Vancouver: Canadian broadcasters sacrificed about $3 million in lost ad revenue to focus their energies on covering the catastrophic terrorist attacks in the U.S. Sept. 11.

That tally, derived from industry analyst estimates, is just 0.1% of the total Canadian television advertising pie of about $2.4 billion in national and retail sales annually.

The CBC main channel and CBC Newsworld, for example, offered commercial-free, ‘wall-to-wall’ coverage of the tragedy and the ensuing investigations for 43 hours. Anchor Peter Mansbridge was on air for 16 hours the first day and 12 hours the next.

Global and CTV also dedicated commercial-free airtime and the new Canadian digital channels like MSNBC and ichannel launched with the most devastating terrorist event in U.S. history.

They all went to the news as quickly as they could, most taking CNN feeds, and juggled schedules and content as required.

(CBC didn’t go live with the story until 10 a.m. on Sept. 11 since the story broke during a children’s block of programming. The network ran scrolling text across the bottom of the screen to warn parents about the imminent switch to the live broadcast, learning a harsh lesson from 15 years ago when it switched directly from kids shows to live coverage of the Challenger shuttle explosion.)

The news coverage did not affect the start of CBC’s fall season, which began Sept. 30, but it did replace some repeat programming, says CBC spokesperson Ruth Ellen Soles. After the initial concentration of news coverage, the CBC began running extended National and Canada Now broadcasts and inserted documentary specials including The Hunt for bin Laden and 24 Hours at Ground Zero.

CFL and professional baseball coverage was cancelled because the leagues shut down the games, she says, and the CBC filled the available airtime with more terrorist news coverage.

Eventually, the CBC began to air traditional fare such as The Simpsons and This Hour Has 22 Minutes, but the material was screened carefully for inappropriate content.

And plans to produce a second installment of the comedy special Rick Mercer’s Talking to Americans have been shelved indefinitely, confirms Soles, and a rebroadcast of the first special has been pulled. (Because of the tragedy, Mercer has also declined Gemini nominations for Talking to Americans including best music, variety program or series and best performance or host in a variety program or series.)

At CTV, the newsroom went live with the special America Under Attack at 8:55 a.m. Sept. 11 and kept with the story for 32 hours, running commercial-free for 21 hours.

‘We’re in production mode,’ says Rick Lewchuk, senior VP of program planning and promotion at CTV, referring to the priority of the terrorist news coverage. ‘It’s a matter of operating by instinct and talking to the newsroom about events. It’s a trust situation.’

When interviewed, he was struggling with the unenviable position of deciding when to go back to normal programming, saying he can’t win either way. Viewers called to complain about their soap operas being preempted on Sept. 11 and others see a return to regular TV programming as disrespectful to the victims and the gravity of the event.

Much of the schedule change was outside of the control of CTV and Global, because the U.S. networks delayed the launch of their fall seasons at least a week and made other program changes based on content.

CTV’s season premiere of Third Watch, for example, has not only been bumped to at least Oct. 15, but the New York-based production has been disrupted and it has lent its lights to helping the recovery effort at the World Trade Center site.

CTV’s The West Wing has also had scheduling changes, shifting its debut to make room for a special terrorist-related episode to kick off the season Oct. 3.

Vicki Gabereau’s talk show was preempted for two days after it returned Sept. 10 and CTV News anchor Lloyd Robertson cancelled plans to do some newscasts from Vancouver.

Other CTV programming was unaffected, including the series debuts of Alias and Law & Order: Criminal Intent on Sept. 30 and return of Canadian series Cold Squad and Mysterious Ways on Sept. 29.

Both CTV and Global were among the networks that participated in the precedent-setting telecast of America: A Tribute to Heroes special telethon Sept. 21 featuring celebrities such as Julia Roberts and Celine Dion.

Adam Ivers, VP of programming at Global, says the disruption at the Canadian networks ‘was nothing compared to what our friends in the U.S. and New York have had to face.’ He says that when the U.S. networks shifted their simulcasts, Global returned to its core strength – half-hour sitcoms such as reruns of Friends and The Simpsons – to provide an alternative to the hard-hitting news.

Global’s season openers for Friends and Will and Grace moved to Sept. 27 and The Practice returned Sept. 23.

Series The Agency (CBS) and 24 (Fox) – the fates of which were put into question because of their content – were set to launch Sept. 27 and Nov. 6, respectively.

The Canadian reality show Supermodels launched on time Sept. 30.

CHUM, meanwhile, stepped up to the plate with the five-hour benefit and discussion forum Music Without Borders Sept. 23, repalcing the scheduled MuchMusic Video Awards which were also cancelled. The special, which featured the Barenaked Ladies and Sarah McLachlan in its roster of Canadian music stars, was broadcast live and commercial free on MuchMusic, MuchUSA, MuchMoreMusic, Star! The Entertainment Information Station, Canadian Learning Television and CourtTV Canada.

The timing of the tragedy coincided with the launch of new broadcast initiatives in Canada. Newsman Kevin Newman was one week into his new job as anchor of the Vancouver-based Global National newscast.

Also the digital stations debuted during the start of the U.S. crisis.

Martha Fusca, president of issues-oriented ichannel, says her new digital channel will deal with the context around the news of the day and had been, prior to Sept. 11, planning a week-long special called Masters of Terrorism, which will go ahead in the next couple of months.

And she shrugs when considering how the extensive news coverage of the terrorist bombings affected

her start-up audience ratings.

‘What were you watching Sept. 11?’ she asks.