2011 Year in Review: A big year for CityNews

The launch of an all news channel, the return of weekend newscasts, new shows, new apps and a new-look website made for a memorable year for us at Citytv.

Indeed, starting with the launch of our popular apps for iPhone and iPad early in the year, we were in growth mode — and brought new meaning to our tagline “everywhere.”

“It’s a great time to be a part of Toronto’s finest newsroom,” said Richard Bloom, managing editor of CityNews.ca.

“In addition to telling stories that matter to those in the GTA, we launched new products and embraced new technologies. Our viewers and readers told us that they wanted the ability to consume Citytv content whenever and wherever they are — and that’s exactly what we did.

“Get ready for more growth and excitement in 2012.”

iPhone and iPad apps: CityNews ‘everywhere’

Launched in March, the CityNews iPad and iPhone apps — along with a mobile site for BlackBerry and Android smartphones —  keep you up to date on the latest local news, weather, sports, and traffic no matter where you are.

The apps bring together web stories, videos from our broadcasts, real-time traffic updates and weather forecasts which can be customized to show data from weather stations across the GTA.

In October, we added even more features to the apps, including a mobile-ready live stream of CityNews Channel and stories from our life and entertainment sections.

To download the apps from iTunes, click here. You can visit our mobile site at http://m.citynews.ca.

The return of weekend newscasts & CityNews at Five

Also in March, we brought back the our popular weekend newscasts, now hosted by Pam Seatle and Melanie Ng. The shows air at 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.

On Labour Day, CityNews at Five returned, anchored by Francis D’Souza, Tom Hayes and Avery Haines. The show airs every weeknight, featuring the news of the day, long-form interviews with newsmakers, sports and business headlines as well as information for your commute home.

“Citytv proves once again we are everywhere, bringing viewers the news that matters most first, in both the morning and evening,” said CityNews vice-president Tina Cortese. “With an unbeatable combination of award-winning anchors and Toronto’s favourite morning show personalities, Citytv demonstrates our commitment to local news with even more in-depth coverage of news and information to better serve our viewers.”

CityNews Channel: Live and local

After months of rumours and rehearsals, we proudly launched CityNews Channel on Oct. 3.

Following the news-wheel conceived by our sister radio station 680News, our new 24-hour all news channel features local, national and international stories, live from our home at Yonge-Dundas Square.

We have traffic and weather together on the 1s, sports at :15 and : 45 and business news at :26 and :56.

The enhanced screen makes it easy to find the weather forecast, latest headlines, sports scores and real-time commentary on the news of the day via Twitter and Facebook. And we’ve incorporated in-depth analysis from our Rogers Media partners, including Maclean’s, Canadian Business, MoneySense, Hello! Canada and Sportsnet.

CityNews Channel can be found on Rogers digital cable channel 15.

CityNews.ca: New look, more video

Coinciding with the CityNews Channel launch on Oct. 3, we also unveiled a new look to CityNews.ca.

With a cleaner design and greater focus on hyper-local video, CityNews.ca features more video reports, raw footage, long-form interviews, live streams of major events and things you just won’t see on TV.

We’ve also made it simple for viewers and readers to interact with us by sharing CityNews stories and videos via Facebook and Twitter as well as by sending us tips via the Submit Your Stories tool (in the Latest Headlines section on the homepage and on the right side of most pages).

Other changes include a news map which displays stories on a neighbourhood-by-neighbourhood basis, a link to listen to 680News live and a more interactive weather page.

Got feedback? We want to hear it

These launches wouldn’t have been possible without your input. If you have feedback for our new channel, website or mobile apps please let us know. Full contact details can be found here.

As we said back in October, innovation is in our DNA here at Citytv. We’re thrilled to have had such an eventful 2011, and we’re even more excited about what we have in store for 2012. Stay tuned.

Top Stories

Top Stories

Most Watched Today