[1] Financially backed by Power Corporation of Canada, Soble submitted a brief to the Board of Broadcast Governors in 1966 proposing a national satellite-fed network.

[1] The original proposal was widely criticized on various grounds, including claims that it exceeded the board's concentration of media ownership limits and that it was overly ambitious and financially unsustainable.

[6] As well, it failed to include any plan for local news content on any of its individual stations beyond possibly the metropolitan Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver markets.

[7] However, after federal communications minister Paul Hellyer announced plans to move forward with the publicly owned Anik series of broadcast satellites through Telesat Canada instead of leaving the rollout of satellite technology in the hands of private corporations, Power Corporation backed out of the application and left NTV in limbo.

[8] Bruner was fired from Niagara Television in 1969, purportedly because his efforts to rescue the network application were leading him to neglect his other duties with the company's existing media operations.

[8] Because Niagara Television and CHCH were no longer involved in the proposal, the 1970 application also requested a licence to launch a new station in Toronto as the chain's flagship.

[citation needed] The new Global Television Network, with the callsign CKGN-TV (now CIII-DT), launched on January 6, 1974[12] from studios located at a former factory in the Don Mills neighbourhood in North York (now in Toronto) at 6 p.m.[13] local time.

Global's original prime time schedule included Patrick Watson's documentary series Witness to Yesterday, Pierre Berton's political debate show The Great Debate, a Canadian edition of Bernard Braden's British consumer affairs newsmagazine The Braden Beat, William Shatner's film talk show Flick Flack, Sunday night Toronto Toros hockey games and a nightly variety series called Everything Goes,[12] as well as a few imported American series including Chopper One, Dirty Sally and Doc Elliot.

[16] In addition, the short-lived American adoption of year-round daylight saving time in January 1974, and the Ontario government's refusal to follow suit, had unexpectedly forced Everything Goes, promoted as the network's flagship show, into airing directly opposite The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and thus attracting disastrous ratings.

[18] Asper's company, CanWest Capital, was in the process of obtaining the licence for what would become CKND-TV in Winnipeg, which planned to carry some of Global's programs under a syndication deal.

By that fall, it was obvious that Global's original model was unsustainable, and it was forced to pick up a large amount of American programming to fill in the gaps.

Stewart's savvy program purchases in the ensuing years were largely credited with keeping the network viable while its viewership grew.

The company enhanced its senior talent pool in 1979 with the arrival of sales guru Dave Mintz, formerly of KVOS-TV, as the network's president,[21] a post he held until his retirement in 1993, taking Global from the lowest-rated station in Toronto to the ratings leader along the way.

On the same day, CKMI disaffiliated from CBC, set up rebroadcasters in Montreal and Sherbrooke, and became the Quebec outlet of the newly minted network.

Canwest's purchase of CKMI extended Global's footprint to eight of Canada's 10 largest markets (though Ottawa and Montreal were only served by rebroadcasters).

Indeed, one main reason why Canwest bought WIC's television assets was because of CHAN's massive translator network, which covered 97% of British Columbia.

However, CJON, having disaffiliated from CTV in 2002, now clears the vast majority of Global programming in that province, most recently adding the network's national newscast in mid-2009.

Any remaining programs there may be accessed on cable or satellite through Global stations from other markets (most commonly Edmonton's CITV), or through the network's website.

In late 2004, with CTV beginning to dominate the ratings, Canwest reorganized its Canadian operations and hired a number of new executives, all formerly of various U.S. media firms, leading to a major overhaul of Global announced in December 2005.

The crescent, which had been used as a common design element in many Canwest logos, was subsequently removed from other properties owned or sponsored by the company over time.

On April 10, 2008, the network announced that its Toronto and Vancouver stations would start broadcasting their over-the-air signals in those markets in high definition.

Global-owned stations in certain major markets also carry locally based public affairs programs under the Focus brand.

Global has built its business on profitable entertainment programming produced in the United States and has long been criticized for not investing enough in Canadian content.

This law gives them double exposure for their content and a larger share of advertising revenue, effectively blocking American border cities from access to the Canadian market.

However, due to declining audiences, by fall 2005 all but the Ontario program had been cancelled, although stations continued to cover sports in their local newscasts.

In 2020, the Global apps were relaunched to include streaming for subscribers of most of Corus Entertainment's specialty channels, mirroring a similar move announced by CTV.

On April 18, 2008, Global officially launched a digital transmitter in Toronto, making the HD simulcast of CIII-TV available over-the-air.

It initially focused on airing programs from the U.S. broadcast networks that could not fit on Global's own schedule, to avail of simultaneous substitution opportunities.

television system ceased operations on September 1, 2009, due to low ratings and corporate financial difficulties that eventually led to Canwest filing for bankruptcy protection and selling its properties to Shaw Media; the E!

O&O stations experienced varied fates (CHCH Hamilton and CJNT Montreal were sold to Channel Zero, CHEK Victoria was sold to an employee-led group; CHBC Kelowna remained with Canwest and was converted into a Global O&O, and CHCA Red Deer ceased operations outright), while the Pattison Group stations affiliated with the Rogers Media-owned Citytv system.