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18-653: Village Media's news sites focus on providing local stories written by local journalists in the communities that they serve. In addition to local news, the sites offer weather, events, obituaries, and a wide range of community information. Village Media is known for supporting local events and charitable causes. The company also maintains content and marketing partnerships with community newspapers in several other Ontario cities, including TBNewswatch.com in Thunder Bay and Manitoulin.ca on Manitoulin Island . Village Media

36-478: A name that was discontinued in October 2003. Prior to that it was known as Lakehead Living . The paper's editorial staff also contributes to the news websites TbNewsWatch.com, NWONewswatch.com and SNNewswatch.com, which also have material contributed from the company's radio and television newsrooms. Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission Too Many Requests If you report this error to

54-546: A sale result in the loss of local programming in Thunder Bay. On January 27, 2016, Dougall Media officials revealed that CKPR and CHFD are both being sustained by the payouts from life insurance policies on former owner Fraser Dougall and a former general manager who both died in 2015, and at the time said the stations could sign off for good by September 1, 2016, barring a favourable change in CRTC policies. As of October 2023

72-673: Is a Canadian media company which has several television, radio and publishing holdings in Northwestern Ontario . Dougall Media owns CKPR , a CTV affiliate (formerly a CBC affiliate until August 31, 2014), and CHFD , a Global affiliate, both in Thunder Bay , Ontario . The two stations are what is known as a twinstick operation, and are in fact the sole remaining locally owned twinstick anywhere in English Canada ( Stingray Group 's twinstick in Lloydminster

90-474: Is not locally owned since Stingray is a national company based in Montreal). The two stations air programs from their respective networks, as well as local news and current affairs programs and specials. Prior to February 2010, CHFD was a CTV affiliate which also carried some Global programming. The station was unable to come to agreement with CTV to continue operating as an affiliate and filed an application to

108-747: The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to remove the CTV affiliation requirement from their license and to operate as a Global affiliate. In March 2010, CKPR announced it was unable to come to an agreement with CBC to continue to operate as an affiliate, and filed an application with the CRTC to remove the CBC affiliation requirement from their license. CKPR stated in their application that it "would operate as an independent local station and intends to source its non-local programming". However, after continued negotiations,

126-651: The Rogers-owned CityNews brand. In 2020, the company acquired the assets of Laurentian Media Group , including the Sudbury.com news website and the business magazine Northern Ontario Business . Village Media ceased publication of Laurentian's twice-weekly print newspaper Northern Life while retaining the Sudbury.com web edition. In early 2021, the company expanded into the United States for

144-833: The closure of the community's prior daily newspaper. It launched BarrieToday.com in October 2015 in Barrie , GuelphToday.com in February 2016 in Guelph , and OrilliaMatters.com in Orillia in 2018. Village Media also operated HalifaxToday.ca in Halifax , OttawaMatters.com in Ottawa and KitchenerToday.com in Kitchener , in conjunction with Rogers Radio -owned news radio stations in those markets, although all have since been converted to

162-667: The first prominent Canadian ventures in hyperlocal web-only media. Peplow launched sister site BayToday.ca in 2003. Following Peplow's death in 2007, local IT consultant Jeff Elgie, formerly a minority investor in the site, increased his ownership stake, and eventually became CEO. Inspired by the SooToday.com model, a different company launched TimminsToday.com, which was acquired by Village Media in 2014. The company's recent expansion efforts have concentrated on midsized cities in Southern Ontario, typically launching soon after

180-767: The first time, with the acquisition of The Longmont Leader in Longmont, Colorado . The news website was shuttered in 2024. The company formerly operated the video news portal local2.ca in Sault Ste. Marie, and the VM Radio network of internet radio streams. Local2 was fully integrated into SooToday. VM Radio was shut down. In 2024 the company announced plans to launch Spaces , a localized social networking platform that will enable users to join customized groups to discuss topics of community interest, such as local sports and history. Dougall Media Dougall Media

198-430: The local federal and provincial political scene, as well as weekly entertainment and sports features. It also hosts a selection of local columnists, including J.R. Shermack and former CBC Radio personality Fred Jones, a weekly movie column by North of Superior Film Association president Marty Mascarin, a food-related column by Derek Lankinen and an outdoor column by Keith Ailey. It was formerly known as Thunder Bay Post ,

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216-472: The province where CITY-DT is still unavailable either terrestrially or on basic cable. Dougall has also previously cited CTV's cost-cutting measures of the early 2000s, such as the merger of all local news on the four CTV Northern Ontario stations in Northeastern Ontario into a single newscast produced in Sudbury , as a key factor in its refusal to consider selling the stations, lest such

234-562: The station announced in March 2011 that they had come to an agreement that would see them air CBC programming for another five years; in June 2014, Dougall Media announced that CKPR's affiliation would switch from CBC to CTV in September. The stations' status as a locally owned twinstick accounts for some of the unique circumstances of the Thunder Bay television market. For example, Thunder Bay

252-487: The stations remained in operation. The two stations were formerly united under the brand Thunder Bay Television . However, upon becoming a Global affiliate in February 2010, CHFD rebranded as Global Thunder Bay, following a branding scheme used at Global owned and operated stations. CKPR continued to use the Thunder Bay Television brand until May 2012, when it rebranded as CKPR Thunder Bay. Prior to this,

270-405: The stations usually used the on-air branding scheme of Thunder Bay Television and then the name of the network to which the channel was affiliated, except in cases when the channel was airing programming that wasn't from the network to which it was affiliated. For example, CKPR-TV was normally branded as Thunder Bay Television - CBC , however, while airing non-CBC programming, such as TB News , it

288-555: Was also a partner with the defunct LocalXpress in Halifax, providing them with the publication platform. SooToday.com was originally launched in 2000 as a regional tabloid shopping and business directory, owned by former broadcaster Dick Peplow. Following significant news cutbacks at MCTV , which merged all of the region's local television newscasts into a single regional program produced in Sudbury, SooToday began producing locally focused news content. In doing so, they became one of

306-525: Was branded as Thunder Bay Television - CKPR . Both stations still, however, air local newscasts under the single brand TBT News . Dougall Media owns CKPR and CJSD in Thunder Bay, as well as CFNO in Marathon . Dougall Media publishes a free weekly community newspaper, Thunder Bay Source , which is delivered to 35,000 households in Thunder Bay each Friday. The paper covers local news, including city council, education, health care, Indigenous issues and

324-462: Was the only major market in the province in which CIII-DT and CHCH-DT did not add rebroadcasters during those stations' provincewide expansions in the 1990s; although both stations did apply for transmitters in Thunder Bay, both were declined by the CRTC due to the potential impact of out-of-market competition on Dougall's advertising revenue. It is also, for the same reason, the only major market in

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