The Southern Ontario/WNY Radio-TV Forum / Another TV station shuts down - CHAT-TV

**Posted by ED1** June 3, 2025 1:08 pm

CHAT-TV has been shut down by its owner, Pattison Media.

https://hatnewstoday.ca/2025/06/03/pattison-media-makes-difficult-decision-to-close-chat-tv-in-medicine-hat/

**Posted by turkeytop** June 3, 2025 1:37 pm

The Medicine Hat Tigers loss to the London Knights for the Memorial Cup was the last straw for them.

Last edited by turkeytop (June 3, 2025 2:10 pm)

**Posted by Shorty Wave** June 4, 2025 7:49 am

Too bad. They did keep their two radio stations going though, which is good for the Medicine Hat community, for now!

**Posted by RadioActive** June 4, 2025 9:27 am

A lot of people got their first television jobs or training at CHAT-TV and have gone on to other careers in the industry. The Calgary Herald outlines some of the issues that led to the closure, including at least one that was beyond the owner's control and wasn't just about the current state of broadcasting and falling revenues.

"A flood from a broken water main earlier this spring that forced the evacuation of the newsroom and led to the prospect of repairs that would have taken months also fed into the decision to close the operation."

Local TV and journalism dealt blow with closure of Medicine Hat station

**Posted by ED1** June 4, 2025 10:12 am

CHAT was a news affiliate of Global (their local news pulled stories from Global Calgary - burned in graphics and all, and Global would use footage from CHAT), but aired Citytv programming including CityNews at 6 from CKAL Calgary.

Last edited by ED1 (June 4, 2025 10:12 am)

**Posted by andysradio** June 4, 2025 10:40 am

The RF perspective: they were on analog ch. 6.
CFCN also has a relay on the same tower on ch. 8 analog.

**Posted by turkeytop** June 4, 2025 7:06 pm

It used to be said that a TV license is like a license to print money.

**Posted by ED1** June 4, 2025 9:46 pm

andysradio wrote:
The RF perspective: they were on analog ch. 6.
CFCN also has a relay on the same tower on ch. 8 analog.

Pattison/CHAT also feed CFCN-TV-8 in Medicine Hat, with their own commercials inserted into that signal.

**Posted by Shorty Wave** June 5, 2025 8:42 am

Last night I was listening to As It Happens on Radio One and they were interviewing Dan Reynish, who was the news anchor at CHAT TV. It was going ok until he started to cry, and this happened a couple of times. I really felt for the guy, he was upset about not serving the Medicine Hat community anymore but especially by the fact that they didn’t get to sign off with their audience, a bit of closure for them.

Nowadays when you’re let go from broadcasting, chances are, that’s it. Another good reason to weep I guess. Sad that.

**Posted by andysradio** June 28, 2025 7:17 am

CTV has also closed the repeater in Medicine Hat: CFCN-TV-8
Application 2025-0277-3
https://applications.crtc.gc.ca/portail-portal/eng/listes-lists/broadcasting-applications-report/22