CH Television Stations become E!

[alex11]

Wow, this forum is really quiet.

I'm a bit late at this but anyways...

CH will be rebranded as the E! entertainment channel in a major TV network shakeup

Like your reality programming with a healthy dose of gossip, titillation and Ryan Seacrest? If so, you’ll be thrilled: E! Network, home of such salacious series as True Hollywood Story, E!News, The Girls Next Door and The Simple Life is coming to Canada this fall.

As part of the licensing agreement, CH stations across the country will be renamed E!

“We were looking for a brand that we could bring to our CH stations that would bring some clarity and focus to them,” says Barbara Williams, senior vice-president of programming and production for CanWest MediaWorks. “The CH stations have some real strengths in a few areas. Local news is one, and primetime shows is another, but what they’re lacking is a brand that wraps around those strengths and gave the group some personality. And we wanted to give viewers a wide breadth of programming, from local news to Two and a Half Men.”

E!’s stable of programming will accentuate the networks’ daytime, late night and weekend schedules with such programs as True Hollywood Story, the oh-so-addictive, unauthorized bios of La-La Land’s rich and famous, and a plethora of red carpet specials.

What does this mean for such primetime series as Boston Legal, The Unit, Two and a Half Men and NCIS? Nothing, says Williams. They will remain on the channels unchanged.

Williams is also quick to point out that CanWest is still committed to their Canadian content – well, they have to, it’s CRTC regulations – and will develop and co-produce Canadian dramas, documentaries and factual entertainment.

from TVGuideonline

Local News will be changed back to the station's call sign letters. CHCH News (CH Hamilton), CHCA News (CH Red Deer), CHEK News (CH Vancouver Island), CHBC News (CHBC Kelowna) and CJNT (CH Montreal).

[Derek]

CHBC gave a sneak peek of the new local news graphics in their report about the deal:

www.chbc.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=14100

From the little bit they showed, I actually quite like it. And apparently that's not the music they're actually gonna use, it's just a placeholder.

[sean08]

Hmm... this is quite interesting. It's neat to know that CH Vancouver Island will go back to CHEK now. Does this mean the end of CH altogether? So i suppose that the crescent logo is totally dead now.. First to go was Global, then Prime and now CH!

[alex11]

sean08 said:

Does this mean the end of CH altogether? So i suppose that the crescent logo is totally dead now.. First to go was Global, then Prime and now CH!

Actually, Canwest-owned Mystery TV and Dejaview TV will be the last ones to have the crescent logo which can only be subscribed on TV.

[sean08]

Actually, I was wondering about that whole "Mystery" channel. I presumed it was owned by Canwest but never had confirmation.... interesting!

[alex11]

Mystery TV's original crescent logo is also gone ! It now has a new look. Looks like Dejaview TV's that last to have the crescent logo. Wonder if it will also get a refresh?

[jamesownzsam]

I'm not a fan of CH anyway... two and a half men the only real decent show they air.

[alex11]

E! ready to take over for CH
Channel mixes lifestyle shows, celebrity news

by Alex Strachan, CanWest News Service
Published: Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Brace yourself for E!

That's E!, as in Entertainment! You'll be ecstatic! Enlightened! Entertained! At least, that's how the CanWest MediaWorks hope you'll feel after eyeballing the new-look E!

E! launches Sept. 7, officially replacing CH, which retires for good.

The six local stations, based in Quebec, Ontario, Alberta and B.C., will keep their local newscasts and much of their evening, primetime programming. The rest of their schedules, however, will feature a mix of celebrity news and lifestyle programming.

E!'s motto is "Everything Entertainment," and that's what the focus will be -- at least, during the midday, daytime hours.

The evening, primetime hours will feature a mix of new programs such as Cashmere Mafia, an ensemble featuring Lucy Liu and Frances O'Connor as high-powered women who want it all, and the filmed-in-Vancouver sci-fi thriller Bionic Woman, starring Jekyll's Michelle Ryan as an accident victim who bypasses the medical system with some spiffy new prosthetics.

Returning CH standbys include Deal or No Deal, Boston Legal, Are Your Smarter Than a 5th Grader and the reality shows Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and The Biggest Loser.

The new E! is the result of a content-sharing agreement earlier this year with U.S.-based E! Networks, which is billed as the world's largest producer and distributor of entertainment-news and lifestyle-related programming.

E! originals airing on Canadian TV for the first time include:

* Rich Kids: Cattle Drive, in which celebrity spawn say goodbye to the Porsche and hello to horses and cows

* Dr. 90210, in which hard-working physicians and surgeons deal with the pressure, intensity and emotional stress of cosmetic surgery

* Sunset Tan, a behind-the-scenes reality show which chronicles the pressure, intensity and emotional stress of working in a tanning salon.

E! starts on Friday, I can't wait with the rebranding of CH's newscasts!

[alex11]

It looks like now, CFJC-TV Kamloops also has the "new" CFJC News newscasts, but however, their website remains the same, the channel is still CFJC (not E! British Columbia). CFJC-TV has adopted nearly the same schedule as CHBC-TV Okanagan but with different overnight and weekend schedules.