CBLFT-DT

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CBLFT-DT
Toronto, Ontario
Branding ICI Ontario
Slogan Tout est possible
Channels Digital: 25 (UHF)
Virtual: 25.1 (PSIP)
Affiliations Ici Radio-Canada Télé
Owner Société Radio-Canada
First air date March 23, 1973[1]
Call letters' meaning Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation
Great Lakes
Français
Télévision
Sister station(s) CBUT-DT, CBL-FM, CBLA-FM
Former callsigns CBLFT (1973–2011)
Former channel number(s) Analog:
25 (UHF, 1973–2011)
Digital:
25 (UHF, 2005–2011)
Transmitter power 106.2 kW
Height 491.0 m
Transmitter coordinates 43°38′33″N 79°23′14″W / 43.64250°N 79.38722°W / 43.64250; -79.38722
Website ICI Ontario

CBLFT-DT, UHF channel 25, is a Ici Radio-Canada Télé owned-and-operated television station located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The station is owned by the Société Radio-Canada subsidiary of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, as part of a twinstick with CBC Television outlet CBLT-DT (channel 5). CBLFT operates from the Canadian Broadcasting Centre on Front Street West in downtown Toronto, and its transmitter is located atop the CN Tower in downtown Toronto. This station can also be seen in the Greater Toronto Area on Rogers Cable channel 12 and in high definition on digital channel 515; CBLFT is also available on satellite via Bell TV channel 99.

The station provides French-language programming to the Greater Toronto Area and most of Ontario, including the Western, Central and Northeastern regions of the province.

History

CBLFT was originally licensed by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission in 1972 as a standalone station, and launched on March 23, 1973; until CBLFT's launch, CBLT aired Radio-Canada programming on Sunday mornings. The station originally transmitted from the CBC's Jarvis Street transmitter site, but as with almost all other radio and television stations in Toronto, approval was given by the CRTC to move the transmitter site to the CN Tower on December 14, 1973.

Several transmitters in Northern Ontario which were already in operation as rebroadcasters of CBOFT in Ottawa were reassigned to CBLFT's license, and various additional rebroadcasters were added throughout Ontario in the 1970s and 1980s.

In the early 1990s, due to budget cutbacks at the CBC all of the station's transmitters, including the main signal in Toronto, were reassigned to the license of CBOFT as rebroadcasters. These transmitters continued to broadcast a separate local early evening newscast, which was produced in Ottawa, but was only seen in that city via a late night rebroadcast, similar to the morning show split used at CBLA-FM.

On April 28, 2010, the CRTC granted a license request by the CBC to relaunch CBLFT as a separate station which would again produce a distinct local newscast from CBOFT.[2] Most of the network's transmitters in Ontario, outside of the Ottawa region, have again been reassigned to CBLFT's license, and newscast production has returned to Toronto.

Digital television

Digital channel

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[3]
25.1 1080i 16:9 CBLFT-DT Main CBLFT-DT programming / Télévision de Radio-Canada

Analogue-to-digital conversion

CBLFT shut down its analogue signal, over UHF channel 25, on August 31, 2011, the official date in which Canadian television stations in CRTC-designated mandatory markets transitioned from analogue to digital broadcasts. The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 24 to post-transition (and former analogue) channel 25.[4]

Transmitters in mandatory markets were required to switch to digital or shut down by the transition deadline of August 31, 2011. Radio-Canada requested to temporarily broadcast in analogue in these markets beyond 2011, as programming for Radio-Canada is not produced in these markets.[5] The following CBLFT rebroadcasters are in mandatory markets:

  • CBLFT-8 Kitchener
  • CBLFT-9 London
  • CBLFT-18 Thunder Bay
  • CBEFT Windsor

However, on August 16, 2011, the CRTC granted the CBC permission to continue operating 22 repeaters in mandatory markets, including the above, in analogue until August 31, 2012, in which by then they must either convert to digital or close down. This is pending the corporation's licence renewal process, which will include an evaluation of its transition plans.[6]

At some point before June 20, 2012, CBLFT had begun airing a Mobile DTV simulcast of CBLT-DT with a PSIP of 5-2, encoded in H.264 and HE-AAC.[7]

Transmitters

CBLFT operated almost 30 analog television rebroadcasters throughout the province Ontario and included communities such as London, Kitchener and Sudbury.

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.[8] None of CBC or Radio-Canada's television rebroadcasters were converted to digital, leaving rural Canadians and U.S. border regions with no free over-the-air CBC/Radio-Canada coverage, requiring a subscription to a cable or satellite provider to receive programming from the two networks in those areas.[9]

References

External links

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