The (more commonly called '''Global''') is a major
English -language
Television network in
Canada , owned by
CanWest Global Communications .
In the
1970s , a call went out for "third" television stations in several major Canadian cities. A group of investors, led by Al Bruner and Peter Hill, founded Global Communications Ltd. with the idea of building a cross-Canada, all-
UHF network. The group had to settle for a six-transmitter network in southern
Ontario , stretching from
Windsor to
Ottawa . The group promised a high level of Canadian content and agreed not to accept local advertising. The new network, called the Global Television Network, launched on
January 6 ,
1974 when CKGN-TV signed on from studios in
Don Mills . The station's main transmitter was (and still is) licenced to
Paris , but for all intents and purposes it was a
Toronto station.
The station soon ran into difficulty, and was purchased by
Izzy Asper , a
Manitoba politician turned broadcaster. He owned
CKND in
Winnipeg , which carried many of Global's programs, through his company then known as CanWest Capital. CKGN became
CIII in
1984 .
Asper went on to launch two stations in
Saskatchewan , won a legal battle for a station in
British Columbia , and acquired a fledgling system in the
Maritimes . Although Asper's regional networks always purchased programming rights as a collective, they did not share common branding, although stations were sometimes indicated as being part of the "CanWest Global System". This ended on
August 18 ,
1997 . CanWest acquired the assets of a former
CBC affiliate in
Quebec City ,
CKMI -TV, after the CBC took over CKMI's original
VHF channel for its own English-language station. Initially a
Limited Partnership with the French-language
TVA network, Global Quebec was wholly acquired by the main network in 2002
{Link without Title} . This purchase gave CanWest's stations enough coverage of Canada that it could call its system "The Global Television Network."
In
2000 , Global acquired the conventional television assets of
Western International Communications (WIC), which owned several stations in Alberta, and those stations were branded as Global on September 4, 2000. As well, WIC owned the
CTV affiliates in
Vancouver and
Victoria . Since Global already owned a station in Vancouver, ownership of both would contravene the
Canadian Radio-television And Telecommunications Commission guidelines on market penetration. However, the WIC station,
CHAN -TV, was much more powerful and highly rated than Global's incumbent
CKVU -TV, so Global placed CKVU-TV in
Trustee ship, kept CHAN as the new Global affiliate, and moved the Victoria station into the
CH television system. The CTV affiliation moved to
CIVT -TV, which was already owned by CTV but had previously operated as an independent station. CKVU was sold to
CHUM Limited .
Although Global network service is not available over-the-air in
Newfoundland And Labrador , the independent station there,
NTV , airs much of the Global network schedule.
,
2006 .]]
In late 2004, with CTV beginning to dominate the ratings, CanWest reorganized its Canadian operations and hired a number of new executives, all formerly of various U.S. media firms, leading to a major overhaul of Global announced in December 2005. The most obvious change is a new logo, replacing the "crescent" with a new ",
2006 (coinciding with Global's broadcast of
Super Bowl XL ). New logos and graphics were designed for news and network promotions, and several newscasts received new timeslots and formats. Revised logos for other CanWest entities which use the crescent — namely
CH ,
Prime ,
Mystery , and
DejaView , as well as the company-sponsored
CanWest Global Park and
CanWest Global Theatre For The Performing Arts , both in
Winnipeg — will likely be introduced in the near future. As of April 2006, CanWest Global Park has changed its logo to reflect the new Global logo.
Since CanWest's purchase of
Southam Newspapers (now CanWest News Service) and the ''
National Post '' from
Conrad Black in
2001 , their media interests have been merged into
Canwest Global under a policy of cross-promotion and
Synergy . Journalists from the ''Post'' and other Canwest papers have made frequent appearances on Global's news programs, passengers on the now-defunct serial drama ''
Train 48 '' habitually read the ''Post'', and Global programs are promoted in Canwest Global newspapers.
Although Global stations had always carried local news in various forms, the first tentative steps towards a national presence came in the mid-1990s with ''
First National '' with
Peter Kent , an early-evening program focusing on national and international news but airing only in central Canada. In
2001 , Global replaced ''First National'' and the similar WIC newscast ''
Canada Tonight '' with a new newscast aired on all Global stations, ''
Global National '', anchored by
Kevin Newman . The program initially aired only on weekdays; in
February of
2005 , ''Global National'' launched a weekend edition anchored by
Tara Nelson .
From 1997 to 2006, local newscasts on Global stations had a standard title, ''Global News''. The long-dominant
CHAN (BCTV) had been an exception since it joined Global in 2001. In connection with the above-noted rebranding, effective February 6, local newscast titles and timeslots have be
standardized , following the BCTV model, as follows. Note that the exact lineup of newscasts and titles varies by station.
- ''Morning News'' - weekday mornings
- --- ''Saturday/Sunday Morning News'' - weekend mornings
- ''Noon News'' or ''Noon News Hour'' - weekdays (or daily) at noon (for 30-minute and 60-minute newscasts respectively)
- --- Exceptions: ''The Noon Show'' (non-news regional lifestyle show on CIHF ) and ''Scene and Heard'' (non-news regional lifestyle show on CISA )
- ''Early News'' - weekdays at 5:00 (5:30 AT)
- ''Global National'' - nightly at 5:30 (6:30 AT)
- ''Evening News'' or ''News Hour'' - nightly at 6:00
- ''News Final'' or ''News Hour Final'' - nightly at 11:00 (10:30 CT)
Since the relaunch, ''Global National'' has quickly gained ground on longtime number-one ''
CTV National News '', overtaking it on several occasions.
Over the network's history, there has been some evidence that Global considers its news coverage subordinate to its usual primetime lineup of entertainment programming. While coverage of some breaking events has increased since the launch of ''Global National'', the network attracted controversy in 2003 when CKND aired its usual programming schedule on the night of the
Manitoba Provincial Election rather than providing any special news programming, and when CIII bumped its
Ontario Provincial Election coverage to
CHCH in order to avoid preempting ''
Survivor ''.
Global has built its business on profitable entertainment programming produced in the '', has often avoided Canadian themes, presumably to focus on sales to United States and foreign
Cable or
Syndication markets.
In recent years, Global has aired somewhat more identifiably Canadian entertainment programming, including the long-running finance drama ''
Traders '', the
British -Canadian animated comedy ''
Bob And Margaret '' (with a British theme), the nightly
Improvised drama ''
Train 48 '' and the
Reality Show ''
My Fabulous Gay Wedding ''. In
2003 , Global signed comedian
Mike Bullard , host of the nightly ''
Open Mike With Mike Bullard '' on
CTV and the
Comedy Network , to a multi-year contract for a new nightly
Talk Show on Global, but ''
The Mike Bullard Show '' was cancelled after 60 episodes amid poor ratings.
Global recently purchased the rights to produce a Canadian edition of the popular entertainment magazine ''
Entertainment Tonight ''; ''
ET Canada '' launched on
September 12 ,
2005 . It also secured Canadian production rights to the American
Reality Series ''
The Apprentice '', but there is no word on when, or if, a Canadian version will air.
Hit American shows currently airing on Global include first-run episodes of ''
Survivor '', ''
The Simpsons '', and ''
Prison Break ''.
Global profits due to Canada's
Simultaneous Substitution law, which allows the owner of content to control programming rights for that show in Canada. So when an American broadcast network is broadcasting the same show at the same time that Global is (such as ''Survivor''), Canadian cable subscribers can only watch the Global Television broadcast, even when trying to view the American stations. This law gives them double exposure for their content and a larger share of advertising revenue, effectively blocking American border cities from access to the Canadian market. This was done to help give money to the networks to fund Canadian content development. Some complaints have arosen due to the following related practices:
- Some Global stations superimpose the phrase '' on program's main titles, often in a font that poorly replicates that of the title itself. Often this means that a single superimposed version is used with each episode. One of the running gags on the opening of '' American Dad '' is a news headline that changes with each episode, and the same headline is shown on every episode when Global uses this practice. Global has recently noticed this situation, and no longer impose its own opening on each episode.
- Split-screen credits are also used to allow for network promos. On some shows, including '' The Simpsons '' and '' Family Guy '', there are special closing credits that may use additional scenes or special music that is altered or lost when Global uses a split screen.
- The removal of any next episode previews, specifically on '' The Apprentice ''. While ''The Apprentice's'' promos are made in-house by NBC , they are not shown on Global, nor on the simulcast on NBC. However, being made in-house, it is likely they are simply not fed to Global in advance to begin with.
- Starting a show earlier than the American network's airing. A recent practice on several American networks has been to start certain shows shortly before or after :00 or :30 past the hour to avert audience loss. For example: on NBC, '' Deal Or No Deal '' airs Mondays from 8:00pm-9:02pm ET, with ''The Apprentice'' following directly after the show. On Global, ''The Apprentice'' airs right at 9:00pm ET, which is simulcast on NBC at the same time, meaning viewers will not be able to watch the final minutes of ''Deal or No Deal'' on NBC. (This particular case may not apply in all markets, since Global's CH system currently airs — in simulcast — ''DOND'', and presumably would end the show before ''The Apprentice'' begins on Global.)
In October 2004, Global started airing select American programmes in Widescreen
HDTV , but it currently has no intention of producing in that format.
Global cross-promotes heavily with other CanWest properties, most frequently CH in the growing number of markets where both services operate in parallel.
- CHAN-TV - Global BC ( Vancouver, British Columbia )
- CITV-TV - Global Edmonton ( Edmonton, Alberta )
- CICT-TV - Global Calgary ( Calgary, Alberta )
- CISA-TV - Global Lethbridge ( Lethbridge, Alberta )
- CFRE-TV - Global Regina ( Regina, Saskatchewan )
- CFSK-TV - Global Saskatoon ( Saskatoon, Saskatchewan )
- CKND-TV - Global Winnipeg ( Winnipeg, Manitoba )
- CIII-TV - Global Ontario (licensed to Paris, Ontario , operations in Toronto )
- CKMI-TV - Global Quebec (licensed to Quebec City, Quebec , operations in Montreal )
- CIHF-TV - Global Maritimes ( Halifax, Nova Scotia )
Most of these stations serve their entire province through a network of relay stations as a part of the key station's license, although some of their transmitters may air separate advertising targeted to their local community.
Global also maintains a second system of independent stations, branded as
CH . They are permitted to share a limited amount of programming with Global-branded stations, but presently do so very rarely. The CH stations are:
- 1974 : "Your New Point of View"
- 1975 -2006: "Global's got it!"
- 2006 -Present: None
