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| Channels | |
| Branding |
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| Programming | |
| Affiliations | Citytv (2005–present) |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
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| History | |
First air date | September 18, 1997 |
Former call signs | CKEM-TV (1997–2011) |
Former channel number(s) | Analogue: 51 (UHF, 1997–2011) |
| A-Channel (1997–2005) | |
| Technical information | |
Licensing authority | CRTC |
| ERP | 107 kW |
| HAAT | 294 m (965 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 53°31′55″N 113°46′53″W / 53.53194°N 113.78139°W |
| Repeater(s) | CKEM-DT-1 Red Deer (See below) |
| Links | |
| Website | Citytv Edmonton |
CKEM-DT (channel 51) is a television station in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, part of the Citytv network. It is owned and operated by Rogers Sports & Media alongside Omni Television station CJEO-DT (channel 56). The two stations share studios with Rogers's local radio stations on Gateway Boulevard in Edmonton; CKEM-DT's transmitter is located near Yellowhead Highway/Highway 16A. The station also operates a rebroadcast transmitter (CKEM-DT-1, channel 4) in Red Deer.
CKEM was built as part of A-Channel, the regional television service constructed by Craig Broadcast Systems in 1997. Broadcasting from studios downtown in the historic Hudson's Bay Building, it was the first new commercial TV station in Edmonton since 1974; its style of news and programming was young and aggressive. The station also broadcast Edmonton Oilers hockey for its first several years on air. Ratings settled into third place, above the CBC but behind the established stations in town, CFRN and CITV. However, the station lost ratings momentum following a five-month strike by unionized employees.
Craig, overextended by its launch of Toronto 1 in 2003, sold itself to CHUM Limited, then-owner of Citytv, in 2004. CHUM moved other media properties into the Hudson's Bay Building, including a new radio station and Access Media Group; in 2005, the A-Channel stations took on the Citytv brand. Due to poor ratings and as part of a wave of layoffs, CHUM reduced the size of its local operation in Edmonton in 2006, cancelling the station's evening newscast. CHUM sold most of its assets to Bell Globemedia that same year; as Bell owned the CTV Television Network, the Citytv stations were spun off to Rogers. The station continued producing a morning newscast under the Breakfast Television brand until 2015 and reinstated evening local news programs in 2017.
- ^ "Ownership Chart 27B – ROGERS – Radio, TV & Satellite-to-Cable" (PDF). Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 21, 2021. Retrieved April 19, 2020.