Located in Montreal’s Ville-Marie borough, a major water main break on René-Lévesque Boulevard and de Lorimier Avenue on Aug. 16, 2024 sent a deluge of water into homes and business in the area, including Bell Media’s offices where CTV, RDS, Noovo, Rouge FM (CITE-FM), Energie (CKMF-FM), CJAD, CHOM, Virgin Radio (CJFM-FM) and TSN Radio (CKGM-FM) were impacted as control panels and other equipment were destroyed.

A little more than a year later, CTV is introducing its new virtual studio environment, following the debut of a similar set that went into use last year by Bell Media French-language news channel, Noovo Info. 

The virtual studio environment includes multiple modular screens to accommodate high-quality news graphics, video footage, and live interviews. 

“This innovative new virtual reality studio not only delivers a visually striking news environment for our viewers, it also allows us to tell stories in dynamic new ways,” said Jean-Philippe Pineault, General Manager, Quebec News, Bell Media. “Building on the success following Noovo Info’s transition to a virtual set, and thanks to the technological advances offered by this state-of-the-art studio, we will continue to evolve our newscasts for years to come.” 

The new set will be used during CTV News at 5 with anchor Maya Johnson; CTV News at 6 with anchor Mutsumi Takahashi; and CTV News at 11:30 with anchor Caroline Van Vlaardingen, as well as the 6 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. weekend newscasts. 

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Keyes’ appointment was announced during Tuesday night’s newscast by departing anchor Matt Skube, who is moving on from the station after 11 years.

Born and raised in Ottawa, Keyes has most recently been co-hosting the local edition of CTV Morning Live, alongside Rosey Edeh and Melissa Lamb.

“The storytelling style of the evening news will always be my first journalistic love. Its depth, sincerity, compassion, and ability to give weight to the happenings of the world on a local level is what I was raised on,” said Keyes, in a Bell Media announcement. “It’s a true blessing to keep the nation’s capital informed on a daily basis, and this role is a privilege I don’t take lightly.”

“An exceptional leader and journalist, Stefan understands the importance of local news, and its significance in empowering people with the information they need to know,” said Jodi Hamilton, Operations Manager, Local Radio/TV, Ottawa & Eastern Ontario. “With Stefan at the helm of these weekday newscasts, CTV News Ottawa will continue to ensure that our community is well informed of the biggest news updates across all platforms.”

“Stefan is a familiar and trusted voice to Ottawa viewers, making him the perfect person to lead our 5 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. newscasts,” added Peter Angione, Director of News and Information Programming, Bell Media Ottawa. “He has years of experience as a reporter and anchor, and he is extremely well known in the Ottawa community.”

A graduate of Carleton University’s Journalism program, Keyes began his career at CTV News Ottawa in 2008 before moving to Calgary to anchor Global News’ morning show. He returned to CTV Ottawa in 2016.

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CTV News says its Election 2025 federal election special led all networks Monday evening as the most-watched election night special, attracting an average audience of more than 1.8 million viewers in the 9 p.m. ET – midnight coverage window, leading its closest competitor – CBC News – by 6%.

Anchored by CTV Chief News Anchor and Senior Editor Omar Sachedina and Chief Political Correspondent Vassy Kapelos, Bell Media says the the primetime special, which aired across CTV, CTV News Channel, CP24, and BNN Bloomberg, was also most-watched among the key Adult 25-54 demographic, +12% ahead of CBC.

CTV was the most-watched conventional network for federal election coverage Monday evening, with an average audience of 1.2 million viewers, and its Election 2025 special reached a total of 9.1 million unique Canadian viewers.

CBC’s Canada Votes: 2025 Election Special drew 7.14 million Canadians to CBC and CBC News Network, drawing a combined 2+ average minute audience of 1.25 million, up 25% compared to the 2021 federal election special. Audiences peaked at 10:11 p.m. ET when 2.63 million viewers watched as Chief Political Correspondent Rosemary Barton announced that the CBC News Decision Desk projected a Liberal government.

Another 1.375 million listeners tuned in to CBC Radio for election night coverage, up 11% from the last federal election.

Digital coverage sets records

CTV News’ digital election coverage saw a new single-day record set of 3.8 million video views across all CTV News platforms on April 28 and a total of 16.1 million page views for federal election coverage.

CTV News’ live election updates article also set a record for most total page views for any CTV News live blog in a single day with more than 2.1 million page views. Streaming of CTV News coverage on election day marked a fivefold increase compared to the 2021 federal election.

Canadians spent 3.5 million hours on CBC’s digital platforms on April 28, the highest-ever day on record for the public broadcaster.

Its Canada Votes: 2025 Election Special was streamed 5.2 million times across cbcnews.ca, the CBC News app, CBC Gem, CBC News YouTube and CBC News TikTok. There were 8 million unique visitors to cbcnews.ca and the CBC News app on election day, with video views up 127% over the public broadcaster’s 2021 federal election coverage. On YouTube, the Canada Votes special captured 3.2 million total views, an increase of 228% over 2021. On CBC Gem, the 2025 election special saw a 130% increase in video views, compared to 2021.

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