CBNT-DT

This article is about the CBC Television station. For the SBE Certification, see Certified Broadcast Networking Technologist.
CBNT-DT
St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador
Canada
Branding CBC Newfoundland and Labrador (general)
CBC Here & Now (newscasts)
Slogan Love CBC
Channels Digital: 8 (VHF)
Virtual: 8.1 (PSIP)
Affiliations CBC
Owner Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
First air date October 1, 1964
Call letters' meaning Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation
Newfoundland
Television
Sister station(s) CBN, CBN-FM, CBAF-FM-17, CBAX-FM-2
Former callsigns CBNT (1964–2011)
Former channel number(s) Analog: 8 (VHF, 1964–2011)
Transmitter power 14.54 kW
Height 252.9 m
Transmitter coordinates 47°31′59″N 52°47′26″W / 47.53306°N 52.79056°W / 47.53306; -52.79056
Website CBC Newfoundland and Labrador

CBNT-DT, VHF channel 8, is a CBC Television owned-and-operated television station located in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The station is owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. CBNT's studios are located at 95 University Avenue, and its transmitter is located just south-southwest of George's Pond in St. John's.

This station can also be seen on Rogers Cable and Bell Aliant TV channel 3. There is a high definition feed offered on Rogers Cable digital channel 51, Bell ExpressVu channel 200, Bell Aliant TV channel 400 and Eastlink channel 601. On Shaw Direct, the channel is available in high definition on channel 053 (Classic) or 553 (Advanced). The station has additional cable coverage throughout the province.

History

The station went on the air on October 1, 1964, as previous CBC affiliate CJON-TV channel 6 (now an independent station on channel 21) switched networks to CTV. CBNT originally broadcast from the Browning Harvey Building on Water Street West in downtown St. John's. It was the second television station to sign on in the Metro Area (CJON-TV, the previous CBC affiliate, was the first to open just nine years earlier in 1955). In 1966, the present television building, located on 95 University Avenue, opened.

On April 30, 2007, CBC Radio's operations out of the old Avalon Telephone building on 342 Duckworth Street in downtown St. John's were moved to the television station's building on the Parkway after renovations to accommodate the radio broadcasts were completed.

Programming

The station generally adheres to the Atlantic Time Zone feed of the CBC network schedule; as a result, most CBC programs air half an hour "later" on Newfoundland, which is on the Newfoundland Standard Time Zone, compared to other areas of Canada.

Until September 2009, to accommodate Here & Now's 6:00 p.m. timeslot, the network provided a separate Newfoundland Time feed of its weekday afternoon schedule between 4:00 and 6:00 local time. The 7:00 p.m. NT timeslot was then taken by Land and Sea (Monday) and repeats of Living Newfoundland and Labrador (Tuesday-Friday). As a result, the network program that normally aired at 3:30 p.m. local time (such as the Great Canadian Food Show) was pre-empted entirely. With few exceptions, this separate feed ended when Here & Now expanded to 90 minutes in September 2009.

As CBNT's master control operations are now handled directly from the CBC's facilities in Toronto, it is unlikely there is any remaining direct technical obstacle to the station carrying a full Newfoundland Time schedule. However, given the added difficulty of coordinating such a schedule with live national news or sports broadcasts (e.g. The National), as well as viewer familiarity with the current scheduling practices across all channels, such a switch is not likely in the near future.

Local programming

Current non-news local programming on CBNT includes Land and Sea, a regional documentary series in production since 1964, making it likely one of the longest-running television shows in Newfoundland and Labrador. Land and Sea is currently aired on Sunday afternoons. On January 15, 2007, CBNT premiered a new local program, Living Newfoundland and Labrador; it aired at 3:30 p.m. NT (3:00 Labrador), and was repeated Tuesday to Friday at 7:00 (6:30 Labrador). Living was cancelled in August 2009.

From 1984 to 2011, CBNT was the home of the annual Janeway Children's Miracle Network Telethon, which usually airs the weekend following the U.S. Memorial Day holiday. Up until the early 1990s, the telethon was produced in cooperation with Avalon Cablevision Cable 9 (now Rogers TV). It was taped at the Avalon Cablevision studio, using CBC personalities, and Cable 9 volunteers. The Cable 9 feed was simulcast on CBC stations across the province, until the rebranding of Avalon Cablevision Ltd. to Cable Atlantic. At that time, the Cable Atlantic offices and studio underwent major renovations. CBNT then started using their own studio facilities. This telethon moved to CJON-TV in 2012.

Other CBC programs previously produced in Newfoundland and Labrador include Reach for the Top, which was hosted by Bob Cole for many years, then later by Art Andrews and Peter Miller; As Loved Our Fathers, written by Tom Cahill ; Soundings; Yarns from Pigeon Inlet, television adaptations of stories written by Ted Russell; Skipper and Company, which featured Ray Bellew; Where Once They Stood, a community profile series ; Yesterday's Heroes ; the 1997 five-part series East of Canada: The Story of Newfoundland ; the Ryan's Fancy show ; and from 1982 until the late 1990s with a brief gap in the middle of the decade, Newsfinal (CBC's local late night news show, anchored at times by Deborah Collins, Karl Wells, Glenn Tilley, etc.).

News operation

CBNT presently broadcasts ten hours and five minutes of locally produced newscasts each week (with two hours on weekdays, a half-hour news and On Point current affairs program Saturdays, and thirty minutes of news on Sundays). Here & Now was the name of the newscast for decades prior to 2000, when CBC budget cuts forced it to be cut to a half hour from an hour and integrated into Canada Now. CBNT restored its old newscast in late 2005, with Canada Now airing at 7:00 NT until February 16, 2007. When CBNT first signed on, its local newscast was known as CBC Regional News. In the mid-1970s, it adopted the Here and Now name. The current Here & Now originally aired from 6 to 7 p.m. until September 2009, when most CBC stations expanded their local news programming.

Notable current on-air staff

Notable former on-air staff

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Transmitters

CBNT had a very large system of 89 rebroadcast transmitters, spread throughout the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. 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.[1] None of CBC or Radio-Canada's television rebroadcasters were converted to digital.

As a result of the closedown, some cable systems in Newfoundland and Labrador owned by EastLink replaced CBNT with CBHT-DT Halifax, due to what EastLink claimed were "technical issues" involving CBNT. Furthermore, in most of these affected communities, high-speed broadband internet, which could be used to watch regional programming from CBNT online, is not available.[2]

Digital television

Digital channels

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[3]
8.1 1080i 16:9 Main CBNT-DT programming / CBC Television

Analogue-to-digital conversion

On August 31, 2011, the date in which Canadian television stations in CRTC-designated mandatory markets transitioned from analogue to digital broadcasts, the station's digital signal relocated from channel to VHF channel 8.[4]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Speaking notes for Hubert T. Lacroix regarding measures announced in the context of the Deficit Reduction Action Plan
  2. ↑ CBC News: "Rural viewers upset about losing CBC TV", August 2, 2012.
  3. ↑ RabbitEars TV Query for CBNT
  4. ↑ Digital Television - Office of Consumer Affairs (OCA)

External links

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