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It has been suggested that duopoly (broadcasting) be merged into this article. (Discuss) Proposed since August 2012.

A twinstick, in Canadian broadcasting, is a term for two television stations, broadcasting in the same market, which are owned by the same company. The term derives from the use of "stick", in broadcasting industry jargon, as a term for a broadcast transmitter tower.

In the United States, a broadcast operation of this type is more commonly known as a duopoly.

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, Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) policy mandates that a broadcaster may only own one television station in a particular language in any given market. However, there are two types of exemptions which may be granted:

  1. small markets, in which one or more stations may be in financial jeopardy due to limited advertising revenue;
  2. 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". CBC/Radio-Canada owned-and-operated stations 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 Access in Alberta.

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 affiliates, major market twinsticks are virtually always owned-and-operated stations (O&Os) of their associated networks or systems.

In a few isolated cases, the CRTC has permitted "triple-sticks", or triopolies, 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 CTV 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 CBC 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 Northern Ontario, twinstick mergers were subsequently allowed to permit the survival of both television stations after similar economic difficulties were encountered.

With the cross-national consolidation 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 CTV and CBC affiliates. Currently, the Lloydminster stations are CTV and CBC affiliates, while the Thunder Bay stations are Global and CBC affiliates.

Within Quebec, twinsticks may consist of any combination of SRC, TVA and V affiliates:

From 1997 to 2002, CTV directly owned several CBC twinstick stations it had inherited from Baton Broadcasting (CKNC, CHNB, CJIC and CFCL in Northern Ontario, which were part of the MCTV system, and CKBI and CKOS in Saskatchewan), but these were sold to the CBC in 2002.

One "triple stick" also exists, in which a single company, Télé Inter-Rives, operates all three licensed stations in Rivière-du-Loup: CKRT, CIMT and CFTF. An unofficial triple stick also exists in the Rouyn-Noranda area, as RNC Media, the licensed owner of that city's twinstick, also operates CFVS, the sole station licensed to the nearby city of Val-d'Or. 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 TVA and Radio-Canada maintain direct editorial control of local newscasts on all of their affiliates — 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 Thunder Bay Television 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 Quebecor.

Until August 2008, Cogeco owned three twinsticks in Quebec: CKTV / CFRS in Saguenay, CKSH / CFKS in Sherbrooke and CKTM / CFKM in Trois-Rivières. 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 Remstar Corporation, 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, 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 Bell Media operates twinsticks in three major markets, using the CTV and CTV Two 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 CKCO-TV in Kitchener, Ontario and CTV Two station CFPL-TV in London, about 100 km away. Both have been carried on the VHF band of basic cable throughout much of southwestern Ontario 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 CFCN Calgary and CFRN Edmonton co-exist with CTV Two Alberta, which is officially licensed as the provincial educational broadcaster and is therefore technically exempt from the CRTC's common ownership policy. (Prior to September 2011, CTV Two Alberta also operated over-the-air transmitters in Calgary and Edmonton.) In the Maritime Provinces, Bell Media operates both the over-the-air CTV Atlantic group of stations and the cable-only CTV Two Atlantic, which have been jointly owned (under various parent companies) since the latter's launch in 1983.

Previous examples

Canwest operated the CIII / CHCH twinstick in Toronto-Hamilton and the CHAN / CHEK twinstick in Vancouver-Victoria until 2009, under the Global and E! 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 CHCA in Red Deer, which was available on cable and via rebroadcast transmitters in both Calgary and Edmonton, where Canwest already owned CICT and CITV 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 simultaneous substitution rights.

CHUM Television operated the CITY / CKVR twinstick in Toronto-Barrie and the CKVU / CIVI twinstick in Vancouver-Victoria under the Citytv and A-Channel brands prior to its acquisition by CTVglobemedia in 2006. Following this acquisition, Rogers Media briefly held twinsticks in Vancouver (CKVU / CHNU) and Winnipeg (CHMI / CIIT), formed from its newly-acquired Citytv stations and its Omni-branded religious stations; these two sets of twinsticks were dissolved in 2008 following the sales of CHNU and CIIT to S-VOX.

Unlike the situation in smaller markets, this type of "consolidation" twinstick had been increasingly common up to the late 2000s, concurrently with the rise of secondary television systems (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 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation operates both CBC Television (English) and Radio-Canada (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 Calgary, Rogers Media's acquisition of the Citytv system put those stations in twinsticks with the multilingual Omni Television 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.

In Montreal, Canwest owned both Global station CKMI and multicultural station CJNT until August 2009.

CTV was formerly a part owner of the francophone V network (formerly TQS) in Quebec, meaning that V's owned-and-operated CFJP in Montreal was a partial twinstick with CTV's CFCF 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

  1. Decision CRTC 2000-221, para. 11
  2. ^ Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2007-165, para. 29
  3. Decision CRTC 2000-221, para. 12
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