CIII-DT - History

History

The station was launched on January 6, 1974 under the callsign CKGN-TV and upon its launch, had branded itself as the "Global Television Network", a name which reflected its then-unprecedented coverage of several Ontario markets through a network of satellite-fed transmitters. From its launch in 1974 until 2009, the station's main transmitter was licensed to Paris, a small town near Brantford, but following a licence amendment in 2009, Toronto is now the station's primary city of licence. Through its entire history, however, the station's main studio has always been in Toronto.

It had been hoped to be distinct from CBC and CTV by airing a number of its own Canadian-made programs. Three months later, the station was in deep financial trouble, and had cancelled many of its own programs. To survive, the network essentially became a clone of CTV, airing as much non-Canadian content as allowed (at the time, Canadian content regulations required 50 percent overall, with 60 percent in prime time). The station's financial difficulties continued until it was bailed out by two conglomerates in 1977, one based in Ontario, the other in western Canada. Several years later, both tried to buy out the other's interest, and the CRTC ended the contest by allowing the western group to take full ownership, a landmark change in Canadian broadcasting that ended the dominance of central Canada.

The callsign CKGN-TV was changed to CIII-TV in January 1984, to mark the 10th anniversary of the station. The Windsor/Cottam transmitter would be an exception for a few years as it continued to be identified in CRTC documents as CKGN-TV-1, perhaps because of licensing issues with nearby Detroit broadcasters (see "Transmitters and Facilities" below). ("CKGN" was a former callsign for a television station in North Bay, Ontario from 1955 to 1962, known today as CKNY-TV. The "CKGN" calls are now used by a Kapuskasing, Ontario radio station, CKGN-FM.)

CIII has evolved into a much more Toronto-centric station in recent years. Previously, it employed a number of freelance journalists from across the province who filed reports for Global News. This, along with extensive provincewide weather coverage, gave the station a distinctive Ontario feel for many years. In the late 1990s, its focus turned almost exclusively toward Toronto.

CIII was originally owned by Global Communications, which was fully acquired by Izzy Asper in 1989 and later became known as Canwest. Asper's stations (including CKVU-TV in Vancouver, Saskatchewan stations CFRE-TV/Regina and CFSK-TV/Saskatoon, CKND-TV in Winnipeg and CIHF-TV in Halifax) formed a mini-network for a number of years that was known as the Canwest Global System, which eventually evolved into the present-day Global and all of the stations began using the "Global" brand (in addition to CIII) in 1997. Around this time, CIII became known internally as "Global Ontario", but generally avoided the name on-air, even after most other Global stations began using regional branding in 2006. The Ontario station began to identify as "Global Toronto" in 2009 following the aforementioned licence amendment, but continues to use only the main Global logo in its bug, unlike other Global stations.