It was a troublesome year for local television as advertising revenues plunged and conventional networks, especially Canwest Global, began taking drastic steps to diminish losses by closing less profitable small-market stations.

While broadcasters in some communities, such as CHCA in Red Deer, AB, saw their signals go dark, others navigated the choppy waters of 2009 in their quest to remain on the air.

The employees at Victoria’s CHEK-TV rallied to save the former E! station by raising $2.5 million to cover operating expenses – and purchased the 50-year-old broadcaster for a mere toonie from struggling parent Canwest. CHEK, Western Canada’s oldest private broadcaster, was slated to close Aug. 31.

A consortium of local investors and 39 station employees managed to keep the broadcaster on the air and, in November, were granted a seven-year licence by the CRTC, which also lifted many of the conditions placed on CHEK when it was owned by Canwest.

Channel Zero saved the day for Hamilton, ON station CHCH – another former E! station scheduled to close in late August – which it acquired for $12 from Canwest (alongside Montreal’s CJNT).

The deal for Hamilton’s only over-the-air station and its 120 staff was sweetened two months after it was purchased, when Toronto and the outlying Golden Horseshoe region won hosting rights for the 2015 Pan Am Games. The event is expected to bring an advertising windfall to the local station and its new owner.

Bluepoint Investment Corporation made a bold move to keep Brandon, MB station CKX on the air, acquiring it for $1 when it was put up for sale by CTV. But the broadcaster went dark on Oct. 2 when the deal fell through over CRTC regulations and Canada’s satellite TV monopoly, which would have prevented CKX from getting satellite coverage. The shutdown of CKX, which launched in 1955, resulted in the loss of 39 jobs.

The fall also saw a shakeup on the Quebec television landscape when French-language broadcaster TQS was rebranded as V by new owners at Remstar Corporation. The revamped station, with the focus on attracting younger people, eliminated most of its hard news programming and now zeroes in on more reality fare and French-language versions of popular U.S. shows including South Park and Entourage.