 | |
| Channels | |
|---|---|
| Branding |
|
| Programming | |
| Affiliations | CBC Television |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Canadian Broadcasting Corporation |
| CBN,CBN-FM,CBAFT-DT | |
| History | |
First air date | October 1, 1964 (60 years ago) (1964-10-01) |
Former call signs | CBNT (1964–2011) |
Former channel number(s) | Analogue: 8 (VHF, 1964–2011) |
Call sign meaning | CBC Newfoundland Television |
| Technical information | |
Licensing authority | CRTC |
| ERP | 14.54kW |
| HAAT | 252.9 m (830 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 47°31′59″N52°47′26″W / 47.53306°N 52.79056°W /47.53306; -52.79056 |
| Links | |
| Website | www |
CBNT-DT (channel 8) is atelevision station inSt. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, broadcasting the English-language service ofCBC Television.Owned and operated by theCanadian Broadcasting Corporation, the station maintains studios on University Avenue, and its transmitter is located south-southwest of George's Pond in St. John's.
The station went on the air on October 1, 1964, as the previous CBC affiliateCJON-TV (then on channel 6, now anindependent station on channel 21) switched networks toCTV. 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, the previous CBC affiliate, was the first to open just nine years earlier in 1955). In 1966, the present television building, located on 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 University Avenue after renovations to accommodate the radio broadcasts were completed.
The station generally adheres to theAtlantic Time Zone feed of the CBC network schedule; as a result, most CBC programs air a half-hour later in Newfoundland, which is in theNewfoundland Time Zone, compared to other areas of Canada.
Until September 2009, to accommodateHere & 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 byLand and Sea (Monday) and repeats ofLiving Newfoundland and Labrador (Tuesday–Friday). As a result, the network program that normally aired at 3:30 p.m. local time (such as theGreat Canadian Food Show) was preempted entirely. With few exceptions, this separate feed ended whenHere & Now expanded to 90 minutes in September 2009. In late 2015,Here & Now returned to 60 minutes.
As CBNT's master control operations are now handled directly from the CBC's facilities inToronto, there isn't 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 (for exampleThe National andHockey Night in Canada), as well as viewer familiarity with the current scheduling practices across all channels, such a switch is not likely in the near future.
Current non-news local programming on CBNT includesLand 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 Sundays at 11:30 a.m. On January 15, 2007, CBNT premiered a new local program,Living Newfoundland and Labrador; it aired at 3:30 p.m., and was repeated Tuesday to Friday at 7:00 p.m..Living Newfoundland and Labrador was cancelled in August 2009.
From 1984 to 2011, CBNT was the home of the annualJanewayChildren'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 (nowRogers 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 includeReach for the Top, which was hosted byBob Cole for many years, then later by Art Andrews and Peter Miller;As Loved Our Fathers, written byTom Cahill;Soundings;Yarns from Pigeon Inlet, a television adaptations of stories written by Ted Russell;Skipper and Company, which featuredRay Bellew;Where Once They Stood, a community profile series;Yesterday's Heroes; the 1997 five-part seriesEast of Canada: The Story of Newfoundland; theRyan'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.).
CBNT presently broadcasts 10 hours, 5 minutes of locally produced newscasts each week (with two hours each weekday, a half-hour news andOn Point current affairs program Saturdays, and a half hour of news on Sundays).
When CBNT first signed on, its local newscast was known asCBC Regional News. In the mid-1970s, it adopted theHere & Now name.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 intoCanada Now.
CBNT restored its old newscast in late 2005.Here & Now currently airs from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m.
 |
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8.1 | 720p | 16:9 | CBNT-DT | CBC Television |
On August 31, 2011, the date on which Canadian television stations in CRTC-designated mandatorymarketstransitioned from analog to digital broadcasts, the station's digital signal relocated from channel toVHF channel 8.[2]
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.[3] None of CBC or Radio-Canada's television rebroadcasters were converted to digital. This left the St. John's area as the only part of the province with over-the-air coverage from CBC. However, few Newfoundlanders lost access to CBC programming due to the high penetration of cable and satellite.
As a result of the closedown, some ofEastLink's cable systems in theGreat Northern Peninsula replaced CBNT withCBHT-DT fromHalifax, 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.[4]