Rogers Officially Welcomes Citytv

There have been a lot of people with their hands on Citytv, the little station that could, since it first went on the air in 1972. But none have ever been bigger than Rogers Communications. The empire that owns a cable conglomerate, 47 radio stations, seven TV stations, 68 magazines, the Rogers Centre and the Toronto Blue Jays, has now taken on all the Citytv stations across the country, including the original one that started it all so many years ago.

Rogers became the official owner of the station on November 1st after the CRTC ordered the network sold over concerns about media concentration. Since then, Rogers has looked for – and found – the perfect place to relocate the most easily identified TV station brand in the GTA. And in keeping with our name, it will be right in the centre of the city, at the home of the former Olympic Spirit at Yonge and Dundas.

That move is still to come, as the place gets refurbished and rewired. But for now, the accent is on welcoming an acquisition that instantly makes the company a major player in Canadian broadcast TV, with outlets in Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver, joining the the existing OMNI TV, aka CFMT, which will be relocated to the new building. 

So far it all seems like a perfect fit. “Nobody’s ever been able to change City’s spirit, and that’s the good thing about it,” declares Leslie Sole, the CEO of Rogers Media. “This is a station that invented a whole category and many offshoots of television. We’re just delighted to be part of it.”

The new owner promises you’ll see more of what made Citytv so memorable in the first place – a commitment to local events you won’t get anywhere else done in a style that nobody could possibly imitate. “There’s a way and a culture about Citytv, an identity that it has that is something that we think is unique and special and that we wanted to nurture and preserve,” agrees Rael Merson, Rogers CEO of Broadcasting.

The cast and crew are glad to have a new home and a new corporate parent. “We felt embraced by Rogers,” CityNews at Six anchor Anne Mroczkowski exults. “We feel like we’ve got a great future together.”

For Breakfast Television’s Kevin Frankish, it’s the perfect marriage of both form and function. “CFMT was born out of weekend television at City and now we’re back together, you know. It’s just amazing.”

But we’ll give the boss the last word. “We’ve always had good people, and that’s what’s really built it,” owner Ted Rogers assures. “That’s what it’s all about, and that’s why we’re so proud to have the Citytv people join the Rogers family. The best is yet to come.”