During the 1990s, BBS and its predecessors served as a complementary programming service to the CTV Television Network, to which most (but not all) of the system's stations were already affiliated.

[2] During this same period, CTV's profits began to decline, and by the early 1990s the network was posting losses, largely due to increased competition from the CanWest Global System and other independent stations.

ONT was initiated in 1991, consisting of eight CTV affiliates – seven owned by Baton (CFTO, CJOH, CHRO, and the MCTV stations) and Electrohome's CKCO.

However, Baton's president at the time, Douglas Bassett, contended it was merely a "marketing vehicle" to compete with CanWest Global's CIII-TV, a single station which served almost all of Ontario.

In response, CKCO and WIC's CHCH-TV Hamilton announced a joint initiative of their own, known as "Market One Television";[5][better source needed] however, this partnership was short-lived.

In October 1994, Baton hired the management consulting firm McKinsey & Company to help evaluate how to proceed with its national expansion plans.

This structure was necessary because the "old" CTV's affiliation agreements, which generally limited network service to 40 hours a week, remained in force.

As its establishment came shortly before Baton adopted the CTV name for its stations, CIVT did not use the BBS name, instead branding as Vancouver Television (VTV).

Other affiliates such as CKY in Winnipeg, NTV in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, and to a lesser extent CFCF in Montreal, usually acquired additional programming, as they had from BBS.

CTVgm would later acquire another CBC affiliate, CKX-TV in Brandon, Manitoba, as part of the CHUM purchase, which closed down in late 2009 after a variety of efforts to sell the station failed.