Owned and operated by network parent Corus Entertainment, the station maintains studios inside the Dominion Square Building in downtown Montreal.

Originally a private affiliate of the CBC Television network, It was the only English-language station in the heavily francophone city.

This allowed CKMI to sign on several months sooner than would have been the case under the normal engineering practices of the time and at a fraction of the cost.

CFCM disaffiliated from Radio-Canada in 1964 when the network opened its own station, CBVT, but CKMI remained with CBC.

In 1970, the CRTC ordered Télévision de Québec to present a plan for restructuring its ownership in accordance with the law or else it would take bids for replacement licensees.

[5] As a result, Famous Players reduced its shares to 20 percent by selling off to three Quebec City firms, allowing Télévision de Québec to keep CKMI and CFCM.

[12] During licence renewal hearings in 1972, Télé-Capitale noted to the CRTC that it was keeping CKMI-TV going despite the lack of any path to profitability.

Despite this, Télé-Capitale had no qualms about keeping the station on the air, viewing it as a public service to Quebec City's anglophone community.

The only local program on the air by 1996 was a 30-minute weeknight newscast anchored by Karen McDonald, editor and co-owner of the Quebec Chronicle-Telegraph, the only English-language newspaper in the city.

[11] On June 13, 1995, Télé-Métropole and CanWest Global Communications announced a plan that would transform CKMI from a de facto rebroadcaster of CBMT into the third major English-language TV service in the province, providing the first private competition to CFCF-TV.

According to Mike Boone, the television columnist for The Gazette, CanWest would have stood virtually no chance of getting a licence for a Quebec station on its own and joined forces with Télé-Métropole to lend "local clout" to its bid.

[20] One columnist noted that language and political considerations meant the CRTC would not entertain such a service before Montreal had three French-language TV stations.

[23] TVA CanWest pledged a commitment of $165 million over seven years on new Canadian programming to the regulator if it won in Quebec City and proposed new stations for Calgary and Edmonton.

[23] Ahead of the hearings, CFCF vigorously fought the proposal, claiming any competition would reduce its value and jeopardize its community service initiatives; it called into question any pledge to produce regional programming, with CFCF weatherman Don McGowan noting that Quebec City was "where 42 anglophones live today".

[26] At the hearing the next month, Izzy Asper took the CRTC to task, noting that English-speaking Montrealers were higher-than-average viewers of American stations available on cable.

[33] A number of popular American shows purchased by CFCF but to which Canadian rights were owned by CanWest moved from that station to CKMI, where they lost half or more of their audience.

Over the course of the 2000s, Global cut back its presence in Quebec City and the Eastern Townships, leaving its Sherbrooke bureau unstaffed before closing it altogether in 2007.

[41] Global entered the Montreal news market in direct competition with CFCF and its highly-rated Pulse newscasts.

Reflecting the regional architecture of CKMI, the station originally had four reporters in Quebec City and one in the Eastern Townships.

[55] Although CKMI was still far behind CFCF, its viewership numbers had risen significantly since 2011, when it finished at the bottom of the ratings with only 6,900 viewers and a three percent share.