CBHT-DT

CBHT-DT, virtual channel 3 (UHF digital channel 39), is a CBC Television owned-and-operated station licensed to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The station is owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. CBHT-DT's studios are located on 7067 Chebucto Road in Halifax, and its transmitter is located on Washmill Lake Drive (near Bently Drive) on the city's west side.

CBHT-DT
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Canada
ChannelsDigital: 39 (UHF)
(to move to 32 (UHF))
Virtual: 3.1 (PSIP)
BrandingCBC Nova Scotia (general)
CBC Nova Scotia News (newscasts)
SloganCanada's Public Broadcaster
Programming
AffiliationsCBC Television (O&O)
Ownership
OwnerCanadian Broadcasting Corporation
Sister stationsCBH-FM, CBHA-FM, CBAFT-DT
History
First air dateDecember 20, 1954 (1954-12-20)
Former call signsCBHT (1954–2011)
Former channel number(s)Analogue:
3 (UHF, 1954–2011)
Call sign meaningCanadian
Broadcasting Corporation
Halifax
Television
Technical information
Licensing authorityCRTC
ERP157.54 kW
HAAT266.5 m (874 ft)
Transmitter coordinates44°39′3″N 63°39′26″W
Links
WebsiteCBC Nova Scotia

CBHT-DT serves as CBC's Atlantic Time Zone flagship station. The station broadcasts the network schedules in local time, except during live events.[1] It also became Cape Breton Island's CBC station, when CBIT-TV was closed in 2012 as part of the CBC's digital transition.

On cable, CBHT is available on EastLink TV channel 11 (some systems carry the station on channel 5) and Bell Aliant TV channel 3. On Shaw Direct, it is carried on channels 300 (Classic) and 58 (Advanced), and in high definition on channels 51 (Classic) and 551 (Advanced). There is also a high definition feed offered on Eastlink TV digital channel 601, Bell Aliant TV channel 400 and Bell Satellite TV channel 1010.

History

CBHT started broadcasting on December 20, 1954, using temporary studios at College Street School. In October 1956, CBHT moved into a brand-new 57,000-square-foot facility on Bell Road. It entered CBC's microwave network in 1958, and began colour programming in 1966.[2] CBHT eventually covered all of Nova Scotia with rebroadcast transmitters. The tower in the Halifax area on Geizer's Hill (called the CBC tower) is also used by CTV's CJCH-TV, Global's CIHF-TV, most local FM broadcast radio stations and other services. On August 31, 2011, the transition to digital terrestrial over-the-air broadcasting was complete when the station's analog transmitter was permanently shutdown, ceasing broadcasts on analog VHF channel 3, and began broadcasting on digital UHF channel 39 (virtual 3.1).[2]

In November 2014, CBHT moved to a new 44,000 square foot facility on Chebucto Road in Halifax, located inside a former Hudson's Bay department store, joined by CBC's Halifax radio stations, which had previously been located in the CBC Radio Building.[3] Originally, plans called for the new facility to completely replace the larger Bell Road studios, which were to close at the end of the 2014–15 television season. Despite this, Studio 1 at Bell Road remains in operation indefinitely, accommodating productions which are too complex to be produced at Chebucto Road, particularly This Hour Has 22 Minutes.

CBIT-TV

On September 26, 1972, CBHT began broadcast operations for a branch station in Sydney, covering all of Cape Breton Island, and parts of eastern Nova Scotia, called CBIT-TV; its call sign meant "Cape Breton Island Television".[4] It was forced to start operating the new station when CHUM Limited purchased the original local station CJCB-TV, the first television station in Nova Scotia, and switched its affiliation to the CTV Television Network on that date.[5] CBIT broadcast on terrestrial channel 5 and local cable channel 3.[4] CBIT had its own newscast (called Cape Breton Report) until 1990, when it was cancelled and replaced with CBHT's First Edition. Since then, CBIT was CBHT's full-time repeater station in that market.[4] As part of the CBC's transition to digital transmission, CBIT was shut down on July 31, 2012 — along with the rest of CBHT's repeaters — resulting in CBC television abandoning over-the-air service in those markets.[2]

Studios at Bell Road
  • Studio 1 – 4,800 square feet (446 m2) – Constructed in 1993, this is the only dedicated non-news multi-camera television production studio in Atlantic Canada. The studio has also been used for non-CBC productions, such as the sketch-comedy show That's So Weird!. The studio is fully equipped for HD production, and though originally scheduled to close at the conclusion of the 2014–15 television season, it remains in operation indefinitely, hosting This Hour Has 22 Minutes during the main television season, and the multi-camera dramatic anthology series Studio Black! during the summer.
  • Studio 2 – 2,400 square feet (223 m2) – This smaller studio was opened in 1956, and for decades was CBHT's only production studio, used for drama, comedy, variety, and news programming. After the opening of Studio 1, it became a dedicated studio for CBHT's news programming. It was closed in November 2014, when the news division moved to CBC Halifax's new studios on Chebucto Road.

Studios at Chebucto Road
  • Studio 50 – Used for CBHT's television news broadcasts.
  • Studio 51 – Used for CBHT's television weather reports.
  • Studio 60 – 2,500 square feet (232 m2) – Multipurpose television and radio production studio, capable of handling multi-camera television shows or radio productions. The nationally televised competition series Short Film Face Off is taped here, as well as several other local and national programs.

Productions

The station has been responsible for the production of numerous regional and national programs, including the long-running This Hour Has 22 Minutes (1992–present). Other national programs produced at CBHT have included Don Messer's Jubilee, Singalong Jubilee, Countrytime, Take Time With Noel Harrison, Street Cents, and Mary Walsh: Open Book. Notable regional programs have included Switchback, and Land and Sea.[2]

News programming
Former logo used for news programming, 2015–2019

News programming has been a major component of the station's efforts since its founding. CBHT airs a 60-minute Nova Scotia newscast each weekday starting at 6:00 p.m. In addition, it airs regional (includes Cape Breton, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland & Labrador) newscasts at 11 o'clock on weeknights and Sundays, and at 7 o'clock on Saturday evenings.

In 2000, its local newscast, First Edition, was cancelled and replaced with Canada Now, anchored in Halifax by Norma Lee MacLeod. The latest version of the newscast for Nova Scotia is called CBC Nova Scotia News, hosted by Tom Murphy, Amy Smith and Ryan Snoddon.

Former on-air staff

Transmitters

CBHT had over 30 analog television rebroadcasters in several Nova Scotian communities such as Sydney and Truro.[2] 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.[6] None of CBC or Radio-Canada's television rebroadcasters were converted to digital.

Post-shutdown coverage in Newfoundland and Labrador

As a result of the closedown of the repeater network, some cable systems in Newfoundland and Labrador owned by Eastlink replaced the province's regional CBC outlet, CBNT-DT, with CBHT, due to what Eastlink claimed were "technical issues" involving CBNT.[7]

gollark: I have no actual power as a Helper, see.
gollark: It doesn't do very much.
gollark: Don't worry, all can read it from browser caches.
gollark: I will inform the Queen.
gollark: With my fairly-high-resolution monitors and tolerance for very low font sizes, I can have arbitrarily long lines with no* downsides.

References
  1. If a viewer has a digital cable box or satellite receiver, the CBHT feed shows regular network programming an hour before the Toronto feed, and four hours before the Vancouver feed, and is sometimes referred to as "time-shifting" by cable and satellite operators.
  2. Dulmage, Bill (October 2012). "Nova Scotia, CBHT-DT (CBC-TV), Halifax, Canadian Broadcasting Corp". Television Station History. Toronto: Canadian Communications Foundation. Retrieved 2012-12-25.
  3. Power, Bill (October 28, 2014). "Inside CBC's new Halifax digs". The Chronicle Herald. Retrieved 2015-06-15.
  4. Dulmage, Bill (July 2012). "Nova Scotia CBIT-TV (CBC-TV), Sydney, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation". Television Station History. Toronto: Canadian Communications Foundation. Retrieved 2012-12-26.
  5. Dulmage, Bill (December 2011). "Nova Scotia, (CJCB-TV), Sydney, CTV Television Network". Television Station History. Toronto: Canadian Communications Foundation. Retrieved 2012-12-25.
  6. Lacroix, Hubert T. (2012-04-04). "Speaking notes for Hubert T. Lacroix regarding measures announced in the context of the Deficit Reduction Action Plan". Ottawa: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 2012-12-25.
  7. CBC staff (2012-08-02). "Rural viewers upset about losing CBC TV". CBC News. St. John's, Newfoundland. Retrieved 2012-12-25.

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