CHMI-DT (PatrZDZ's vision)

**CHMI-DT** (channel 13) is a television station licensed to Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, Canada, broadcasting the A-Channel network to the Winnipeg area. Owned and operated by Quebecor Media, the station has studios at 8 Forks Market Road (near Fort Gibraltar Trail and Waterfront Drive) in downtown Winnipeg, and its transmitter is located adjacent to Bohn Road (near Provincial Road 245) in Cartier.

## History

In August 1980, Western Manitoba Broadcasters Ltd., owner of Brandon-based CKX-TV, met with community and business leaders to reveal their plan to start a new Portage la Prairie-based television station, with transmitter in Elie, Manitoba. The new station would employ about 20 people. There was no mention of what network it would connect to, but Craig hoped for ease of regulations that would allow him to pull in a network from the U.S. via satellite for programming. Originally some of the television programming would come from CBC Television, as like CKX, but after the CBC said they would not allow another competitive CBC broadcaster in the region because it would duplicate and cannibalize ad revenue of CBWT, Western Manitoba Broadcasters withdrew this part of the application.

An application was made in 1981 for a 287,000-watt station transmitting on VHF channel 13. Their application for a television license was denied by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) in 1981 due to "vague" programming promises.

When CKND-TV applied to the CRTC for extension of their signal into the Westman area via a transmitter in Minnedosa, CKX-TV filed an intervention opposing it, saying it would harm CKX's ad revenue. The regulatory body decided in CKX's favour. Despite this, CKND-TV-2 Minnedosa was granted a license and began broadcasting at 6 p.m. September 1, 1982.

Western Manitoba Broadcasters Ltd. applied to the CRTC again in 1985, this time promising to create a larger news department, with news bureaus in Winnipeg, Portage, Brandon and Dauphin. They intended on using call letters CPLP-TV, but later decided on CHMI-TV. The station would be seen on VHF channel 13, the last available clear channel in the region. Future licensed television stations would have to broadcast on UHF frequencies. The licensing hearing was held on December 3, 1985 in Winnipeg.

The station was licensed by the CRTC on May 8, 1986 and owned by Craig Media with a condition of licence that the station would not solicit advertising from businesses located in Winnipeg. This was to protect existing Winnipeg television stations. The station went on the air on October 17, 1986 where it was originally branded as the Manitoba Television Network or MTN. Although it has always been a Winnipeg station for all intents and purposes, for its first decade it was not allowed to sell advertising in Winnipeg.

Mark Evans was initially MTN's news director, before being replaced a year later by Al Thorgeirson.

MTN was well known for its Prairie Pulse News (later retitled MTN Pulse News, and then MTN News), MTN Kids Club, and Prime Ticket Movies, the last of which would carry over to the A-Channel system. The station's initial slogan was "Very independent, very Manitoba!"

In the fall of 1999, Craig Media moved the station's production facilities to the refurbished former Canadian National Railway Power House at The Forks in Winnipeg and rebranded the station as A-Channel, joining CKEM-TV in Edmonton and CKAL-TV in Calgary – effectively uniting Craig's non-CBC affiliates under the A-Channel banner. Technical operations for the station remained in Portage la Prairie.

At a CRTC hearing in Saskatoon in November 1999, Craig Broadcast Systems applied to take over the IMTV transmitter located in Dauphin on VHF channel 6. The signal would extend CHMI's reach into the Parkland region with a 44,000 watt signal. The former IMTV transmitter began broadcasting A-Channel in 2000.

In 2004, Craig Media announced a deal to sell 4 television stations, including CHMI to Quebecor Media. The sale was approved by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) on November 19, 2004, and became official on December 1.

## News operation

When 13MTN began broadcasting in 1986, two local newscasts were presented, one at 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., the other newscast from 10 to 11 p.m. Both programs were called Prairie Pulse Tonight. The first two news anchors were Michael Gligor and Barbara Higgins. Ron Thompson presented the weather forecast from Brandon's CKX studio via a live coaxial cable video link to the Portage studio leased from MTS. Ted Deller replaced Gligor in 1987–88. Diana Ottasen replaced Barbara Higgins. Sports anchor was Keith McMahon.

CHMI-DT currently broadcasts 36½ hours of locally produced newscasts per-week (with 6½ hours each weekday and 2 hours each on Saturdays and Sundays); in regards to the number of hours devoted to news programming, it is the largest local newscast output among Manitoba's television stations.

### Newscast schedule

Weekdays:

* 5:30am - 6am: A-Channel News@Breakfast with Morgan Modjeski
* 6am - 9am: The Big Breakfast with Drew Kozub and Jenna Khan
* 12pm - 1pm: A-Channel News@Noon with Morgan Modjeski
* 6pm - 7pm: A-Channel News@6 with Brittany Henriques
* 10pm - 11pm: A-Channel News@Night with Brittany Henriques

Saturdays and Sundays:

* 6pm - 7pm: A-Channel News@6 with Temi Olatunde
* 10pm - 11pm: A-Channel News@Night with Temi Olatunde