CHNM-DT

CHNM-DT, virtual channel 42 (UHF digital channel 20), is an Omni Television owned-and-operated television station licensed to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The station is owned by the Rogers Media subsidiary of Rogers Communications, as part of a twinstick with Citytv station CKVU-DT (channel 10). The two stations share studios at the corner of West 2nd Avenue and Columbia Street (near False Creek) in the Mount Pleasant neighbourhood of Vancouver; CHNM-DT's transmitter is located atop Mount Seymour.

CHNM-DT
Vancouver, British Columbia
Canada
BrandingOmni British Columbia
SloganDiversity Television
ChannelsDigital: 20 (UHF)
Virtual: 42 (PSIP)
Affiliations42.1: Omni Television (O&O; 2008–present)
OwnerRogers Media Inc.[1]
First air dateJune 27, 2003 (2003-06-27)
Call sign meaningCHaNnel M (former branding); CHaNnel Multicultural
Sister station(s)TV: CKVU-DT
Radio: CISL, CKWX, CJAX-FM, CKKS-FM
Former call signsCHNM-TV (2003–2011)
Former channel number(s)Analog:
42 (UHF, 2003–2011)
Former affiliationsIndependent (2003–2008)
Transmitter power8.3 kW
Height670 m (2,198 ft)
Transmitter coordinates49°21′13″N 122°57′24″W
Licensing authorityCRTC
WebsiteOmni British Columbia
CHNM-DT-1
Victoria, British Columbia
Canada
Brandingsee CHNM-DT infobox
Slogansee CHNM-DT infobox
ChannelsDigital: 29 (UHF)
Virtual: 29 (PSIP)
Affiliations29.1: Omni Television (O&O; 2008–present)
OwnerRogers Media Inc.[1]
Call sign meaningsee CHNM-DT infobox
Sister station(s)see CHNM-DT infobox
Former call signsCHNM-TV (2003–2011)
Former channel number(s)Analog:
29 (UHF, until 2011)
Former affiliationsIndependent (2003–2008)
Transmitter power2.75 kW
Height99.6 m (327 ft)
Transmitter coordinates49°21′13″N 122°57′24″W
Licensing authorityCRTC

On cable, the station is available on Shaw Cable channel 8 (in Vancouver and the Lower Mainland) or 10 (in Victoria and Vancouver Island), and Telus Optik TV channel 9119 in Vancouver, Victoria, Penticton, Kelowna and Vernon. On satellite, CHNM-DT is carried on Telus Satellite TV channel 254 and Bell TV channel 254. There is a high definition feed on Shaw Cable digital channel 214, Telus Optik TV channel 119 and Telus Satellite TV channel 1155.

History
Logo used as channel m, used from 2003 to 2008.
OMNI British Columbia Logo used from 2008 to 2018.

Rogers Communications had made several attempts to launch a multicultural station in Vancouver similar to its successful CFMT in Toronto. Unsuccessful applications to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) were made in 1996[2] and again in 1999.[3]

Omni BC's former studio building at the corner of Pender and Columbia Streets from June 27, 2003-September 4, 2010.
Omni Television in British Columbia moved into sister station City's studio building at 180 West 2nd Avenue on September 7, 2010.

Asked by the federal cabinet to pursue the matter further, in 2002, the commission asked for new applications for a Vancouver multicultural station and received two – from Rogers and Multivan Broadcast, a newly formed consortium of local investors. The licence went to Multivan, with the CRTC citing its local ownership as one of the reasons for the decision.[4] The station first signed on the air on June 27, 2003; branded on-air as "channel m," CHNM originally operated from studio facilities located at the intersection of Pender and Columbia Streets in Vancouver's Chinatown. In the mid-2000s, CHNM previously produced several station IDs and program promos using a diversity theme to capitalize on the station's former slogan "Diversity Lives Here," these including spots featuring Chinese lion dancers that emerge from their lion costume with their faces painted in orange and white, the colours of the BC Lions franchise of the Canadian Football League, along with slogans supporting the team; a South Asian dancer who performs her routine to the Channel M jingle, then breaks into a country and western dance; and a leather-clad Sikh motorcyclist who boards his bike to the Channel M jingle, arranged and performed in a style mixing ZZ Top-style blues rock with East Indian music.

Following a failed 2007 bid for the multicultural licences in Calgary and Edmonton, which were awarded to Rogers, Multivan announced an agreement to sell CHNM to Rogers in July of that year. The sale was approved by the CRTC on March 31, 2008,[5][6] and was finalized on April 30, 2008. With Rogers' recent acquisition of Citytv station CKVU-TV (channel 10) and the resulting sale of religious station CHNU-TV (channel 66, formerly branded as "Omni.10") to S-VOX, the Omni Television brand moved to CHNM on September 1, 2008.

CHNM migrated its operations into sister station CKVU's studio facilities at 180 West 2nd Avenue (near the Vancouver Olympic Village) on September 7, 2010. CHNM won its first-ever Jack Webster Foundation Award for Excellence in Chinese Language Reporting, for a multi-part feature on the topic of earthquake preparedness.

Programming

Along with carrying local newscasts, several independently produced magazine and entertainment programs are created in-house as well. Formerly these programs include German Today (Germany), Hola Que Tal (Spanish), Chai Time (Punjabi), Mandarin Magazine (Mandarin Chinese) and World Beats (an English language world music video program). Since the station discontinued airing syndicated reruns of popular English-language program Two and a Half Men at the beginning of the 2015–16 season, there is no American programming currently airing regularly on the station, which now restricts its schedule to multicultural programming and documentaries.

News operation

CHNM-DT presently broadcasts 12½ hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with 2½ hours each weekday); the station does not produce newscasts on Saturdays or Sundays. The station airs daily newscasts in Cantonese, Mandarin and Punjabi. The station also produced Korean and Tagalog newscasts but these have since been discontinued.

CHNM's newscasts were known as Channel M News from 2003 to 2008. During those years, the station also had a reciprocal agreement with CTV Vancouver station, which allowed the two stations to share news resources.[7] The station's newscasts were rebranded as Omni News in September 2008 following the approval of its sale to Rogers, and its news sharing agreement with CIVT was also terminated.

The station also produced weekly phone-in programs in Cantonese, Mandarin, and Punjabi under Multivan ownership; these programs were cancelled after the station was rebranded as Omni. In September 2012, CHNM began operating a news bureau in Victoria; the team includes bureau chief and political expert Kim Emerson.

Digital television

Digital channel
Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[8]
42.11080i16:9CHNM-DTMain CHNM-DT programming / Omni Television

Analogue-to-digital conversion

CHNM began broadcasting its digital signal on December 17, 2009, operating at reduced power. On February 12, 2010, the CRTC approved an application to increase CHNM-DT's maximum effective power to 8.3 kilowatts. The station initially broadcast its digital signal in the 4:3 picture format (480p upconverted to 1080i), it was converted to the 16:9 format and 1080i resolution on April 26, 2011. CHNM shut down its analogue signal, over UHF channel 42, on August 31, 2011, the official date in which Canadian television stations in CRTC-designated mandatory markets transitioned from analogue to digital broadcasts.[9] The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 20. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display CHNM-DT's virtual channel as its analogue-era UHF channel 42. The station flash cut its Victoria transmitter from analogue to digital signal prior to August 31, 2011.

See also

Footnotes
  1. Ownership Chart 27B – ROGERS – Radio, TV & Satellite-to-Cable
  2. Decision CRTC 97-39, 31 January 1997 - CIVT (now a CTV station) was licensed instead.
  3. Decision CRTC 2000-219, 6 July 2000 - CIVI (now a CTV 2 station) and CHNU (now a Joytv station) were licensed.
  4. Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2002-39, 14 February 2002
  5. CRTC Decision 2008-72
  6. CRTC Approves Rogers Acquisition of channel m Archived 2011-06-06 at the Wayback Machine
  7. "Multi-TV". Vancouver Courier. Archived from the original on 2011-07-17. Retrieved 2010-08-07.
  8. RabbitEars TV Query for CHNM-DT
  9. "Digital Television - Office of Consumer Affairs (OCA)". Archived from the original on 2013-11-19. Retrieved 2013-06-29.
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