CBAT-TV
Encyclopedia
CBAT-TV is the CBC
's television station
in New Brunswick
. The station's main studios are located in Fredericton. It broadcasts terrestrially on VHF
channel 4 from its main transmitter on Mount Champlain near Saint John
, its city of licence
until 2011, and serves the province via a network of relay transmitters. The station has broadcast CBC programming for its entire existence.
Despite there being no radio station using the "CBAT" call sign, and the CBC's preference for television call signs without the "-TV" suffix, the Fredericton station is listed in Industry Canada's database as "CBAT-TV", not "CBAT", for unknown reasons.
and located in Saint John. Its network of rebroadcasters was built up between 1961 and 1978.
Originally, CHSJ was the CBC affiliate for southern New Brunswick while CKCW-TV
in Moncton served the northern portion. However, in 1969, CKCW switched to CTV
and signed on a full-time satellite in Saint John, CKLT-TV
. Since CHSJ needed time to build rebroadcasters in the southern part of the province, three of CKCW's rebroadcasters continued to air some CBC programming until 1976.
Over the years, CHSJ had a tendency to pre-empt large blocks of network programming, forcing an entire province to miss several of CBC's most well-known shows. This was the subject of complaints to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), which in 1988 mandated that CHSJ clear the minimum block of CBC programming.
Although CBC's Fredericton and Moncton studios had produced programming for CHSJ since as early as the 1970s, New Brunswick remained the last province
without a CBC owned-and-operated television station (O&O) until 1994, when CBC bought CHSJ-TV, recalled it as CBAT-TV, and relocated its studios to Fredericton.
, which consisted of a half-hour national and international news segment produced from Vancouver airing at 6pm, and a locally-produced half-hour segment airing at 6:30pm. Following the cancellation of Canada Now in 2007, the station's local news reverted to a full-hour format as CBC News: New Brunswick at Six. On August 31, 2009, CBC New Brunswick expanded the supper-time newscast from 60 to 90 minutes and pushed it back an hour (from 5:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.) in compliance with CBC News' mandate for more local news coverage. The 5:30 p.m. portion was titled CBC News: Maritimes at 5:30, and was also seen on Prince Edward Island
on CBCT. In January 2010, CBC News: Maritimes at 5:30 was cancelled, replaced with an extra half hour of the provincial newscasts on CBAT and CBCT.
CBAT-TV is also the only CBC owned and operated television station to simulcast a local CBC Radio One station's morning program. CBAT-TV's CBC News: New Brunswick First is a simulcast of CBZF-FM
's Information Morning. It airs Monday to Friday from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m.
The current local anchor on CBAT is Harry Forestell
. Past anchors have included Andy Wilson, Todd Battis, Carole MacNeil
, Geoff Britt, Anita Sharma, Terry Seguin and Genevieve Tomney. Weathercaster Rose Arseneault was popular with viewers until she lost her job due to budget cutbacks in 2000. The weather forecast is now done by meteorologist Peter Coade (a CTV Atlantic
alum), via satellite from CBC Halifax
.
In 2003 CBAT made a controversial programming decision to pre-empt CBC's broadcast of Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals
in order to carry live returns from the provincial election
.
, particularly in the cities of Presque Isle
, Bangor
and Houlton
, as well as in Washington County
.
During the analogue shutdown and digital conversion
on August 31, 2011, CBAT-DT is required to begin broadcasting on its post-transition channel number, 44; however should the digital station sign on before the transition date, the station will broadcast on channel 62. With the use of PSIP
, digital receivers will list CBAT-DT's virtual channel number as 4.1.
CBC had decided that none of its rebroadcasters will transition to digital. On August 16, 2011, the CRTC granted the CBC permission to continue operating 22 repeaters in mandatory markets, including CBAT-TV-2 in Moncton, in analogue until August 31, 2012, in which by then they must either convert to digital or close down. In addition, CBAT-TV's main analogue transmitter will also remain in operation, serving Saint John. This is pending the corporation's license renewal process, which will include an evaluation of its transition plans.
CBC Television
CBC Television is a Canadian television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster.Although the CBC is supported by public funding, the television network supplements this funding with commercial advertising revenue, in contrast to CBC Radio which are...
's television station
Television station
A television station is a business, organisation or other such as an amateur television operator that transmits content over terrestrial television. A television transmission can be by analog television signals or, more recently, by digital television. Broadcast television systems standards are...
in New Brunswick
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
. The station's main studios are located in Fredericton. It broadcasts terrestrially on VHF
Very high frequency
Very high frequency is the radio frequency range from 30 MHz to 300 MHz. Frequencies immediately below VHF are denoted High frequency , and the next higher frequencies are known as Ultra high frequency...
channel 4 from its main transmitter on Mount Champlain near Saint John
Saint John, New Brunswick
City of Saint John , or commonly Saint John, is the largest city in the province of New Brunswick, and the first incorporated city in Canada. The city is situated along the north shore of the Bay of Fundy at the mouth of the Saint John River. In 2006 the city proper had a population of 74,043...
, its city of licence
City of license
A city of license or community of license, in American and Canadian broadcasting, is the community that a radio station or television station is officially licensed to serve by that country's broadcast regulator....
until 2011, and serves the province via a network of relay transmitters. The station has broadcast CBC programming for its entire existence.
Despite there being no radio station using the "CBAT" call sign, and the CBC's preference for television call signs without the "-TV" suffix, the Fredericton station is listed in Industry Canada's database as "CBAT-TV", not "CBAT", for unknown reasons.
History
The station first went on the air on March 22, 1954 as CHSJ-TV, owned by the New Brunswick Broadcasting CompanyNew Brunswick Broadcasting Company
New Brunswick Broadcasting Company Limited was a Canadian media holding company based in Saint John, New Brunswick.- History :New Brunswick Broadcasting was established in 1934 when Saint John Publishing purchased the Saint John radio station CFBO. Four local men who published the two major...
and located in Saint John. Its network of rebroadcasters was built up between 1961 and 1978.
Originally, CHSJ was the CBC affiliate for southern New Brunswick while CKCW-TV
CKCW-TV
CKCW-DT is a Canadian television station, broadcasting in Moncton, New Brunswick. It is an owned and operated station of CTV Television Network, through the CTV Atlantic regional system in the Canadian Maritimes....
in Moncton served the northern portion. However, in 1969, CKCW switched to CTV
CTV television network
CTV Television Network is a Canadian English language television network and is owned by Bell Media. It is Canada's largest privately-owned network, and has consistently placed as Canada's top-rated network in total viewers and in key demographics since 2002, after several years trailing the rival...
and signed on a full-time satellite in Saint John, CKLT-TV
CKLT-TV
CKLT-DT is a Canadian television station, broadcasting in Saint John, New Brunswick. It is an affiliate of CTV Television Network, through the CTV Atlantic regional system in the Canadian Maritimes....
. Since CHSJ needed time to build rebroadcasters in the southern part of the province, three of CKCW's rebroadcasters continued to air some CBC programming until 1976.
Over the years, CHSJ had a tendency to pre-empt large blocks of network programming, forcing an entire province to miss several of CBC's most well-known shows. This was the subject of complaints to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), which in 1988 mandated that CHSJ clear the minimum block of CBC programming.
Although CBC's Fredericton and Moncton studios had produced programming for CHSJ since as early as the 1970s, New Brunswick remained the last province
Provinces and territories of Canada
The provinces and territories of Canada combine to make up the world's second-largest country by area. There are ten provinces and three territories...
without a CBC owned-and-operated television station (O&O) until 1994, when CBC bought CHSJ-TV, recalled it as CBAT-TV, and relocated its studios to Fredericton.
Programming
The station's flagship 6:00 p.m. newscast has been broadcast from Fredericton since the 1980s, first as the CBC News for New Brunswick, then as NB Now. This arrangement continued until 2000, when the national restructuring of CBC local news led to the creation of Canada NowCanada Now
Canada Now was the early-evening national news program on CBC Television, the main English television network of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, between 2000 and 2007...
, which consisted of a half-hour national and international news segment produced from Vancouver airing at 6pm, and a locally-produced half-hour segment airing at 6:30pm. Following the cancellation of Canada Now in 2007, the station's local news reverted to a full-hour format as CBC News: New Brunswick at Six. On August 31, 2009, CBC New Brunswick expanded the supper-time newscast from 60 to 90 minutes and pushed it back an hour (from 5:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.) in compliance with CBC News' mandate for more local news coverage. The 5:30 p.m. portion was titled CBC News: Maritimes at 5:30, and was also seen on Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island is a Canadian province consisting of an island of the same name, as well as other islands. The maritime province is the smallest in the nation in both land area and population...
on CBCT. In January 2010, CBC News: Maritimes at 5:30 was cancelled, replaced with an extra half hour of the provincial newscasts on CBAT and CBCT.
CBAT-TV is also the only CBC owned and operated television station to simulcast a local CBC Radio One station's morning program. CBAT-TV's CBC News: New Brunswick First is a simulcast of CBZF-FM
CBZF-FM
-External links:** at Canadian Communications Foundation...
's Information Morning. It airs Monday to Friday from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m.
The current local anchor on CBAT is Harry Forestell
Harry Forestell
Harry Forestell is a Canadian television journalist and news anchor. He was the host of CBC Newsworld's Around the World and the 4 p.m. hour of CBC News Today from Toronto. On February 15, 2010, he became the anchor of CBAT-TV's evening newscasts. He was previously based in London, England for CBC...
. Past anchors have included Andy Wilson, Todd Battis, Carole MacNeil
Carole MacNeil
Carole MacNeil is an award-winning television journalist and producer with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. She is the host of CBC News Now from 12 to 3 p.m. Eastern Time Zone on the CBC News Network....
, Geoff Britt, Anita Sharma, Terry Seguin and Genevieve Tomney. Weathercaster Rose Arseneault was popular with viewers until she lost her job due to budget cutbacks in 2000. The weather forecast is now done by meteorologist Peter Coade (a CTV Atlantic
CTV Atlantic
CTV Atlantic is a system of four television stations in the Canadian Maritimes, owned and operated by the CTV Television Network, a division of Bell Media...
alum), via satellite from CBC Halifax
CBHT
CBHT is the flagship station of CBC Television in the Atlantic Time Zone of Canada. CBHT broadcasts on terrestrial channel 39 at 157.54 kW and cable channel 11 in the Halifax metro area...
.
In 2003 CBAT made a controversial programming decision to pre-empt CBC's broadcast of Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals
2003 Stanley Cup Finals
The 2003 Stanley Cup Finals was a best-of-seven playoff series that determined the champion of the National Hockey League for the 2002–03 season...
in order to carry live returns from the provincial election
New Brunswick general election, 2003
The 35th New Brunswick general election was held on June 9, 2003, to elect 55 members to the 55th New Brunswick Legislative Assembly, the governing house of the province of New Brunswick, Canada...
.
Coverage
The station is also carried on cable across the border in MaineMaine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
, particularly in the cities of Presque Isle
Presque Isle, Maine
Presque Isle is the commercial center and largest city in the sparsely populated Aroostook County, Maine, United States. The population was 9,692 at the 2010 census...
, Bangor
Bangor, Maine
Bangor is a city in and the county seat of Penobscot County, Maine, United States, and the major commercial and cultural center for eastern and northern Maine...
and Houlton
Houlton, Maine
Houlton is a town in Aroostook County, Maine, on the United States – Canada border, located at . As of the 2010 census, the town population was 6,123. It is perhaps best known as being at the northern terminus of Interstate 95 and for being the birthplace of Samantha Smith...
, as well as in Washington County
Washington County, Maine
Washington County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maine. In 2010, its population was 32,856. Its county seat is Machias.Sometimes referred to as "Sunrise County" because it is the easternmost county in the United States, and it is often where the rising sun first shines on the 48...
.
Transmitters
| Station | City of licence City of license A city of license or community of license, in American and Canadian broadcasting, is the community that a radio station or television station is officially licensed to serve by that country's broadcast regulator.... |
Channel Channel (broadcasting) In broadcasting, a channel is a range of frequencies assigned by a government for the operation of a particular radio station, television station or television channel. In common usage, the term also may be used to refer to the station operating on a particular frequency.-See also:*Broadcast... |
ERP Effective radiated power In radio telecommunications, effective radiated power or equivalent radiated power is a standardized theoretical measurement of radio frequency energy using the SI unit watts, and is determined by subtracting system losses and adding system gains... |
HAAT Height above average terrain Height above average terrain is used extensively in FM radio and television, as it is actually much more important than effective radiated power in determining the range of broadcasts... |
Transmitter Coordinates | Notes |
| CBAT-TV | Saint John Saint John, New Brunswick City of Saint John , or commonly Saint John, is the largest city in the province of New Brunswick, and the first incorporated city in Canada. The city is situated along the north shore of the Bay of Fundy at the mouth of the Saint John River. In 2006 the city proper had a population of 74,043... |
4 (VHF Very high frequency Very high frequency is the radio frequency range from 30 MHz to 300 MHz. Frequencies immediately below VHF are denoted High frequency , and the next higher frequencies are known as Ultra high frequency... ) |
22 kW | 423.6 m | 45°28′39"N 66°13′59"W | formerly the primary station |
| CBAT-TV-1 | Bon Accord | 6 (VHF Very high frequency Very high frequency is the radio frequency range from 30 MHz to 300 MHz. Frequencies immediately below VHF are denoted High frequency , and the next higher frequencies are known as Ultra high frequency... ) |
100 kW | 346.5 m | 46°38′57"N 67°35′33"W | near Perth-Andover Perth-Andover, New Brunswick Perth-Andover is a Canadian village in Victoria County, New Brunswick.The village is divided by the Saint John River with Perth on the east bank and Andover on the west bank; each was a separate community until municipal amalgamation in 1966... |
| CBAT-TV-2 | Moncton | 7 (VHF Very high frequency Very high frequency is the radio frequency range from 30 MHz to 300 MHz. Frequencies immediately below VHF are denoted High frequency , and the next higher frequencies are known as Ultra high frequency... ) |
325 kW | 343.7 m | 45°48′32"N 64°44′56"W | formerly CHMT-TV |
| CBAT-TV-3 | Miramichi Miramichi, New Brunswick Miramichi is the largest city in northern New Brunswick, Canada. It is situated at the mouth of the Miramichi River where it enters Miramichi Bay... |
6 (VHF Very high frequency Very high frequency is the radio frequency range from 30 MHz to 300 MHz. Frequencies immediately below VHF are denoted High frequency , and the next higher frequencies are known as Ultra high frequency... ) |
12.76 kW | 106.1 m | 47°3′32"N 65°34′35"W | formerly CHCN-TV, relaying CHMT-TV |
| CBAT-TV-4 | Campbellton Campbellton, New Brunswick Campbellton is a Canadian city in Restigouche County, New Brunswick.Situated on the south bank of the Restigouche River opposite Pointe-à-la-Croix, Quebec, Campbellton was officially incorporated in 1889 and achieved city status in 1958.Forestry and tourism are major industries in the regional... |
4 (VHF Very high frequency Very high frequency is the radio frequency range from 30 MHz to 300 MHz. Frequencies immediately below VHF are denoted High frequency , and the next higher frequencies are known as Ultra high frequency... ) |
25.12 kW | 412.7 m | 48°8′7"N 66°6′57"W | formerly CHCD-TV, relaying CHMT-TV |
| CBAT-TV-5 | Doaktown Doaktown, New Brunswick Doaktown is a Canadian village in Northumberland County, New Brunswick.-History:It is situated on the Southwest Miramichi River and was first settled in 1807 for use as a base for the growing lumber industry in central New Brunswick... |
8 (VHF Very high frequency Very high frequency is the radio frequency range from 30 MHz to 300 MHz. Frequencies immediately below VHF are denoted High frequency , and the next higher frequencies are known as Ultra high frequency... ) |
0.008 kW | NA | 46°34′19"N 66°7′52"W | |
| CBAT-TV-6 | Boiestown Boiestown, New Brunswick Boiestown is a Canadian rural community in Northumberland County, New Brunswick.It is situated on the Southwest Miramichi River approximately 60 kilometres northeast of Fredericton, near the province's geographic centre.... |
13 (VHF Very high frequency Very high frequency is the radio frequency range from 30 MHz to 300 MHz. Frequencies immediately below VHF are denoted High frequency , and the next higher frequencies are known as Ultra high frequency... ) |
0.009 kW | NA | 46°27′12"N 66°27′33"W | |
Digital television
As of March 2011, CBAT-DT has not been approved by the CRTC for a digital television transmitter. The existing analog transmitter covers Fredericton and Saint John. On March 23, 2011, the CRTC denied an application by the CBC to install a digital transmitter that would have provided coverage to Fredericton, but not Saint John. Not providing coverage to Saint John would have resulted in a nearly 70% decrease in population that would be able to received CBC's signal as compared to the analog transmitter. Had this application been approved, Saint John would have lost access to over-the-air signal to CBAT as of the transition deadline of August 31, 2011. The CBC stated that this proposed decrease in coverage is due to financial reasons and did not commit to restoring this coverage at a future date.During the analogue shutdown and digital conversion
Digital television in Canada
Digital television in Canada is transmitted using the ATSC standards developed for and in use in the United States. Because Canada and the U.S...
on August 31, 2011, CBAT-DT is required to begin broadcasting on its post-transition channel number, 44; however should the digital station sign on before the transition date, the station will broadcast on channel 62. With the use of PSIP
Program and System Information Protocol
The Program and System Information Protocol is the protocol used in the ATSC digital television system for carrying metadata about each channel in the broadcast MPEG transport stream of a TV station and for publishing information about television programs so that viewers can select what to watch...
, digital receivers will list CBAT-DT's virtual channel number as 4.1.
CBC had decided that none of its rebroadcasters will transition to digital. On August 16, 2011, the CRTC granted the CBC permission to continue operating 22 repeaters in mandatory markets, including CBAT-TV-2 in Moncton, in analogue until August 31, 2012, in which by then they must either convert to digital or close down. In addition, CBAT-TV's main analogue transmitter will also remain in operation, serving Saint John. This is pending the corporation's license renewal process, which will include an evaluation of its transition plans.