have over-the-air coverage in every province except Newfoundland. This led CanWest to announce that it would rebrand its stations as the Global Television Network. On September 14, 1997, CKMI formally disaffiliated from CBC and joined Global. Full-time programming on the Sherbrooke and Montreal transmitters began on the same day. 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. The Montreal rebroadcaster was criticized for poor reception and a low effective radiated power: 4.85 kW, compared to 697 and 1,334 kW at the two other UHF stations in the city. As a result, in April 1998, the effective radiated power was increased to 33,000 watts. In 2002, Global bought out TVA's remaining interest in CKMI. The station shifted most of its operations, as well as the focus of its news coverage, to Montreal soon after the launch of the Montreal transmitter; however, it remained licensed to Quebec City, and its "official" main studio remained in Sainte-Foy. 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. In 2009, reflecting what had already occurred in the preceding years, CRTC permitted CKMI to move its licence to Montreal, which also allowed the station to access local advertising in Montreal for the first time; the station changed its name from Global Quebec to Global Montreal at that time. CKMI's main production facilities and news operations then relocated from a building shared with TVA on De Maisonneuve Boulevard East in Montreal to the Dominion Square Building, home of The Gazette, in Downtown Montreal. On October 27, 2010, Shaw Communications completed its purchase of Canwest's television assets after Canwest had entered into creditor bankruptcy protection in late 2009. As a result, Canwest's television division became Shaw Media. News operation Global entered the Montreal news market in direct competition with CFCF and its highly-rated Pulse newscasts. Benoît Aubin of TVA was tapped as the first news director for Global in Quebec, and Heather Hiscox was the first anchor for Global's supper-hour local news, which aired at 5:30 p.m. to contrast with the 6 p.m. Pulse. Reflecting the regional architecture of CKMI, the station originally had four reporters in Quebec City and one in the