In a July 1996 column, Robert Mason Lee of The Globe and Mail noted that BCTV had the "dangerous arrogance of a local-news gorilla", called CBUT's news product "wholesome" but noted that the local CBC station "has neither the money nor the authority to produce local television", and labeled CKVU as "deplorable", "paving the road to hell", and "cheap and undeserving of Vancouver". There was also a decided sentiment in the growing British Columbia film and television production community that there were no decision-making entities in Vancouver. Producers in British Columbia derided the "$1,500 cup of coffee"—the meetings, complete with airfare, that Vancouver creatives had to make with Toronto leaders to get approval for their proposals. The process that led to the launch of CIVT began when Rogers Communications and CanWest Global Communications filed separate applications with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) in August 1995 and January 1996, respectively, to launch new television stations in the Vancouver–Victoria market. In line with the commission's usual practice, the CRTC issued a general call for applications in March 1996, with a public hearing that September. In all, five applications were considered: Rogers proposed a multicultural station on channel 32—similar to its CFMT-TV in Toronto—to be known as "CFMV" and to replace an existing regional specialty channel, Talentvision. Sixty percent of the programs on CFMV would be in Asian languages. However, several Korean Canadians protested the Rogers bid because, in converting from a specialty channel to a broadcast service, Rogers proposed to cut Korean output from 14 hours a week to just 30 minutes. CanWest, then-owner of what is now the Global Television Network, proposed a new station in Victoria, in parallel to its existing Vancouver station CKVU-TV (channel 10), purportedly to gain parity with the market's existing twinstick of CHAN-TV (channel 8) and CHEK-TV (channel 6)—together known as BCTV—under the ownership of Western International Communications (WIC). This service, VITV ("Vancouver Island Television"), would have had transmitters in Victoria and Courtenay. Three other companies each proposed to launch a new, local independent station focused on Vancouver: The Baton/Electrohome Alliance (a partnership between two of the largest CTV affiliate owners) proposed CIVT-TV on channel 42, focusing on providing a more diverse view of the city and 12.5 hours a week of local news coverage. CHUM Limited (owner of Toronto's CITY-TV), would have started Vtv ("Vancouver Television") on transmitters in Vancouver (channel 32) and