A deal to purchase CKX-TV in Brandon, MB has come unstuck over CRTC regulations and Canada’s satellite TV monopoly, according to would-be owner Bruce Claassen. The result is the local station, which launched in 1955, has shut down with the loss of 39 jobs.

A frustrated Claassen says his deal to buy CKX for $1 from CTVglobemedia was contingent on CRTC rules that grant at least one independent TV station in every province automatic direct-to-home satellite access. Claassen assumed CKX, which is the province’s only indie station, would receive guaranteed DTH coverage as cable operators like Western Canadian giant Shaw Communications launch satellites to reach small rural markets not served by cable lines. DTH coverage would have given CKX 54% more viewers, a big draw for local advertisers, Claassen explains.

But after Claassen’s holding company, Bluepoint Investment, filed its application to purchase the Brandon TV station, it was told the CRTC was changing its DTH policy and putting the current rules in abeyance to 2011.

‘It was total suicide,’ Claassen says of taking CKX forward without DTH coverage.