A programming supply deal gone sour has newly launched Crossroads Television Systems now buying its commercial programming from various distributors and Canadian rights holders, with plans to add two more hours of original programming per week to its schedule by January.

Global Television, which owns Canadian rights to a large number of u.s. shows from seasons past, was to have supplied the Southern Ontario over-the-air religious station with much of its live-action, family-oriented programming, says Lorne Freed, cts program director. But about two months ago the relationship began to unravel.

‘At one time we were looking for a programming relationship with Global,’ says Freed. ‘But that turned out to not be beneficial to either them or us – so we’ve gone out on our own.’

cts does, however, have a relationship with Global through CanWest Global’s specialty station Prime tv, which often features reruns of u.s. programs that formerly ran on Global.

Prime sales representatives sell airtime on cts to national advertisers. For local retail advertisers, cts has a similar arrangement with Rogers Broadcasting’s Toronto-based multi-ethnic station cfmt whereby it also shares sales reps.

But cts also has its own retail sales team, and Freed says ad time on cts is not packaged and sold with time on Prime or cfmt.

The lack of the Global deal hasn’t stopped cts from picking up some high-quality entertainment programming for its schedule. The recently syndicated Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman runs on a weekday strip at 6 p.m., making cts the only station in Southern Ontario to carry the popular one-hour drama.

Besides its entertainment programming, which also includes reruns of The Waltons, Highway To Heaven and Happy Days as well as non-violent family feature films purchased from Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox, cts features 18 hours per week of original programming, with plans to increase to 20 hours by January.

In-house produced talk shows (including one hosted by right-wing shock-jock Michael Coren), make up most of cts’ original programming, but the station also produces four hours of children’s programming running on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to noon.

Besides selling ad time around entertainment and original programs, cts also derives much of its revenue from selling hour blocks of airtime to religious shows such as The 700 Club and Benny Hinn.

Freed, a veteran programmer and producer who has enjoyed stints at cfto, cjoh, ckws and cfpl, says he’s looking for project pitches from producers that can fit into cts’ crtc licence conditions.

‘It has to be material that falls within either the multi-faith or the Christian realm or. . . family oriented,’ says Freed, who adds that he currently gets pitched documentary programs most often.

Music and variety programming is most likely the next genre that cts will explore, according to Freed, while costly original drama is still a while off.

cts is a non-profit, non-charity business that generates revenue from the sale of airtime, commercial advertising and production. The station says all revenue generated, beyond operational expenses, will be utilized for new Canadian programs.

How much money will be available for that programming remains to be seen, but Freed says that early Nielsen reports look ‘promising.’ Stressing the fact that cts is not a 100% religious station, Freed appears to be looking to ‘family-oriented’ programming to bring in the big ad dollars.