CFCF-DT (PatrZDZ's vision)

**CFCF-DT** (channel 12) is a television station in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, part of the CTV Television Network. It is owned and operated by CFCF Inc., alongside TQS flagship CFJP-DT (channel 35). Both stations share studios at the Montréal Téléport building, at the intersection of Avenue Papineau and Boulevard René-Lévesque Est in downtown Montreal, while CFCF-DT's transmitter is located atop Mount Royal.

## History

### Canadian Marconi Company (1961–1972)

CFCF-TV was founded by the Canadian Marconi Company, owner of CFCF radio (600 AM, later CINW on 940 AM before its closure in 2010; and 106.5 FM, now CKBE-FM at 92.5), after several failed attempts to gain a licence, beginning in 1938, and then each year after World War II. In 1960, it finally gained a licence, and began broadcasting on January 20, 1961 at 5:45 p.m. It was the second privately owned English language station in Quebec; CKMI-TV in Quebec City had signed on four years earlier in March 1957.

The station was originally located above the Avon Theatre. The first night on-air was fraught with problems. A power failure interrupted the opening ceremony, and later on, police raided the downstairs ballroom, with sirens blazing and a number of arrests made. The station's newscast, Pulse News, faced a few problems because of the noise from the ballroom. CFCF-AM-FM-TV moved into their own facilities at 405 Ogilvy Avenue in Montreal's Park Extension neighbourhood on May 19.

Channel 12 joined CTV as a charter affiliate on October 1, 1961. However, despite its status as CTV's second-largest affiliate, its relationship with CTV was somewhat acrimonious over the years. Canadian Marconi, as would channel 12's numerous owners over the years, felt CTV's flagship station, CFTO-TV in Toronto, had too much influence over the network.

### Multiple Access (1972–1979)

In 1968, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) required that all broadcasting outlets be 80% Canadian owned. Canadian Marconi was a subsidiary of the UK-based General Electric Company plc, and was forced to put its entire broadcasting division—CFCF-TV, CFCF (AM), CFQR-FM and CFCX—on the market. A deal to sell the stations to Ernie Bushnell, owner of CJOH-TV in Ottawa, collapsed in the spring of 1971 when Bushnell was unable to secure the necessary financing. Later in 1971, Canadian Marconi agreed to sell the stations to computer and telecommunications company Multiple Access Ltd., owned by the Bronfman family. In so doing, Canadian Marconi earned a handsome return on its original investment in CFCF, which long claimed to be the oldest radio station in Canada.

Multiple Access bought the stations after the CRTC refused to approve purchase offers by Baton Broadcasting, owner of CFTO (other CTV partners opposed the sale, and Baton was not interested in buying the radio stations without channel 12 being included in the purchase), and by CHUM Limited (because of indecision over which radio stations would be sold to meet radio ownership limits in Montreal). Multiple Access also was co-owner of CITY-TV in Toronto (with CHUM) during this time.

### CFCF Inc. (1979–present)

In 1979, Multiple Access sold the stations and its production company, Champlain Productions, to CFCF Inc., headed by Jean Pouliot. This came after a deal by Baton (this time a willing partner) to purchase Multiple Access' Montreal broadcasting operations fell through. CHUM successfully purchased Multiple Access' Toronto operations (its share of CITY-TV). Later on, the station began broadcasting a 24-hour schedule full of classic television shows and movies during the late night hours, because of the popularity of VHS and Betamax VCRs by that time. As of the present day, the station now airs mostly infomercials in late night.

CFCF Inc., expanded to include the assets of CF Cable TV, which was acquired by Pouliot in 1982, and went public in 1985. In 1986, CFCF gained a sister station: CFJP-TV, the flagship station of Pouliot's new French language network, Television Quatre-Saisons (TQS). TQS spent most of its early years in serious financial difficulty; the revenues from channel 12 were all that kept it afloat. Two years later, the radio stations were sold to Mount-Royal Broadcasting, and moved out of the CFCF building a year later. 1986 also saw CFCF become the home base for a Canadian game show: The New Chain Reaction was taped there, as was the French counterpart, Action Réaction. Chain was initially hosted by Canadian musician Blake Emmons, but he quit after only a few weeks. Producer Bob Stewart then brought in Geoff Edwards to replace him; in turn, CFCF staff announcer Rod Charlebois was then given an on-air role, to satisfy CanCon requirements. This version ran until 1991 on Global in Canada and in America on the USA Network.

Financial relief came to the company in the 1990s with an investment from Canwest Global Communications. In return, CFCF did not stand in the way of Canwest's plans to apply for a Global repeater station in Montreal. However, Canwest Global changed its mind, citing tax problems. It did, however, allow CFCF to carry some Global programs; it was already airing some programming from Citytv. This would not be the end of Global's influence at the station.

In 1997, TVA sold controlling interest in CKMI to Canwest. The two companies announced plans to turn CKMI into a Global station, along with a CKMI repeater in Montreal and a large studio complex in Montreal. Pouliot was scared by the prospect of new competition and decided to get out. He initially planned to sell CFCF to Vidéotron. However, Vidéotron also owned TVA, which retained a 49 percent stake in CKMI. This would have resulted in one company having a significant stake in all of the private stations in Montreal – CFCF, CKMI, CFJP and TVA flagship CFTM-TV. Vidéotron knew that the CRTC would never approve such an arrangement.

Over the next few years, CFCF cut back its carriage of CTV programming to little more than the base schedule of 40 hours per week. This was due to longstanding tensions between WIC and CTV (stemming from similar issues to those raised by CFCF, in that they felt CFTO and Baton had too much influence over the network); the station filled out the rest of their schedule with WIC's own library of programming. This didn't pose a problem at first, since Ottawa's CJOH was available on cable in Montreal for most of the 1980s and 1990s; CJOH operates a repeater in Cornwall, Ontario whose footprint reaches Montreal. Meanwhile, TQS was sold to Quebecor.

Before 1997, when CHCH and CITY launched rebroadcast transmitters in the Ottawa region, local cable companies there carried CFCF as well. Because CHCH and CFCF were sharing some programs, CFCF was removed from these systems, except for Rogers Cable.

## Programming

CFCF has always been the highest-rated television station for Anglophone Quebecers. As well, a significant number of bilingual Francophones also watch CFCF – for both programming and news – although CFTM, CFJP and CBFT-DT (Radio-Canada) are the obvious market leaders for Quebec's French community.

As with most CTV-affiliated stations, CFCF's prime-time network schedule is usually synchronized with the original American airings of the same programs because all major stations serving the Burlington–Plattsburgh area—WCAX, the CBS affiliate; WPTZ, the NBC affiliate; WVNY, the ABC affiliate; and WFFF-TV, the Fox affiliate—are available on cable in Montreal and CFCF is likewise available on cable in the Burlington–Plattsburgh area. CFCF's ratings do generally top all of those stations, as well as CBMT-DT, the local CBC station.

Some children's programming is preempted, because of provincial regulations on advertising. CFCF also airs a weekday morning newscast at 5:30 a.m. (6:00 a.m. until 2009) called First News, broadcast immediately before Canada AM. As well, CFCF does not carry either Wheel of Fortune or Jeopardy!, when these are part of the standard CTV schedule.

## News operation

CFCF-DT presently broadcasts 23 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with 4 hours each weekday and 1½ hours each on Saturdays and Sundays). The station's studios in Downtown Montreal also house the CTV News network division's Montreal news bureau.

Since 1986, one of CFCF's lead evening anchors has been Mutsumi Takahashi. Amanda Kline is the current lead anchor of the weekend edition and Paul Karwatsky anchors the 5 and 11:30 p.m. bulletins. One of its most famous anchors, Bill Haugland, is now retired; his last newscast aired on November 30, 2006. Haugland worked at CFCF for more than 40 years. He covered major stories in the 1960s and 1970s before becoming the lead anchor at CFCF in the late-1970s. Haugland was an institution and in a special "Farewell to Bill" show broadcast on his final day, he was heralded by colleagues, viewers and former prime ministers alike. In December 2006, Haugland was replaced by another CFCF veteran newscaster, Brian Britt. Britt too retired on July 24, 2008, and was then fully replaced by Todd van der Heyden.

### Newscast times

Weekdays:

* 5:30am - 6am: Pulse First News with Maya Johnson
* 12pm - 1pm: Pulse at Noon with Mutsumi Takahashi and Todd van der Heyden
* 5pm - 6pm: Pulse at 5 with Paul Karwatsky
* 6pm - 7pm: Pulse at 6 with Mutsumi Takahashi and Todd van der Heyden
* 11:30pm - 12:05am: Pulse at 11:30 with Paul Karwatsky

Saturdays and Sundays:

* 6pm - 7pm: Pulse at 6 with with Amanda Kline
* 11:30pm - 12:05am: Pulse at 11:30 with Amanda Kline