Question about NTV from a USer

[Sabriel]

Did anyone else see the sign-off last night? It was an amazing video show, with fresh footage from the Dem convention.

My question is, What's up with NTV? Who owns it? What's with all the pro-peace messages? I'm not complaining, of course, just really curious.

Sabriel

[Swede]

1. It's Newfoundland TV,but who owns it I don't know.

[iverglas]

2. www.ntv.ca

I'd assumed it was a provincial educational TV station, like TVOntario, but no, it's private. We don't get it here in Ontario (without satellite).

The website isn't very informative, but from the links it appears to be a CTV affiliate. Which means virtually all of its programming is the usual USAmerican (CBS / NBC / Fox) entertainment simulcasting: not a single Canadian entertainment program in its prime-time lineup.
http://www.ntv.ca/lineup/progsched.htp

Its carries CTV national news and presumably current affairs (W5) in season, and does its own local news. Bizarrely, it doesn't even seem to carry CTV's own paltry Canadian entertainment content: Corner Gas, Degrassi: The Next Generation, Canadian Idol, The Eleventh Hour. Even its kids programming is US-produced (including one PBS show). Don't know this one gets under the CRTC radar!

It's all a bit confusing to somebody from away. But aha, I see -- it is just in the process of divorcing CTV. Here's some comment:
http://members.shaw.ca/nelsonmedia/Other/CJON.htm

Newfoundland Television
CJON-TV 6/5 St. John's, Newfoundland & Labrador
Owned by Newfoundland Broadcasting Company Ltd.

CJON, "Canada's Superchannel", is Newfoundland's oldest, and only private television station. It broadcasts mainly a Global schedule <Global is the indirect source of all the current US programming>, with the only exceptions being Canada AM, Oprah, CSI, as well as all CTV national newscasts, regular and special, although these programs probably will disappear from the station's schedule in August of 2004 at the earliest. CJON is now officially known as an independent station, since CTV no longer lists CJON as an affiliated station on its website. Some non-Global programs can also be found on CJON, such as David Letterman and Reba ("Reba" is seen on Global, however, after Survivor has ended its most recent run). CJON also produces its own Newfoundland history program called "NTV.ca".

Ever since CBNT's launch in 1964, NTV had been providing the CTV service to Newfoundland on an unconditional basis. But as the CTV network bought up more and more of its affiliates, NTV found itself suddenly having to pay CTV to carry its service. This resulted in NTV having to drop its affiliation with the CTV service in disgust, which happened at the start of the 2002-2003 TV season.

According to Steve Mindykowski, NTV's programming strategies are a bit strange. Music videos are shown during commercial breaks, and the station's simulcasting practices and graveyard-shift programming are unconventional. NTV also tries very hard to cover up any on-screen logos of other television services on its signal, like CFCF used to do before it went CTV O&O. Since I possess an indifferent opinion on NTV, I won't discuss these oddities in-depth here, but you can go to the nf.general newsgroup for examples of it. If you wish to get right to the NTV discussion on nf.general, click here.

i.e. here: http://groups.google.ca/groups?q=NTV+group%3Anf.general&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&hl=en

[Sabriel]

3. Thanks, iverglas

The whole thing sounds pretty weird. I appreciate the time you took.
Sabriel

[iverglas]

4. I get curious ;)

I was *hoping* I could say it was the provincial educational television network and was doing something right, unlike TVOntario which was politicized by the recent long Conservative govt and booted ... damn, what's that columnist's name ... Eric ... Eric Margolis, that's it, from its Diplomatic Immunity program, for instance.

(Margolis's columns -- he's a hit around DU -- http://www.bigeye.com/fcorrlst.htm)

If it weren't for the Broadcasting Act and the CRTC, we'd have nothing but the cheapest USAmerican shlock on TV up here, because rebroadcasting it will always be cheaper than producing locally. Economies of scale, and all that. Well, no, we'd have some good USAmerican stuff too (Canadians are much bigger fans of Law&Order than USAmerians, e.g.), but it would still be furrin.

NTV looks to be a bit of an idiosyncracy. It *does* produce local news/current affairs programming, but not to carry a single Cdn entertainment program from either CTV or Global, that's just weird indeed.