to build rebroadcasters in Edmonton and Calgary were initially denied in 2005 by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). A new application to the same effect was approved on June 8, 2007. The Edmonton transmitter broadcast on Channel 17; the Calgary transmitter was on Channel 44. Rogers initially received approval in principle for the Calgary transmitter, but was required to submit a new application for an alternate channel number because of a conflict with Rogers Communications' contemporaneous application for new Omni Television outlets in both cities. The station was not allowed to solicit local advertising in Calgary or Edmonton (although it could theoretically accept if specifically approached by advertisers in those markets). CHCA was relaunched on September 7, 2007 as E! Red Deer, as part of Canwest's rebranding of CH stations to E!. Local programming was renamed CHCA News as a result of the rebranding. On February 5, 2009, Canwest announced it would explore "strategic options", including possible sale, for CHCA and its other E! stations, saying "a second conventional TV network is no longer key to the long-term success" of the company. On July 22, 2009, Canwest announced it would be closing CHCA as of August 31, 2009 at 6:00am MT, issuing layoff notices to staff. Its final entertainment program was a rerun of Wild On! at 12:30 a.m., followed by a three-hour block of informercials until 4:00 a.m., and then a "goodbye" slide that ran before a black screen that aired all day long until the transmitters were finally shut off. The station was the first major TV station in Canada to have gone dark since 1977, when CFVO-TV in Hull, Quebec left the air (the channel would be reactivated five months later as Radio-Québec outlet CIVO-TV, on a new licence); all other defunct stations in Canada became repeaters of other stations almost seamlessly. Sportscaster Ron MacLean commented that the station's closure was "a sign of the times," but "it wouldn't surprise me somewhere down the road if it starts up again." CKX-TV, a CBC affiliate in Brandon, Manitoba would follow, closing approximately one month later on October 2, 2009. The neighbouring CTV Two Alberta stations CIAN-TV 13 Calgary and CJAL-TV 9 Edmonton were closed down on August 31, 2011 (going to cable-only status), followed two months later by CKXT-DT Toronto. The CHCA-TV licence was revoked on December 16, 2009. News The station aired local newscasts at