Atlantic Satellite Network
From Free net encyclopedia
Template:Infobox Broadcast The Atlantic Satellite Network (ASN) is a television service serving Atlantic Canada and owned by Bell Globemedia through CTV. Designated by the CRTC as a "satellite-to-cable television programming undertaking," it is essentially a local station, based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, without any broadcast transmitters, and available in the region on cable television and throughout Canada through satellite television, but not over-the-air.
History
Launched by CHUM Limited in 1983 as a supplementary service to its ATV system of CTV affiliates (now known as CTV Atlantic), ASN initially aired Atlantic Pulse newscasts at alternate times to ATV's newscasts. Atlantic Pulse used ATV reporters, but different anchors and graphics, with a comparatively spartan set located across the newsroom from ATV's. ASN also carried alternative entertainment programming, much of it produced by or otherwise sourced from CHUM's Citytv.
ASN also devoted a significant amount of its daytime schedule to educational programming provided by provincial education departments and by local universities. (In the early years, some TVOntario programs were carried on ASN, such as Polka Dot Door, Today's Special and Fast Forward.) Later it launched a local version of Citytv's Breakfast Television, moving educational programs to the weekend and to overnight hours. By the late 1990s, as specialty television began to grow in popularity, Atlantic Pulse gave way to a short-lived cut-back version called ATV Headline News. While ATV aired some United States syndicated programming that was shown on Citytv in Toronto (e.g. Friends and Seinfeld repeats), ASN aired programs associated with CTV in the rest of the country, such as Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy! and Camilla Scott. ASN was also the original home of The Oprah Winfrey Show until it moved to ATV early in its run.
In 1997, as part of a multi-station trade between CHUM and Baton Broadcasting, ATV and ASN became Baton properties; ATV was integrated into the expanded CTV network, while ASN took over the few remaining CHUM programs from ATV. ASN is now, for all intents and purposes, the Citytv affiliate in Atlantic Canada; while it once aired a strong lineup of nightly movies along the lines of Citytv's Toronto and Vancouver stations, its current mix of movies and series in primetime closely matches the schedules of Citytv's three stations in Winnipeg, Calgary, and Edmonton. In addition, a portion of ASN's programming (particularly in the afternoon) closely matches that of the A-Channel stations in Ontario and Victoria, British Columbia. It also airs selected CTV network programming, including sports coverage and Canadian Idol, which would not otherwise be widely available in Newfoundland and Labrador as a result of the 2002 disaffiliation of CJON from CTV (the network has not yet indicated whether it will eventually seek a replacement affiliate in N.L.). Since fall 2005, ASN has also carried same-night rebroadcasts of CTV programs, presumably for simultaneous substitution purposes, on most nights at 11:00 p.m. AT (10:00 p.m. ET).
Since 1997, ASN's local programming has been cut back significantly. At its peak, Breakfast Television aired for two and a half hours daily; it now airs for 90 minutes, the first half-hour simulcast on CTV Atlantic. Also, while ASN still airs a noon newscast and an early-morning rebroadcast of CTV's Live at 5, both are branded as CTV News programs. As of mid-October 2005 ASN no longer carries a late newscast, due to the additional CTV programming noted above.