Bluepoint Investment Corporation has bought CKX, taking the Brandon, MB station from CTV for the modest price of $1. The company plans to reprogram it with ‘extremely local’ and what it calls ‘wow television,’ says founder and owner Bruce Claassen.

The veteran adman, who is also head of the Toronto firm Aegis Media Canada, plans to program CKX with male-aimed and more sensationalist shows in the evening, in the vein of Spike TV, while targeting women during the day.

The station is about to lose its affiliation with CBC, though Claassen hopes to make a deal with the pubcaster for shows on a ‘menu’ basis – picking mostly news and other information programming. Bluepoint is also in talks with E1 Entertainment and Alliance for movies and other programming.

The station’s 39 employees are expected to keep their jobs. ‘Our assumption is that it’s business as usual,’ Claassen notes. The deal is subject to CRTC approval.

CKX is one of the three stations that CTV planned to shut down if they were not sold off by the end of the summer, citing the financial and regulatory difficulties of conventional television.

With files from Sean Davidson