[5] Soon after the station's launch, CHAN began installing relay transmitters across the province, and now reaches 96% of British Columbia.

In 1986, BCTV set up a fully functional broadcast studio pavilion at the Vancouver Expo 86, whose theme was transportation and communication.

Nonetheless, until 1997, CHAN bought the provincial rights to several popular series from CFTO's parent company, Baton Broadcasting.

However, tensions were exacerbated that year when Baton won a licence to operate a new television station in Vancouver, CIVT-TV (channel 32), and immediately moved much of CHAN's stronger programs there.

The station had to fill the schedule with its local newscasts and lower-profile programming supplied by parent company Western International Communications.

Although Global already owned a station in Vancouver, CKVU-TV (channel 10), it opted to sell CKVU to CHUM Limited and move its affiliation to CHAN.

CHAN-TV's affiliation agreement with CTV expired on September 1, 2001, sparking a major shakeup in British Columbia television: For the most part, CHAN does not deviate much from the Global schedule.

The station's newscast schedule is very similar to that of an affiliate of the Big Three television networks (ABC, CBS and NBC) in the United States, although as Global lacks a national morning news program, CHAN's weekday morning newscast runs a length similar to that of many Fox and other news-producing non-Big Three U.S. stations.

[15] The station's on-air news style was even used as an inspiration for Ted Turner's CNN, as both use the newsroom as a backdrop during the broadcast.

Two versions were produced: one for British Columbia itself, hosted by CKNW radio commentator Bill Good (who later went to CTV's current Vancouver O&O station, CIVT-TV, and retired in December 2010) and a national version, hosted by Tony Parsons, who also anchored CHAN's nightly news program, the News Hour.

In 2006, Global struck an agreement with the Canadian Traffic Network to supply the station with a Robinson R44 news helicopter with gyroscopic camera mounts.

[18][19] CHAN began broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition on September 20, 2010 (Dawna Friesen was named anchor of Global National on that same date); the station debuted a new graphics package as well as an HD-ready virtual set two weeks later on October 4, which utilized the same set with minor changes to the desk.

CHAN-DT uses Betacam SP analogue videotape for all of its local advertisements and for pre-recorded segments within its newscasts; however, the station is slowly moving to a digital format for video production.

On January 11, 2012, Shaw Media filed a license application with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) – which was approved on July 20, 2012 – to launch a Category B digital-only specialty service that would serve as a British Columbia-focused news channel operated by CHAN-DT and utilizing its news staff.

It became the fourth regional news channel in Canada and the first outside of Ontario (joining Toronto-based 24-hour services CP24 and the now-defunct CityNews Channel, and Hamilton-based independent station – and former CHAN sister station under their prior Canwest ownership – CHCH-DT, which carries a heavy local newscast schedule along with some entertainment programming).

The expansions of CHAN's morning newscasts were part of a benefits package that was included as a condition of the sale of the Global Television Network to Shaw Communications.

CHAN is the last owned-and-operated station of the three major Canadian broadcast networks (CBC, CTV and Global) in the Vancouver market to still operate rebroadcasters throughout most of the province.