CTV Blows Launch of CP24.com

Today marks the launch of CP24.com. Like its broadcast companion, the site places an overwhelming emphasis on weather, stock quotes and, um, ads. A scroll below the fold reveals some local headlines, mundane celebrity gossip and seemingly random sports news.

When I first saw the site I wondered why CTV even bothered. It's almost an embarrassing carbon copy of the TV experience, but without the stuff that works well on TV like sound and video. While a prominent video takes up space on the left of the screen my efforts to get it to load went unrewarded. Perhaps just a typical first day glitch.

For those keeping score, there's also no RSS feeds, no reader comments and no social media functionality to name just three obvious misses.

In its previous life, CP24.com simply forwarded to CityNews. But in the wake of the whole Rogers takeover, CTV must have eventually come to realize it no longer made sense sending traffic to a competitor.