total of some other station groups. Advertisers also welcomed the concomitant increase in inventory brought by the new station. Further, the station scored a coup when it obtained the local telecast rights to Vancouver Canucks hockey, which had been held by BCTV for 27 years, along with Vancouver Grizzlies basketball, beginning in 1998. The noon newscast was dropped, but a 5 p.m. newscast was added. VTV's early years were marked by turmoil and turnover in on-air personalities and management. Deol left within a year to spend more time with her family. In December 1998, management hired an external candidate for news director, leading to several resignations, including that of Jackson, who returned to BCTV; the move was seen as a blow to morale. Some turnover among news reporters and anchors marked promotions; for instance, Satinder Bindra left VTV to join CNN. News anchor Paul Mennier left for A-Channel Edmonton, in part because of disgust with the continued low ratings; Mi-Jung Lee served as his replacement. In 1999, the newscasts were retitled as VTV News, coinciding with a shuffling of the anchor lineup. From VTV to CTV A yearlong dispute between CanWest and Shaw Communications for control of BCTV parent WIC's assets was ended in October 1999 with a deal that saw WIC's television holdings, among them BCTV, go to CanWest. CanWest already owned CKVU, and it was expected to have to sell one of CHAN or CKVU by the CRTC. CTV was said to be interested in possibly acquiring the dominant BCTV. However, CanWest instead announced in February 2000 that it would sell CKVU, the existing Global station. That decision—which set up an affiliation switch to take place in 2001, postponed a year at the CRTC's direction—was immediately understood as making CIVT the new CTV station in British Columbia. It also caused a significant amount of program shuffling between BCTV and VTV for various series to which CTV held the rights. On September 1, 2001, CIVT-TV became "BC CTV", adopting a format and philosophy more in line with the rest of the CTV network and a name that seemed intended to be similar to BCTV. As part of the CTV switch, in lieu of chasing younger viewers, the station would focus more squarely on adults 25–54. Typifying the shift was CIVT securing the services of BCTV news anchors Pamela Martin and Bill Good to anchor the new CTV newscasts. Another