For the radio station in La Tabatière, Quebec that uses the calls "CBMT-FM", see CBVE-FM.

CBMT-DT

Montreal, Quebec
Branding	CBC Television
Slogan	Canada Lives Here
Channels	Digital: 21 (UHF) Virtual: 6.1 (PSIP)
Affiliations	CBC
Owner	Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
First air date	January 10, 1954
Call letters' meaning	Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Montreal Television
Sister station(s)	CBFT-DT, CBME-FM, CBM-FM, CBF-FM, CBFX-FM
Transmitter power	107 kW (digital)
Height	259.9 m (analog) 300 m (digital)
Transmitter coordinates	45°30′19″N 73°35′29″W / 45.50528°N 73.59139°W / 45.50528; -73.59139
Website	CBC Montreal

CBMT-DT is the CBC Television owned-and-operated station in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It broadcasts a high-definition digital signal on UHF channel 21 (or virtual channel 6.1 via PSIP) from a transmitter located at Mont Royal and is relayed on network of more than 50 rebroadcasters throughout Quebec and in three communities in northern Manitoba: Brochet, Poplar River, and Shamattawa.

Its studios, along with those of Radio-Canada are located at Maison Radio-Canada in Montreal; master control is at the Canadian Broadcasting Centre in Toronto.

Owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, it is sister to Télévision de Radio-Canada outlet CBFT-DT and both share studios based at Maison Radio-Canada on René Lévesque Boulevard East in Downtown Montreal. This station can also be seen on Vidéotron cable channel 6 and in high definition on digital channel 606.

This station can also be seen Bell Satellite TV on channel 206 and in high definition on channel 1030. It can also be seen on Bell Fibe TV on channel 205 and in high definition on channel 1205.

History [edit]

CBMT was Montreal's second television station; previously English and French-language programs had shared time on CBFT, Canada's first television station.

By the end of 1953, Canada had about a dozen television stations either licensed or under construction, and American competition was about to arrive in Montreal with the construction of WCAX-TV in Burlington, Vermont and WIRI-TV in Plattsburgh, New York (now known as WPTZ). The CBC decided that it was imperative to stop time-sharing in English and in French, so CBMT was included in the network's expansion plans for television.

This station was branded in the late 1970s and early 1980s as Montreal 6, becoming CBC Television Montreal 6 by the mid-1980s, and CBC Television Montreal during the 1990s.

Since 1997, CBMT has been the only full-fledged CBC station in Quebec province. Previously, the only other CBC station in the province had been Quebec City's CKMI-TV. However, in 1997, CKMI switched its affiliation to the Global Television Network. CBMT set up a full-power rebroadcaster, CBVE, on CKMI's old channel 5, while CKMI moved to channel 20.

CBMT transmits from the Mount Royal candelabra tower, in Mount Royal Park, overlooking the city of Montreal. As a result, channel 6 experiences severe multipath interference in parts of the city and South Shore.

It was also previously seen unscrambled on C-band satellite but this has since ended in the early-2000s, when it switched to a proprietary digital satellite signal. When the signal was sent unscrambled on the C-band, many American satellite viewers tuned into CBMT for a variety of news, entertainment, and sports — particularly CBC's Olympic Games TV broadcasts, which gave a different perspective than the American broadcasts. That Canadian signal is still available, but it requires the purchase of a dedicated and expensive receiver, or a grey market subscription to a Canadian satellite service. CBMT is also still available on many cable systems in Northern Vermont, Northern New York State, as far east as Belfast, Maine, and as far west as Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.

News operation [edit]

CBMT airs local news programming for Montreal seven days a week. On weekdays, the station airs a 90-minute newscast from 5pm - 6:30pm and a 30-minute newscast at 11pm. At weekends, Montreal at 6 airs on Saturdays for 30 minutes and a ten-minute summary airs on Sundays at 11pm.

News team^[1] [edit]

Anchors

• Debra Arbec (weeknights, 5pm - 6:30pm)
• Andrew Chang (weeknights, 5pm - 6:30pm)
• Nancy Wood (weeknights, 11pm - 11:30pm)
• Thomas Daigle (weekends)

Transmitters [edit]

CBMT had over 50 analog television rebroadcasters throughout the province of Quebec.

Due to federal funding reductions to the CBC, in April 2012, the CBC responded with substantial budget cuts, which included shutting down CBC's and Radio-Canada's remaining analog transmitters on July 31, 2012.^[2] None of CBC or Radio-Canada's rebroadcasters were converted to digital.

Transmitters in mandatory markets were required to go digital or be taken off the air by the transition deadline of August 31, 2011. The CBC had originally decided that none of its rebroadcasters will transition to digital and instead will remain in analog. The CBC had rebroadcasters of CBMT in the following mandatory markets:

• CBVE-TV Quebec City
• CBJET Saguenay
• CBMT-3 Sherbrooke
• CBMT-1 Trois-Rivières

On August 16, 2011, the CRTC granted the CBC permission to continue operating 22 repeaters in mandatory markets, including the above, in analog until August 31, 2012, by which time the transmitters had to be converted to digital or shut down.

CBMT has been broadcasting a digital signal over-the-air since February 21, 2005.^[3]

Audience outside Canada [edit]

CBMT also has substantial viewership in the United States, mostly from Maine to northeastern New York. It is also seen via cable TV in Michigan, northern Wisconsin, and northern Minnesota — CBMT is the CBC station of choice for Charter Communications CATV systems in Bay City, Midland, Mount Pleasant, Alpena and Marquette.

CBMT is also broadcast in Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago on Flow Cable^[4] and in the Bahamas on Cable Bahamas.^[5]

See also [edit]

• CBFT-DT (Radio-Canada Montréal)
• List of Quebec media
• List of CBC television stations

References [edit]

External links [edit]

• CBC Montreal
• Canadian Communications Foundation - CBMT History
• CBMT at TV Hat
• Query the REC's Canadian station database for CBMT
• Query TV Fool's coverage map for CBMT