CIVI-DT (PatrZDZ's vision)

**CIVI-DT** (channel 53) is a television station in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, part of the NewNet system. It is owned and operated by CHUM Limited alongside radio stations CFAX (AM 1070) and CHBE (107.3 FM). CIVI-DT's studios are located at the corner of Broad Street and Pandora Avenue across from the McPherson Playhouse and the Victoria City Hall in downtown Victoria, and its transmitter is located near Rockland. The station operates a rebroadcaster (CIVI-DT-2) on virtual and UHF channel 17 in Vancouver, with transmitter atop Mount Seymour in the district municipality of North Vancouver.

## History

At the end of the 1990s, CHUM Limited only owned terrestrial television stations in the province of Ontario. Similarly, Craig Media only had stations in provinces within the Canadian Prairies. Both companies looked to expand their national presence, and both submitted a bid when the CRTC issued a call for applications for a new television station licence in Victoria; CHUM was awarded the licence in 2000. CIVI first signed on the air on October 4, 2001, as CHUM's first original station to be part of the NewNet television system. Their studios, dubbed "Pandora's Box" for its location on Pandora Avenue, had previously been the home of the Brackman-Ker Milling Company and other uses over the years; CHUM spent over $20 million restoring it, including outfitting the building with the latest in technology and bringing it up to seismic standards.

Known on the air as "The New VI", the station started off with much pomp and circumstance, marking their launch with a street party around their studios in Victoria and around their Nanaimo bureau. It boasted a large lineup of personalities, including former British Columbia New Democratic Party cabinet minister Moe Sihota. Original programming includes Island Underground (focusing on Vancouver Island's youth culture), The New Canoe (hosted by and produced for the area's First Nations residents), Environ-Mental (focusing on localized environmental issues), the VI Parade (handling local arts and culture), and a localized version of Speaker's Corner; much of the schedule consists of programming from other CHUM outlets (including CityLine, FashionTelevision and Ed the Sock's Night Party), some of which had previously aired across the border on KVOS-TV in Bellingham, WA (which CHUM had been syndicating programming to since the 1990s in the face of repeated failures to launch a station in the area), along with American imported and syndicated programming (including The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon and the Star Trek franchise), and a primetime movie on Sundays dubbed The Great MoVI (in the style of Citytv's Great Movies).

However, the launch was delayed from September to October; the various changes also meant that KVOS was displaced by CIVI from its long-time home on channel 12 on many Vancouver-area cable systems. The station also struggled to compete against CTV affiliate CHEK-TV (channel 6), which had been the only local station on Vancouver Island for more than four decades. Gradually, personalities from the original roster were replaced by new faces, and some were let go without replacements.

## News operation

CIVI presently broadcasts 29 and a half hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with 5 and a half hours each weekday and an hour each on Saturdays and Sundays).

The station's newscast are dubbed VILand News (sister station CKVR had originally used a similar title, VRLand News, for their first few years as a NewNet station); the station's news anchors walk around the studio instead of sitting behind a desk, mimicking the format used at Toronto sister station CITY-TV and other NewNet outlets. VILand News consists of a 2-hour long evening newscast from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. and a half-hour late newscast at 11:00 p.m., as well as the two-hour morning newscast New Day (broadcast from the station's Nanaimo facilities).

### Newscast schedule

Weekdays

* 6am - 9am: New Day with Erick Thompson
* 5pm - 6pm: VILand Live at 5 with Alex Lee
* 6pm - 7pm: VILand News at 6 with Joe Perkins
* 11pm - 11:35pm: VILand News at 11 with Joe Perkins

Saturdays and Sundays:

* 6pm - 6:30pm: VILand News at 6 with Andrew Johnson
* 11pm - 11:30pm: VILand News at 11 with Andrew Johnson