Joytv

Joytv is a Canadian television brand owned by ZoomerMedia. Joytv was formerly a television system formed in September 2008, comprising two religious independent stations acquired from Rogers Media by S-VOX. The stations carried a mixture of multi-faith religious programming, as well as secular, family-oriented entertainment programming.

Joytv was dismantled as a television system in August 2013 by the re-launch of its Winnipeg station, CIIT-TV, as "Hope TV"—a traditional religious station with no secular programming. The Joytv brand and format is still used by sister station CHNU-TV in Fraser Valley/Vancouver.

History

The Joytv system launched on September 1, 2008, and consisted of two existing television stations, CHNU-TV in Fraser Valley, British Columbia (also serving Vancouver) and CIIT-TV in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Both stations were acquired by S-VOX from Rogers Media in April 2008.

The stations had previously been branded as part of Rogers' Omni Television system prior to their purchase by S-VOX. Rogers rebranded CHNU as CHNU 10 in the fall of 2007, because the company's contemporaneous purchase of the multilingual station CHNM-TV meant that the Omni brand would eventually be moved to that station, but retained the Omni brand on CIIT. After the S-VOX purchase was finalized in the summer of 2008, CIIT was briefly rebranded as "CIIT 11" until the Joytv launch.

CIIT-DT

CIIT-DT, UHF channel 35, is a religious television station located in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The station is owned by ZoomerMedia. CIIT's studios are located on Osborne Street and Wardlaw Avenue in Downtown Winnipeg, and its transmitter is located near Courchaine Road (near Manitoba Provincial Road 200) in southern Winnipeg.

This station can also be seen on Shaw Cable and MTS TV channel 11, Telus Optik TV channel 875 and on Bell TV channel 591.

History

In February 2002, Trinity Television Inc. was granted a licence for a religious television station in Winnipeg. The station was set to be launched in September 2004 as "NowTV", to be the second station using that brand, previously used on Trinity's Vancouver station, CHNU-TV. However, the station did not launch on that date.

In 2004, before that station's launch, Rogers Communications bought Trinity Television and took control of CIIT's licence. Under Rogers control, the station was set to be launched again on November 14, 2005 as the fourth Omni Television station, it was later set back again and launched on February 6, 2006 as "Omni 11". The use of channel 35 marks CIIT as Winnipeg's first ever UHF station.

CHNU-DT

CHNU-DT, virtual channel 66 (UHF digital channel 47), is an Independent television station serving southwestern British Columbia, Canada, including Metro Vancouver, Victoria, the Fraser Valley and surrounding areas. Licensed to the Fraser Valley Regional District, the station is owned by ZoomerMedia and operates under the moniker "Joytv." CHNU maintains studio facilities located on 192 Street/Highway 10 in Surrey, and its transmitter is located on Sumas Mountain in Abbotsford.

On cable, the station is also available on Shaw Cable channel 10 in Vancouver and the Lower Mainland, channel 7 in Victoria, and on Telus Optik TV, channel 123, outside the Lower Mainland. On satellite, the station is also available on Bell TV channel 656.

History

CHNU-TV was licensed in July 2000 by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to Trinity Television Inc. Trinity Television initially requested to assign CFVT as the station's call letters (standing for "Fraser Valley Television"); however, this was denied by Industry Canada. The station first signed on the air on September 15, 2001, under the CHNU callsign. In any case, the call letters had not featured prominently in the station's on-air branding, as the station opted to use the on-air brand "NOWTV". CHNU relied on television advertisements and donations from viewers for financial support.