It was a sister station to CIHF-TV-2 in Saint John. Both stations were branded as MITV (Maritimes Independent Television), and their schedules were almost identical. However, the stations offered separate newscasts to their respective provinces and opportunities for advertisers to buy ad space on one or both stations. Furthermore, although the Saint John station's callsign made it appear that it was a rebroadcaster of the Halifax station, both stations were separately licensed by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). At the time, MITV was the only over-the-air independent television station in the area, with studios and main operation centre in Halifax, and all other functions in Saint John. As MITV shared owners with CHSJ-TV, a popular joke in the Maritimes was that MITV stood for "More Irving Television".