| Revision as of 05:04, 22 January 2013 editDarkNITE (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users1,032 editsNo edit summary← Previous edit | Latest revision as of 18:25, 13 April 2013 edit undoViperSnake151 (talk | contribs)Autopatrolled, Extended confirmed users, Pending changes reviewers, Rollbackers109,243 edits MErged | ||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
| #REDIRECT ] | |||
| A '''twinstick''', in ] broadcasting, is a term for two ], broadcasting in the same market, which are owned by the same company. The term derives from the use of "stick", in broadcasting industry ], as a term for a broadcast ] tower. | |||
| In the ], a broadcast operation of this type is more commonly known as a ]. | |||
| Although broadcasting companies are also permitted to own multiple radio stations in a given market, the term "twinstick" is not generally used in reference to radio. | |||
| ==Policy== | |||
| Officially, ] (CRTC) policy mandates that a broadcaster may only own one television station in a particular language in any given market.<ref>, para. 11</ref> However, there are two types of exemptions which may be granted: | |||
| # small markets, in which one or more stations may be in financial jeopardy due to limited advertising revenue; | |||
| # large markets, in which one or more stations may be in financial jeopardy due to audience fragmentation or the cost of programming rights. | |||
| The policy does not prevent companies from owning multiple stations in a market provided that the stations broadcast in different languages. In recent years, this has been interpreted as meaning that a single company may own both an English-language station and one or more multicultural stations with some English-language content, which in itself may be considered a form of "exemption". ]/] ]s are also often deployed in pairs in major cities on both television and radio, separated only by language. | |||
| Also, the policy is not interpreted as preventing a single company from owning both a "commercial" general-interest station and an educational station in the same market, even if the latter airs advertising, as with ] in Alberta.<ref name="ctvchum">, para. 29</ref> | |||
| Although the small and large market exemptions have a financial criterion in common, there are notable differences between the two. A small market twinstick may involve major network affiliates licensed to the same community, and is not obligated to provide distinct local news programming on the two stations, while in a large market the stations must be licensed to serve different communities or different programming niches, and ''cannot'' merge their news programming into a single operation. Small market twinsticks commonly share their branding across both stations, while twinsticks in large markets generally do not. | |||
| As well, while small market twinsticks generally involve private ]s, major market twinsticks are virtually always ]s (O&Os) of their associated networks or systems. | |||
| In a few isolated cases, the CRTC has permitted "triple-sticks", or ], where a single broadcaster operates ''three'' stations in a market. These are only possible under unusual circumstances which are discussed as they arise below. | |||
| ==History== | |||
| Twinsticks were first allowed in 1967, as a way to help expand ] service to smaller markets. In the original twinstick model, the second station was a rebroadcaster of a CTV station in a larger market, to which the small market's existing ] affiliate would be granted the advertising sales rights. | |||
| As the company's advertising revenue grew, the CTV transmitter would eventually become an originating station in its own right, and in theory would eventually be sold to another broadcaster. However, in many cases the subsequent sale never happened, as the community's economic growth failed to lend itself to competition between multiple television broadcasters. In other markets where the CRTC had licensed competing broadcasters, such as ], twinstick mergers were subsequently allowed to permit the survival of both television stations after similar economic difficulties were encountered. | |||
| With the cross-national ] of media ownership, many of the original twinstick stations no longer share ownership with their former twin stations. However, the second type of twinstick, involving media consolidation in larger markets, began to arise in the 1990s. | |||
| ==Small markets== | |||
| Up until February 2010, twinsticks of this type outside of Quebec involved ] and ] affiliates. Currently, the Lloydminster stations are CTV and CBC affiliates, while the Thunder Bay stations are ] and CBC affiliates. | |||
| * ] - ] / ] (]) | |||
| * ] - ] / ] (]) | |||
| Within Quebec, twinsticks may consist of any combination of ], ] and ] affiliates: | |||
| * ] - ] / ] (]) | |||
| * ] - ] / ] (RNC Media) | |||
| From 1997 to 2002, CTV directly owned several CBC twinstick stations it had inherited from ] (], ], ] and ] in ], which were part of the ] system, and ] and ] in ]), but these were sold to the CBC in 2002. | |||
| One "triple stick" also exists, in which a single company, ], operates all three licensed stations in ]: ], ] and ]. An unofficial triple stick also exists in the Rouyn-Noranda area, as RNC Media, the licensed owner of that city's twinstick, also operates ], the sole station licensed to the nearby city of ]. These unusual situations arise because of the unique circumstances of francophone television stations in Quebec: with virtually no sources for syndicated programming, the stations are effectively constrained to network programming at all times, and both ] and ] maintain direct editorial control of local newscasts on all of their affiliates{{Citation needed|date=February 2011}}<!-- this may have been true of certain SRC affils in the past - e.g. those owned by TQS (for conflict-of-interest reasons) - but I don't think it was ever a requirement for all SRC or TVA affils --> — meaning that despite being owned by a single company, the stations are still able to meet the guiding principles behind the CRTC's policies on media ownership. | |||
| As noted above, historically twinstick operations were locally owned. With the cross-national consolidation of media ownership in Canada, however, most twinstick operations are now owned by major media conglomerates. The ] stations (CHFD/CKPR) are the sole remaining locally-owned twinstick anywhere in English Canada. The aforementioned Télé Inter-Rives is similarly unique in Quebec, although it is itself ''partially'' owned by ]. | |||
| Until August 2008, Cogeco owned three twinsticks in Quebec: ] / ] in ], ] / ] in ] and ] / ] in ]. These twinsticks were dissolved when Radio-Canada decided to acquire its former affiliates (CKTV, CKSH and CKTM), while the V affiliates (CFRS, CFKS and CFKM) were acquired by ], the new owner of V (then known as TQS). | |||
| ==Major markets== | |||
| In the mid-1990s, the CRTC also began to allow private companies operating in large markets to acquire smaller stations. In all such cases, the twinsticks are permitted because a diversity of broadcast voices already exists in the market,<ref>, para. 12</ref> and the stations are normally licensed to serve different communities in the metropolitan market or different programming niches. The stations must also be operated independently of each other, although they are permitted to cross-promote each other's programming. They may also air a very limited amount of common programming, although in practice this privilege is rarely used. | |||
| Currently ] operates twinsticks in three major markets, using the ] and ] brands: | |||
| * ]: ] / ] | |||
| * ]-]: ] / ] | |||
| * ]-]: ] / ] | |||
| In addition to these "true" twinsticks, in some areas, Bell Media has taken a twinstick-type approach with two stations deemed to be in ''adjacent'' media markets, but which in practice serve both markets. For example, Bell operates both CTV station ] in ] and CTV Two station ] in ], about 100 km away. Both have been carried on the ] band of basic cable throughout much of ] for several decades. Hence, presumably as a result of this duplicated coverage, their current owner has elected to continue airing distinct programming on both stations. (On the other hand, Kitchener is also about 100 km from Toronto; nevertheless both CKCO and Toronto's CFTO operate as CTV stations.) | |||
| Finally, in some markets, Bell Media operates both a local over-the-air CTV station, and a provincial or regional cable channel that broadcasts CTV Two programming. In Alberta, CTV stations ] ] and ] ] co-exist with ], which is officially licensed as the provincial educational broadcaster and is therefore technically exempt from the CRTC's common ownership policy.<ref name="ctvchum" /> (Prior to September 2011, CTV Two Alberta also operated over-the-air transmitters in Calgary and Edmonton.) In the ], Bell Media operates both the over-the-air ] group of stations and the cable-only ], which have been jointly owned (under various parent companies) since the latter's launch in 1983. | |||
| ===Previous examples=== | |||
| ]<!-- Shaw is not applicable here; Canwest divested all of the "secondary" stations before Shaw ever got control of it. --> operated the ] / ] twinstick in Toronto-] and the ] / ] twinstick in Vancouver-Victoria until 2009, under the ] and ] brands. These two sets of twinsticks were separated as a result of E!'s demise in August 2009, with Canwest retaining the Global O&Os (CIII and CHAN) and selling off the E! stations (CHCH and CHEK). Additionally, Canwest previously owned the now-defunct ] in ], which was available on cable and via rebroadcast transmitters in both Calgary and Edmonton, where Canwest already owned ] and ] respectively. This was not considered a true twinstick as CHCA was not based in the larger markets, and did not have permission to solicit local advertising in those markets. It did, however, have ] rights. | |||
| ] operated the ] / CKVR twinstick in Toronto-Barrie and the ] / CIVI twinstick in Vancouver-Victoria under the ] and ] brands prior to its acquisition by CTVglobemedia in 2006. Following this acquisition, ] briefly held twinsticks in Vancouver (CKVU / ]) and Winnipeg (] / ]), formed from its newly-acquired Citytv stations and its ]-branded religious stations; these two sets of twinsticks were dissolved in 2008 following the sales of CHNU and CIIT to ]. | |||
| Unlike the situation in smaller markets, this type of "]" twinstick had been increasingly common up to the late 2000s, concurrently with the rise of secondary ]s (e.g. CH/E! and A-Channel) launched by their parent companies to complement their primary networks or systems (e.g. Global and Citytv). This trend was partially reversed in 2009 with the demise of E! and the subsequent dissolution of the Global / E! twinsticks. | |||
| ==Multiple languages== | |||
| In many major markets, the ] operates both ] (English) and ] (French) stations. (In numerous other markets not listed, both networks are available over-the-air, but one or both of the transmitters is a rebroadcaster of a station originating in a different city; these are not usually considered true twinsticks.) | |||
| * ] - ] / ] | |||
| * ] - ] / ] | |||
| * ] - ] / ] | |||
| * ] - ] / ] | |||
| * ] - ] / ] | |||
| * ] - ] / ] | |||
| * ] - ] / ] | |||
| * ] - ] / ] | |||
| In Toronto, Edmonton and ], ]'s acquisition of the ] system put those stations in twinsticks with the multilingual ] stations. In Toronto, Omni Television has its own twinstick, giving the company a nominal "triple-stick" in that market. The two Omni stations in Toronto each serve different segments of the market's multicultural audience, and thus are ''also'' permitted under the language exemption. | |||
| * Calgary - ] / ] | |||
| * Edmonton - ] / ] | |||
| * Toronto - ] / ] / ] | |||
| * Vancouver - ] / ] | |||
| In Montreal, Canwest owned both Global station ] and multicultural station ] until August 2009. | |||
| CTV was formerly a part owner of the francophone ] network (formerly TQS) in Quebec, meaning that V's owned-and-operated ] in Montreal was a partial twinstick with CTV's ] for most of the 2000s. CFCF was, in fact, the original ''owner'' of TQS, meaning that the stations were once a true twinstick under the language exemption, although the two stations went through very different sequences of ownership changes after 1995. | |||
| == See also == | |||
| * ] | |||
| * ] | |||
| == References == | |||
| {{Reflist}} | |||
| ] | |||
Latest revision as of 18:25, 13 April 2013
Redirect to: