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CHAT-TV
| CHAT-TV | |
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| Brand | CHAT TV |
| City of License | Medicine Hat, Alberta |
| Market | Medicine Hat, Alberta |
| Channel | analog 6, digital 40 (not on air) |
| Network Affiliation | Current: Citytv
Historic: CBC Television (1957–2008) E! (2008–2009) |
| Founded | September 14, 1957 |
| Company | Pattison Media |
| President | Jim Pattison |
| Current Popular Non-Network Shows |
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CHAT-TV is a Canadian local station in Medicine Hat, Alberta, owned by Pattison Media (formerly the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group) and affiliated with Rogers Communications' Citytv network. It broadcasts on analog channel 6, with a digital channel allocation of 40 (not yet on the air).
History
CHAT-TV began operations on September 14, 1957. It began as an affiliate of CBC Television under original owner Monarch Broadcasting, which also owned local radio station CHAT-AM. In the beginning, CHAT signed on at 5:30 p.m., with the only local programming on the station being its 6 p.m. newscast, while all other programming came from CBC via film and kinescope. CHAT later began producing local shows such as Sock-Hop (a teen dance show), Teen Challenge and Cartoon Quiz (quiz shows), cooking and farming shows and a pair of music programs, Country Roundup (a country music show) and Music for the Moderns (which featured local performers). Later in 1957, CHAT joined the CBC's Trans-Canada Skyway microwave network, which increased the station's operating hours to 10 a.m. to midnight.
In 1961, CHAT signed on its first rebroadcast transmitter near Pivot, Alberta (close to the Alberta-Saskatchewan border) to increase the station's reach. In October 1967, CHAT began broadcasting CBC network shows in color, then began producing and airing local shows in color in February 1971. CHAT's main transmitter was relocated to Bowell, Alberta in September 1979 and its power output was increased to 36 kilowatts video and three kilowatts audio. A station-owned retransmitter in Maple Creek, Saskatchewan and a community-owned rebroadcaster in Oyen, Alberta were also added later. With approval by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), the radio and TV assets of Monarch Boradcasting (including CHAT-TV) were sold to the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group in 2000.
CHAT disaffiliated from CBC Television on August 31, 2008 when its affiliation agreement expired. It opted beforehand to begin carrying programming from Canwest (the parent company of Global Television), but even though there was no local rebroadcaster of nearby Calgary Global affiliate CICT-TV available in Medicine Hat, CHAT chose to become the local affiliate of Canwest's E! system. The CBC did not replace CHAT's transmitters to continue network service in the region upon disaffiliation, but its Calgary station CBRT is now available in Medicine Hat via cable TV and satellite. When CHAT disaffiliated from the CBC, a network-owned transmitter in nearby Etzikom, Alberta which had carried CHAT switched its programming source to CBRT (that transmitter has since been shut down by the CBC as of July 31, 2012 due to budget cuts).
On July 14, 2009, the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group announced that Pattison-owned E! affiliates CHAT, CFJC and CKPG, in the wake of the pending demise of the original E! (which has since been revived by Bell Media as a cable channel) on August 31, 2009, would be establishing new affiliations with Rogers Communications' Citytv system. Beginning September 1, the stations began carrying programming from Citytv (such as 30 Rock, Supernanny, The Office and The Jay Leno Show, along with shows added to the Citytv schedule which had previously been carried by E! such as How I Met Your Mother and The Biggest Loser), but do not use the Citytv branding, instead using their call signs for full-time local branding. [1]
Prior to disaffiliating from CBC in 2008, CHAT had historically carried telecasts of Hockey Night in Canada via CBC. When Rogers purchased the Canadian broadcast rights to National Hockey League games in November 2013, the Pattison Citytv affiliates (including CHAT) began airing Hockey Night in Canada again in October 2014 through Citytv's broadcasts of the show.
