Canada's Citytv Gets CRTC Greenlight for Montreal

TORONTO -- Citytv has moved a step closer to becoming a virtual national Canadian network after it received regulatory approval Thursday to acquire Montreal ethnic TV station CJNT from indie broadcaster Channel Zero.

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The CRTC greenlight means parent Rogers Media will now convert the local station to Citytv Montreal to include a new morning show for Montrealers.

As CJNT becomes an English-language TV station, the CRTC also licensed a new multilingual TV station for Montreal, to be called International Channel/Canal International, featuring 14 hours weekly of ethnic programming in the Romanian, Mandarin, Creole, Persian or Portuguese languages.

Meanwhile, Rogers Media will continue to expand its Citytv TV brand nationally, after earlier deals in Saskatchewan and British Columbia.

The broadcaster is looking to spread the steep cost of dealmaking for such U.S. series as Modern Family, 2 Broke Girls and Revolution over an increasingly national Citytv network.

Rogers Media is looking at how to simulcast those U.S. shows and its expanding Canadian offerings in the Atlantic Canadian market to complete that strategy.