 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (January 2019) |
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|---|---|
| City | Barrie, Ontario |
| Channels | |
| Branding |
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| Programming | |
| Affiliations | CTV 2 |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Bell Media Inc. |
| History | |
First air date | September 28, 1955 |
Former call signs | CKVR-TV (1955–2011) |
Former channel number(s) |
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| |
Call sign meaning | Valerie and Ralph Snelgrove |
| Technical information | |
Licensing authority | CRTC |
| ERP | 11 kW |
| HAAT | 339 m (1,112 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 44°21′0″N 79°41′50″W / 44.35000°N 79.69722°W |
| Translator(s) | see § Transmitters |
| Links | |
| Website | CTV 2 Barrie |
CKVR-DT (channel 3) is a television station in Barrie, Ontario, Canada, serving as the flagship station of the CTV 2 system. It is owned and operated by Bell Media alongside Toronto-based CTV flagship CFTO-DT, channel 9 (although the two stations maintain separate operations); it is also sister to 24-hour regional news channel CP24. CKVR-DT's studios and transmitter are co-located at 33 Beacon Road in Barrie.
The station was founded by Ralph Snelgrove on September 28, 1955 and was the smallest community in North America to have its own television station. CKVR was a longtime CBC affiliate, having been so for forty years from its inception. CHUM Limited acquired the station in 1969, becoming one of the first privately owned stations by the company.[1] The station ended its affiliation with the CBC in 1995 and the station was rebranded as The New VR. During its short time as an independent station, CKVR's heavy intense news and other locally produced programming were modeled after its longstanding Citytv station in Toronto. CHUM later used CKVR-TV as the basis and flagship station of a television system, acquiring and establishing new stations under the NewNet name, which became more conventional after CHUM acquired the assets of Craig Media in 2004 while CKVR and the rest of the NewNet system was relaunched as A-Channel in 2005.[2]
In July 2006, CTVglobemedia (then known as Bell Globemedia) announced its intent to acquire CHUM Limited, but was required to divest the Citytv stations due to conflicts with CTV stations it already owned in the same markets. CTV chose to keep the A-Channel stations including CKVR, as well as CKVR-TV's sister news channel CP24 and its other cable channels MuchMusic, but divested CITY-TV and its sister stations to Rogers Media. CKVR was rebranded thrice to A in 2008, followed by CTV Two in 2011 and again as CTV 2 in 2018 and since its eventual acquisition by Bell, CKVR's programming became more conventional in nature.[3]