CHBC-DT

CHBC-DT
Brand	Global Okanagan
City of License	Kelowna, British Columbia
Market	Kelowna, British Columbia
Channel	27 digital, 2 virtual Formerly: 2 analog (1957–2012)
Network Affiliation	Current: Global TV Historic: CBC Television (1957–2006) CH/E! (2006–2009)
Founded	September 21, 1957
Company	Corus Entertainment
President
Current Popular Non-Network Shows

CHBC-DT is a Canadian local station in Kelowna, British Columbia, owned by Corus Entertainment as an affiliate of the Global Television Network. It broadcasts on digital channel 27, displaying on tuners as virtual channel 2.

History

CHBC signed on for the first time on September 21, 1957 as an affiliate of CBC Television. The station was originally owned by Okanagan Valley Television Ltd., a consortium of three Okanagan Valley radio stations, CKOV (now CKQQ-FM) in Kelowna, CKOK (now CKOR) in Penticton and CJIB (now CKIZ-FM) in Vernon. Within weeks after its launch, CHBC activated rebroadcast transmitters in Penticton and Vernon to get better coverage of the Okanagan Valley region.

During its early years, CHBC received CBC network programming via 16mm film and kinescope, with network shows airing about one week later than the CBC-owned stations and the CBC's national news airing a day later than the bigger stations. This method of carrying CBC programming ended when CHBC linked to the CBC's microwave network in 1960 and began receiving network programs, including live shows, the same day as other stations. CHBC produced and aired its local shows live in its early years, including such shows as Okanagan Magazine, Midday, Focus, Kids' Bids, The Three R's, Let's Visit and a local version of the Romper Room franchise. The station began producing local programs and commercials on videotape in 1964 when it purchased its first videotape machine.

With the introduction of color television in Canada in September 1966, CHBC began carrying color programming via CBC Television, then added equipment over the next few years for the production and transmission of local color programs. When Vancouver station CHAN-TV expanded to bring CTV to the Okanagan Valley in 1970 via local repeater CHKL-TV and its own subnetwork of retransmitters, that station made arrangements with CHBC to provide the service, with a provision to replace commercials from Vancouver advertisers on the local CHAN retransmitters with ads from local retailers and services. CHBC began broadcasting in full color in 1971 with the purchase of a color studio camera.

Beginning in 1968, the ownership of CHBC began gradually changing. That year, CKOK sold its one-third interest in CHBC to then-station manager Roy Chapman, who later sold that stake to CHAN. CJIB, and with it its one-third ownership of CHBC, were purchased by Selkirk Communications. CKOV sold its interest equally to Selkirk and CHAN, which then had a 50/50 ownership split by the early-1980s. In addition to its CBC programming and syndicated shows, CHBC committed, beginning in 1986, to increasing its presence in the Okanagan Valley communities it served by producing more local programming and ads, exemplified by the station's slogan at that time, The Okanagan's Very Own. When Selkirk was purchased by Maclean-Hunter in 1989, Selkirk's stake in CHBC was sold to CHAN's parent company at the time, Western International Communications (WIC), to give WIC full ownership of the station.

In 1999, following negotiations, the assets of WIC were split between Shaw Communications and Canwest Global Communications, with Canwest taking control of WIC's television stations, including CHBC. The WIC sale was finalized in 2000, with Canwest assuming the operations of CHBC and sister station CHAN at that point. On February 27, 2006, CHBC disaffiliated from CBC Television and joined Canwest's CH system, but unlike other Canwest-owned stations which adopted the generic CH branding on-air, CHBC did not switch to the CH brand but instead kept its call letters for its identity. That same day, Jim Pattison-owned Kamloops station CFJC-TV, which had a joint sales and programming agreement with CHBC since the 1990s (dating back to when CFJC delegated its ad sales to WIC), concurrently disaffiliated from the CBC and became the first non-Canwest-owned CH affiliate. With CHBC's disaffiliation, Vancouver CBC station CBUT added a rebroadcaster in Kelowna (which has since been shut down by the CBC as of July 31, 2012 due to budget cuts).

When Canwest revamped CH into the Canadian version of E! in September 2007 by licencing the E! brand and programming from Comcast (the owner of the American cable channel of the same name), CHBC adopted the E! brand on-air for those shows while using the CHBC News brand for local news and regional programming. In a controversial move in November 2008, CHBC announced that its local newscasts would no longer be produced at its Kelowna studios, but would instead be produced at CHEK-TV in Victoria using a virtual news set, and its noon newscast would be cancelled. A massive public outcry against this decision later led Canwest to reverse its decision and allow CHBC to continue producing its newscasts, including the noon news, in Kelowna.

On February 5, 2009, Canwest announced that it had looked into the possibility of selling CHBC and its other E!-branded stations as one of several options for the stations' future operations. Canwest President and CEO Leonard Asper announced that the possible sale of CHBC, CHEK, CHCA, CHCH and CJNT would allow Canwest to focus on its specialty cable channels and their synergy with the company's flagship operation, Global TV. Further speculation on the future of CHBC, along with the other Canwest-owned E! stations, was raised following Canwest's June 3, 2009 press conference announcing the fall 2009 schedules for its over-the-air and cable channels, when it was announced that no new programming had been purchased or even announced for E! for the fall, although CHBC management added that there was interest in the station from potential buyers.

On July 22, 2009, Canwest announced that, as a result of its operations review (and in the wake of the pending closure of E!'s operations), it would be retaining CHBC, which became part of Global TV at 5:30 a.m. PDT on August 31, 2009. CHBC was rebranded on-air as Global Okanagan (to be used for most programming on the station), while CHBC News was retained as the name for its news programming until April 2013. On October 15, 2012, CHBC's channel 2 analog signal went off the air while CHBC-DT's digital signal began operating on channel 27. On January 13, 2016, Corus Entertainment announced that it planned to purchase Shaw Media, including Global TV, its stations (including CHBC) and its specialty channels, from Shaw Communications. The Shaw Media acquisition, which was intended to help fund Shaw Communications' purchase of wireless telecommunications company Wind Mobile, required regulatory approval from the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) as well as approval by Corus minority shareholders. The sale was closed on April 1, 2016 as Global TV and its owned-and-operated stations (including CHBC) were acquired by Corus.

With a few exceptions for local opt-outs in its schedule for newscasts, CHBC now mostly simulcasts the schedule of CHAN (with the exception of Global's national supper-hour newscast, Global National, which airs at 6:00 p.m. on CHBC due to the station's hour-long 5:00 p.m. newscast, instead of at 5:30 as on CHAN).

Current Prime-Time Schedule

Note: Schedule is subject to change due to special programming.

Day	7:00	7:30	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00	10:30	11:00
Monday	The Goldbergs	Entertainment Tonight	The Neighborhood	Poppa's House	NCIS		NCIS: Origins		CHBC News Final
Tuesday	The Goldbergs	Entertainment Tonight	FBI		FBI International		FBI Most Wanted		CHBC News Final
Wednesday	Entertainment Tonight Canada	Entertainment Tonight	Survivor			Abbott Elementary	Murder in a Small Town		CHBC News Final
Thursday	Entertainment Tonight Canada	Entertainment Tonight	9-1-1		Matlock		Elsbeth		CHBC News Final
Friday	Entertainment Tonight Canada	Entertainment Tonight	S.W.A.T.		Fire Country		Crime Beat		CHBC News Final
Saturday	Border Security: America's Front Line	Border Security: America's Front Line	Murder in a Small Town		Private Eyes		48 Hours		CHBC News Final
Sunday	60 Minutes		The Floor		The Equalizer		Accused		CHBC News Final

External Sites

• CHBC-DT website