CFTO-DT (PatrZDZ's vision)

**CFTO-DT** (channel 9) is a television station in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, serving as the flagship station of the CTV Television Network. Owned and operated by Baton Broadcasting, CFTO-DT's studios are located at 9 Channel Nine Court in Agincourt, and its transmitter is located atop the CN Tower in Downtown Toronto. The station shares the Agincourt studio complex with CTV's headquarters, which includes studios for the network's news programming (CTV National News and the CTV News Channel), along with most of Globemedia's specialty channels.

## History

The station first signed on the air at 10:00 p.m. on December 31, 1960; its first official day of programming was on January 1, 1961. The inaugural program broadcast on CFTO was a telethon for the Ontario Association for Community Living, hosted by broadcaster Joel Aldred, complete with a fireworks ceremony.

The station was founded by Baton Aldred Rogers Broadcasting, a joint venture between Telegram Corporation (owned by the Bassett and Eaton families), Aldred-Rogers Broadcasting (owned by Joel Aldred and Ted Rogers), and Foster Hewitt Broadcasting, which owned radio station CKFH (1430 AM, now CJCL on 590 AM). The 'Baton' portion of the name was pronounced /ˌbætən/ (as in Baton Rouge, Louisiana), rather than the conducting tool's traditional pronunciation.

The station's first children's show, shown on weekday afternoons, was The Professor's Hideaway, starring Stan Francis. American television network ABC held a minority share in the partnership, which it sold to each of the partners shortly before CFTO-TV went on the air. Ted Rogers' uncle J. Elsworth Rogers was a minority (and originally primary) owner of Western Ontario Broadcasting, Ltd., owners of CKLW-TV (now CBET) in Windsor, Ontario (which was mostly owned by RKO General). The station's original studio and transmitter facilities were located at 1550 McCowan Road, later renamed 9 Channel Nine Court.

In March 1961, Aldred sold his interest in the station, and on October 1 of that year, CFTO became a charter affiliate of CTV, as well as the network's flagship station. In 1970, Ted Rogers sold his interest in CFTO and the Bassett-Eaton group sold their interest in Rogers Cable in an exchange of assets. On May 31, 1976, CFTO began transmitting its signal from the CN Tower, while its studios remained in Agincourt. CFTO began broadcasting in stereo in 1985. In 1991, the station joined with several other Ontario stations to form Ontario Network Television, which evolved into the Baton Broadcast System, a subsystem within the CTV network. In 1995, CFTO began operating rebroadcast stations at Orillia (on UHF channel 21) and Bobcaygeon (near Peterborough, on UHF channel 54).

When CTV's stations proposed to buy the network and run it as a cooperative in 1966, the Board of Broadcast Governors initially balked at the proposal. CFTO was by far the largest, richest and most profitable station (it was more than double the size of the next-largest station, CFCF-TV in Montreal). This led to fears that CFTO would dominate a station-owned network. The BBG was only appeased when the station owners promised that each owner would have an equal vote, regardless of how large it was.

## Programming

As CFTO serves as CTV's flagship station, its schedule is virtually identical to the CTV network schedule. A largely identical schedule is used on the other Globemedia stations in Southern Ontario, CJOH in Ottawa and CKCO in Kitchener, as CFTO acts as master control for these stations. Any discrepancies with other stations would generally be limited to local infomercials and religious programming on Sunday mornings.

### Other station productions

Under CTV's cooperative structure, CFTO, through Baton's in-house production company Glen-Warren Productions, was one of the network's main contributors of Canadian programming, such as The Littlest Hobo, Circus and The Uncle Bobby Show. Indeed, the amount of programming originating at CFTO was often a source of tension with the network's other major-market affiliates. However, as with most local stations in North America, such locally produced non-news programming has become increasingly rare.

For much of its history, CFTO's Channel Nine Court studios have also served as the home for network-produced programs such as CTV National News, Canada AM and W5. The studios are now also used by a number of Baton and CTV specialty channels, for productions such as the cable news channels CTV News Channel and Business News Network, as well as CTV Sportsnet's Sportscentral.

Over the years, the studio complex has also been rented out for third-party productions, such as the studio scenes in the 1976 film Network. The Lotto 6/49 and Lotto Max (formerly Lotto Super 7) drawings are also held at the CFTO studios.

### News operation

CFTO-DT presently broadcasts 20½ hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with 3½ hours each weekday and 1½ hours each on Saturdays and Sundays). The station's flagship 6:00 p.m. newscast is the highest-rated local newscast in Canada. Since the 1970s CFTO brands its newscasts as World Beat News (for its early evening newscasts), Noon Beat News (for its lunch hour newscast) and Night Beat News (for its late evening newscast). On May 12, 2009, CFTO began broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition; with the change, the station introduced a renovated studio.

Starting in July 2017, CFTO expanded its evening news programming by adding a 5 p.m. newscast as part of an expansion of local news programming across Baton stations.

### Newscast times

Weekdays

* 12pm - 1pm: Noon Beat News with Nathan Downer and Michelle Dubé
* 5pm - 6pm: World Beat News: Early Edition with Zuraidah Alman and John Musselman
* 6pm - 7pm: World Beat News with Nathan Downer and Michelle Dubé
* 11:30pm - 12:05am: Night Beat News with Zuraidah Alman and John Musselman

Weekends

* 6pm - 7pm: World Beat News with Andria Case and Colin D'Mello
* 11:30pm - 12:05am: Night Beat News with Andria Case and Colin D'Mello

## Technical information

### Analogue-to-digital conversion

The station began providing a digital signal on satellite on November 17, 2003, and on January 30, 2004, CFTO was granted an over-the-air digital television signal, transmitting on UHF channel 40 at an effective radiated power of 17,400 watts. In mid-2005, CFTO upgraded its digital signal to transmit programming in high definition. CFTO shut down its analogue signal, over VHF channel 9, on August 31, 2011, the official date in which Canadian television stations in CRTC-designated mandatory markets transitioned from analogue to digital broadcasts. The station's digital signal was relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 40 to its analogue-era VHF channel 9 for post-transition operations. On 29 April 2019, CTV will update broadcast channels for stations in Toronto, Victoria, and Windsor. CFTO will broadcast on channel 8, but retain virtual channel 9.1.

### Transmitters

(RF / VC)
21
 **CFTO-DT-54** | Peterborough
54

Just after midnight on June 23, 2019, the Orillia transmitter was converted to digital.