original logo/ID for Central's Spirit of Central campaign from 1984. Network ID (1984-1987)
central 1987 id.png|Network ID (The Spirit Network, 1987-1989)
soc id 1988.png|Network ID (The Spirit of Central, 1989-1992)
Spirit of Central ID 1991.png|Network ID (The Spirit of Central, 1992-1995)
CENID94.png|Network ID (Bringing 21st Century Television to America, 1993-1995)
central id 1996.png|Network ID (The Total Central Spirit, 1996-1998)
central id 98.png|Network ID (The Spirit of Central, 1998-2000)
Central Millennium ID 2000.png|Network ID (Millennium Overture, 2000)
Central ID 2000.png|Network ID (The Spirit of Central, 2000-2001)
Central ID 2001.png|Network ID (The Spirit of Central, 2001-2005)
Central ID patriotic 2001.png|Network ID (patriotic, October 2001-2002)
central ID 2006.png|Network ID (The Spirit of Central, 2006-2007; first widescreen ident)
central 50th 2007.png|Network ID (50 Years, 2007)
central id 2015.png|Network ID (Good Times Always, 2018-2021)
lgt-cen-2021.png|Network ID (Let's Get Together, 2021-present)
Category:Canada
Category:Fictional television networks
Category:Quebec
Category:Montreal
Category:Toronto
Category:Television channels and stations established in 1957
Category:Central Television Network
Category:Central International Media Inc.
Category:Philippines
Category:New York City
Category:Los Angeles
Category:Fictional television broadcasters
Category:Fictional major networks