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CFCF-TV
Montreal, Quebec
Branding	CTV Montreal
Slogan	Montreal's Watching CTV
Channels	Analog: 12 (VHF) Digital: not yet on air
Affiliations	CTV
Owner	CTVglobemedia (CTV Television Inc.)
Founded	1961
Call letters meaning	Canada's First Canada's Finest (taken from former sister radio station CFCF-AM, now CINW)
Former affiliations	Independent (January-October 1961)
Website	montreal.ctv.ca

"CFCF" redirects here. The call sign CFCF was also previously used by CINW (AM) and CFQR-FM.

CFCF-TV (now identified on air as CTV Montreal) is a CTV-owned and operated station located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. CFCF broadcasts on channel 12 at a maximum ERP of 316 kW.

On cable, CFCF is seen on Videotron channel 11 in the Montreal area (channel 7 on digital cable), Charter Plattsburgh channel 13 and Comcast Burlington channel 21; it is also seen on Bell ExpressVu and Star Choice systems on channels 205 and 312 respectively. Most cable distributors in Quebec also carry CFCF, as it is the only CTV station in the province. Despite having only one transmitter, its signal reaches all the way to the Laurentides and Lanaudière regions, and also decently covers the Champlain Valley region in Vermont and New York.

Before 1997, when CHCH and CITY launched rebroadcast transmitters in the Ottawa region, local cable companies there carried CFCF as well. Because CHCH and CFCF were sharing some programs, CFCF was removed from these systems, except for Rogers Cable. In Gatineau, Videotron still offers CFCF on channel 71.

Its newscasts, CTV News (formerly CFCF News, formerly Pulse News), are headed up by main the 6 p.m. weeknight anchors Mutsumi Takahashi and Brian Britt, 12 p.m. weekday anchors Mutsumi Takahashi and Todd van der Heyden, Late-News with Debra Arbec, Weekend News with Tarah Schwartz and First News at 6 a.m. with Herb Luft. CTV Montreal produces 24 separate newscasts each week. One of its most famous anchors, Bill Haugland, is now retired, his last show aired on November 30, 2006. Bill worked at CFCF for more than 40 years. He covered major stories in the 1960s and 1970s before becoming the lead anchor at CFCF in the late-1970s. Bill was an institution and in a special "Farewell to Bill" show broadcast on his final day, he was heralded by colleagues, viewers and former prime ministers alike.

The station now airs virtually all of the standard CTV schedule. In the past, some children's programming was pre-empted, because of provincial regulations on advertising; the station now carries CTV's few remaining children's programs with public service announcements during ad breaks. Additionally, CFCF airs Access Hollywood in place of Jeopardy!; although no Montreal-area station currently carries Jeopardy!, Access was in place on CFCF before its acquisition by CTV.

As with most Canadian stations, the prime-time schedule is usually synchronized with the original American airings of the same programs because Plattsburgh/Burlington's WPTZ, WVNY, WFFF and WCAX are all available on cable in Montreal. CFCF's ratings do generally top all of those stations, as well as the regional CBC Montreal station.

CFCF-TV was founded by the Canadian Marconi Company, after several failed attempts to gain a licence, beginning in 1938, and then each year after World War II. In 1960, it finally gained a license, and began broadcasting on January 20, 1961 at 5.45pm. The call letters stand for Canada's First, Canada's Finest, referring to CFCF-AM (now CINW), the first radio station in Canada. It was the second privately-owned English-language station in Quebec; CKMI-TV in Quebec City had signed on four years earlier.

The station was originally located above the Avon Theatre. The first night on-air was fraught with problems. A power failure interrupted the opening ceremony, and later on, police raided the downstairs ballroom, with sirens blazing and a number of arrests made. The station's newscast, Pulse News, faced a few problems because of the noise from the ballroom. CFCF-AM-FM-TV moved into their own facilities at 405 Ogilvy Avenue in Montreal's Park Extension neighborhood on May 19, and channel 12 became an affiliate of CTV on October 1. However, its relationship with CTV was somewhat acrimonious over the years, in part because it felt CTV's flagship station, CFTO-TV in Toronto, had too much influence over the network.

In 1972, because of new foreign ownership guidelines implemented by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), CFCF-TV (owned by General Electric Canada through Canadian Marconi) and its sister stations CFCF-AM, CFQR-FM and CFCX-SW were sold to computer and telecommunications company Multiple Access Ltd, owned by the Bronfman family.^[1] In 1979, Multiple Access sold the stations and its production company, Champlain Productions, to CFCF Inc., headed by Jean Pouliot.^[1][2][3] CFCF Inc., expanded to include the assets of CF Cable TV, acquired by Pouliot in 1982,^[4] went public in 1985.^[3]

In 1986, CFCF gained a sister station: CFJP-TV, the flagship station of Pouliot's new French language network, Television Quatre-Saisons (TQS). CFCF's profits were used to fund the ailing TQS. Two years later, the radio stations were sold to Mount-Royal Broadcasting, and moved out of the CFCF building a year later.

Financial relief came to the company in the 1990s, thanks to CanWest Global. CanWest Global invested money into the station, in exchange for applying to the CRTC to operate a Global repeater station in Montreal. However, CanWest Global changed its mind, citing tax problems. It did, however, allow CFCF to carry some Global programs; it was already airing some programming from Citytv. This would not be the end of Global's influence at the station.

In 1997, TVA sold an interest in CKMI to Canwest. The two companies announced plans to turn CKMI into a Global station, along with a CKMI repeater in Montreal and a large studio complex in Montreal. Pouliot was scared by the prospect of new competition and decided to sell his assets to Vidéotron. However, Vidéotron also owned TVA, which retained a half-interest in CKMI. This would have resulted in one company having a significant stake in all of the private stations in Montreal--CFCF, CKMI, CFJP and TVA flagship CFTM-TV.

CFCF-TV's former logo (2002-2005). As of October 2005 logos with the stations' callsigns are no longer used on CTV stations; instead they all use the main CTV logo.

As a result, Vidéotron sold CFCF to Western International Communications (WIC), who also owned CHAN and CHEK in British Columbia, CHCH in Ontario and several stations in Alberta. TQS was then sold to Quebecor, and later to Cogeco and Bell Globemedia (now CTVglobemedia).

CanWest bought WIC's television assets in 2000. However, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC])would not allow CFCF to be twinsticked with CKMI because Montreal's Anglophone population was too small (though it allowed CanWest to keep CJNT-TV, a multicultural station it had bought a year earlier). The station was placed under trusteeship, and had to be sold in short order. In 2001, amid all these wranglings over ownership, Bell Globemedia, owner of CTV, bought the station. With the opening of the Fall 2001 television season, CFCF officially adopted the CTV schedule and all non-CTV shows were dropped. After 40 years of being master of its own house to a large degree, CFCF lost much of that independence and manoeuverability through the CTV/Bell Globemedia deal.

With the exception of local newscasts, which all CTV stations have, and Access Hollywood (which airs weekdays at 7:00 p.m.), CFCF's program schedule is virtually identical to every other CTV station. On October 3, 2005, the unique "CFCF" name used for the station ID and its local news, CFCF News (formerly known as Pulse News), was abolished and simply renamed "CTV Montreal" and "CTV News". So strong was the "Pulse" brand-name that even six years after it was eliminated, many viewers still refer to the newscast as "Pulse". This renaming to "CTV News" was done at all affiliates across the country - to provide a common brand for the entire network. In 2003, CTV Montreal moved to 1205 Papineau Avenue in the eastern part of downtown. The area has now become Montreal's (and French Canada's) main media district; CBC, Global, RDS, TQS and TVA are all within several blocks.

By 2005, Bell Globemedia was considered to be a non-core asset by parent company BCE (Bell Canada Enterprises) and was sold to a group of investors, which includes the Thomson family. The Bell Globemedia group (made up of the entire CTV Network, as well as the Globe and Mail newspaper and a variety of other channels and media assets) was renamed "CTVGlobemedia" in late-2006.

The new media giant also acquired CHUM Limited's holdings in 2006, including the A-Channel stations, MuchMusic and a variety of other specialty channels. But the CHUM deal has also raised serious questions about the high degree of media concentration in Canada. This new conglomerate now owns more than one TV station in several Canadian markets - increasing the worry about job losses and cutbacks.

CFCF has always been the number one, top-rated television station for Anglophone Quebeckers. The relatively small size of the community means that many rally around their institutions and CFCF has continued to be the preferred choice. As well, a significant number of bilingual Francophones also watch CFCF - for both programming and news - although CFTM (TVA), CFJP (TQS) and CBFT (Radio-Canada) are the obvious market leaders for Quebec's French community.

• Mutsumi Takahashi
• Brian Britt
• Todd van der Heyden
• Debra Arbec
• Herb Luft
• Tarah Schwartz

• Annie Demelt
• Stephane Giroux
• Maya Johnson
• Caroline van Vlaardingen*
• Paul Karwatsky
• Rob Lurie
• Anne Lewis (also medical reporter for "Your Health")
• Daniele Hamamdjian
• Tania Krywiack
• Christine Long (also entertainment reporter for "What's On")
• Tarah Schwartz*
• Cindy Sherwin* (also reporter for "The Green Report")
• John Grant (as Quebec City Bureau Chief)

*Also substitute anchor.

• Randy Tieman
• Andre Corbeil
• Brian Wilde

• Frank Cavallaro
• Lori Graham

• Lise McAuley
• Rendy Renaud

• Todd van der Heyden for "On Your Side"

• More to See
• Taking you to the Stars (1981/82)
• It's All Happening Right Here (1983/84)
• Twelve's the One (1984/85)
• Just Look! Look What's Here on 12. (1985/86)
• More On 12.
• Great Things Going On. (1989-1993)
• 10,20,30 Years...It Seems Like Yesterday (1991, 30th anniversary celebrations)
• The 1 2 Watch. (1993-1997)
• Montreal's 1 2 Watch, CFCF 12. (1997-2001)
• Montreal's 1 2 Watch, CTV. (2001-2006; used as a slogan only, no jingle)
• Montreal's Watching CTV. (2006-present)

Note: Leave It to Beaver aired Sun. 6-6:30pm. Playhouse 90 aired Sun. 11pm-Mon. 12:30am. Carte Blanche aired Monday-Friday 5:45-7pm. Pajama Playhouse movies usually ended at 1am. Popeye aired Sat. 6-6:30pm. Shock Theatre aired Saturday 12 midnight-Sun 2am. San Francisco Beat was the syndicated title for The Lineup.

1. ^ ^{a b} Library and Archives Canada (2005-08-07). Description of archived material: CFCF (Montreal) fonds (HTML). Retrieved on 2007-12-02.
2. ^ DuImage, Bill (2007-10). Radio Station History: CINW(CFCF)-AM, Montreal, Corus Entertainment Inc (HTML). Canadian Communications Foundation. Retrieved on 2007-12-02.
3. ^ ^{a b} Chouinard, Yvon (2004-08). Biographies: Pouliot, Jean Adelard (1923-2004) (HTML). Canadian Communications Foundation. Retrieved on 2007-12-02.
4. ^ Canadian Newswire (2004-08). Canada loses one of its broadcasting pioneers (HTML). Channel Canada. Retrieved on 2007-12-02.

• CTV Montreal website
• CFCF at TV Hat