CKXT
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| CKXT (Toronto One) | ||
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| Missing image Ckxt.png image:ckxt.png | ||
| Toronto, Ontario | ||
| Channel 52 / Cable 15 / HDTV 66 | ||
| Owner | TVA/Sun Media (as of Dec. 2, 2004) | |
| Founded | 2003 | |
| Signal Radius | 27 kW (total) | |
| Callsign Meanings | CKX (call sign of the first television station owned by CKXT's original owners, Craig Media) Toronto | |
CKXT is a broadcast television station in Toronto, Ontario, Canada which uses the on-air brand of Toronto 1. The station began broadcasting on September 19, 2003, on channel 52. The station also has a rebroadcast transmitter in Hamilton on channel 45.
Toronto 1 is currently owned by TVA and Sun Media, bought as part of a takeover deal of Craig Media Inc. by CHUM Limited. CHUM was ordered by the CRTC to divest itself of the station due to its already strong presence in the Toronto television market.
Craig Media Inc. was awarded a license for Toronto 1 by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission on April 8, 2002 in a non-unanimous and somewhat controversial decision. Several existing broadcasters were opposed to any new broadcasters being licensed in the Toronto area, due to the unstable economic climate.
This also marked the first time that Craig Media had been granted a license to compete directly with a station owned by CHUM Limited, which meant that CHUM lost sales revenues from the broadcast rights it had contracted to Craig's A-Channel stations. CHUM retaliated by applying for broadcast licenses in Calgary, Alberta and Edmonton, Alberta, two markets it had previously avoided so as not to compete directly with Craig. The CRTC ended up denying CHUM's applications.
The station proved to be a complete disaster for Craig, and the company was soon sold. (See Craig Media Inc.) It was frequently criticized in the Toronto media when it launched, particularly for flashy but vacuous and repetitive local content, and for an uninspired prime time schedule based heavily on movies, much like CHUM's longstanding CITY. Columnist Russell Smith of The Globe and Mail going so far as to call Toronto 1 a "wretched excuse for a television station."
On May 19, 2004, Craig announced that 28 Toronto 1 employees, in addition to 9 employees working at CKAL in Calgary, Alberta, were being laid off. In addition, a large portion of Toronto 1's original programming, including weekday morning show Toronto Today and late evening show Last Call, were cancelled. Some of the hosts, such as Wei Chen and Roz Weston, remained with Toronto 1 in other roles. Craig Media said the cuts were made to "further rationalize its operations and control costs". [1] (http://www.cbc.ca/story/arts/national/news/2004/05/19/Arts/toronto120040517.html)
The station was purchased by Quebecor, through its TVA and Sun Media divisions, on December 2, 2004, for $46 million (CAD) and Sun Media's 29.9% share in CablePulse24.