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Revision as of 19:11, 13 March 2004 by 24.66.94.140 (talk) (Added internal links)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)A twinstick, in Canadian broadcasting, is an informal term for two television stations, broadcasting in the same market, which are owned by the same company.
Under Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission rules, twinsticks are permitted in two very different market types: either the market must be too small to support two separate commercial broadcasters competing for advertising dollars, or the market must be large enough that a diversity of broadcast voices already exists.
Examples of the small community type include CHFD and CKPR in Thunder Bay, Ontario, and CITL-TV and CKSA-TV in Lloydminster, Alberta/Saskatchewan. As the Global Television Network owns all of its affiliate stations directly, twinsticks of this type always involve CTV and CBC stations, and are becoming increasingly rare as the CBC buys out its remaining privately-owned affiliates.
Examples of the large market type include Citytv and The New VR in the Greater Toronto Area (both owned by CHUM Limited), and CIII-TV and CHCH-TV in the Greater Toronto Area (both owned by Global Television Network). Unlike the situation in smaller markets, this type of "media convergence" twinstick is becoming more and more common.