CFMT-DT

CFMT-DT

Toronto, Ontario Canada
Channels	Digital:30 (UHF) Virtual:47
Branding	Omni.1
Programming
Affiliations	47.1:Omni Television(2002–present)
Ownership
Owner	Rogers Sports & Media (Rogers Media Inc.)
Sister stations	TV:CITY-DT,CJMT-DT,Sportsnet Ontario Radio:CFTR,CHFI-FM,CJCL,CKIS-FM
History
First air date	September 3, 1979(1979-09-03)
Former call signs	CFMT-TV (1979–2011)
Former channel number(s)	Analogue:47 (UHF, 1979–2011) Digital:64 (UHF, 200?–2011), 47 (UHF, 2011–2020)
Former affiliations	Multicultural independent(1979–2002)
Call signmeaning	"Canada's First Multilingual Television"
Technical information
Licensing authority	CRTC
ERP	16kW
HAAT	506 m (1,660 ft)
Transmitter coordinates	43°38′33″N79°23′14″W
Translator(s)	see§ Transmitters
Links
Website	Omni Television Ontario

CFMT-DT(channel 47) is atelevision stationinToronto, Ontario,Canada. It is one of twoflagship stationsof the Canadian multilingual networkOmni Television.CFMT-DT isowned and operatedbyRogers Sports & Mediaalongside sister Omni outletCJMT-DT(channel 40) andCitytvflagshipCITY-DT(channel 57). The three stations share studios at33 Dundas Street EastonYonge-Dundas Squareindowntown Toronto;CFMT-DT's transmitter is located atop theCN Tower.

The station was originally founded on September 3, 1979, by a consortium led byDan Iannuzzi,Jerry Grafstein,Raymond Moriyama,Steve Stavro,Garth DrabinskyandNat Tayloras CFMT-TV, branded "MTV" (Multilingual Television) as Canada's first multiculturalindependent stationand in 1980, CFMT became Canada's first television station to air 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The station has been owned by Rogers Communications since 1986, but later used CFMT as the basis and flagship station to expand its multicultural stations under the Omni brand beginning with the launch of CJMT-TV (Omni.2) in 2002 along with the rebranding of CFMT asOmni.1and the rest of Canada in subsequent years. The two stations are distinguished by their service of different cultural groups; CFMT caters primarily on European (particularly Western and Eastern) and Latin American cultures while CJMT focuses on Asian cultures (including programming in South Asian and Chinese languages).

History

CFMT-TV's logo until September 15, 2002.

Omni Television Logo used from 2002 to 2018.

In December 1978,Dan Iannuzzi,founder of theItalian-languagedaily newspaperCorriere Canadeseand future recipient of theOrder of Canada,received a licence to operate a multilingual television station, defeating rival applicantsJohnny Lombardiand Leon Kossar. His company, Multilingual Television (Toronto) Ltd., had been producing multilingual television programs since 1972.Iannuzzi initially owned 30% of the station, and other investors includedJerry Grafstein(who was also one of the major investors that helped launchCITY-TVin September 1972),Raymond Moriyama,Steve Stavro,Garth DrabinskyandNat Taylor.The call letters CFMT were derived from "Canada's First Multilingual Television", as it was the first multicultural television station in Canada. English-language programming was limited to one-third of the station's broadcast hours, with French-language programming accounting for 7% and programming in about two dozen other languages providing the remaining 60%.The station was originally going to broadcast on UHF channel 45, but instead moved to channel 47 for technical reasons. The station first signed on the air on September 3, 1979, broadcasting 24 hours a day, seven days a week, as a multiculturalindependent stationunder the brand name "MTV" (for "Multilingual Television" ); that branding was dropped in 1981 to avoid confusion with the upstart AmericanMTVcable network. (The channel even broadcast a program calledVideo Singles,as of 1983.)

In August 1980, the channel became the first in Canada to adopt a 24-hour, seven-day a week schedule, introducingThe All-Night Showthree weeks later.

In the past, CFMT-TV identified itself on air as "Channel 47/Cable 4" (reflecting both its over-the-air channel number and its cable channel in theGreater Toronto Areathrough Rogers Cable) and later as "CFMT International". On September 16, 2002, Rogers launchedCJMT-TV(channel 40, which was branded as "OMNI.2" ) to provide additional multicultural programming, and rebranded CFMT as "OMNI.1". Programs airing on CFMT that were aimed atAsianandAfricancommunities were moved to CJMT, while CFMT kept programs aimed atEuropeanandLatin Americangroups.

On October 8, 2007, Rogers announced that the operations of the two Omni stations would relocate from545 Lake Shore Boulevard Westto33 Dundas Street East.CFMT and CJMT integrated their operations into the building – sharing with Citytv flagship CITY-DT, which had moved into the facility the previous month – on October 19, 2009.

Programming

The station broadcastsmulticulturalprogramming targeting European and Latin American communities throughoutSouthern Ontario.Historically, among English-speaking television viewers in the region, CFMT was best known as home to variousEnglish-languagesyndicatedtalk showsandsitcomrepeats, includingThe Simpsons,FriendsandFamily Guy,airing nightly ascounterprogrammingto local newscasts and first-run prime time series on owned-and-operated stations of the major networks.

Until around 1990, CFMT was the original Toronto home ofWheel of FortuneandJeopardy!.At that time, bothgame showsmoved toCTVflagship stationCFTO-TV(channel 9) and remained on that station until 2004, whenWheel of Fortunemoved to CJMT, then moved back to CFMT the following year;BarriestationCKVR-TVcarried the show in 2006.Jeopardy!remained on CFTO-TV for a few years until 2008, whenCBC Televisionacquired the Canadian television rights to the game shows, moving once again to CBC flagship stationCBLT(channel 5) until 2012, when both programs moved to independent stationCHCH-DT(channel 11) inHamilton.

Newscasts

CFMT-DT presently broadcasts five hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with one hour each weekday). The station currently carries a local newscast aimed at Southern Ontario's Italian demographic. CFMT previously produced aCantonesenewscast; that program was moved to CJMT after that station launched on September 16, 2002. The station previously carried newsbreaks produced by sister radio station CFTR in the early 1990s.

Technical information

Subchannel

Subchannel of CFMT-DT

Channel	Res.	Aspect	Short name	Programming
47.1	1080i	16:9	OMNI 1	Main CFMT-DT programming /Omni Television

Analog-to-digital conversion

CFMT shut down its analogue signal, overUHFchannel 47, on August 31, 2011, the official date on which full-power television stations in larger Canadian televisionmarketstransitioned from analogue to digital broadcastsunder federal mandate. The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 64, which was among the high band UHF channels (52–69) that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition, to UHF channel 47 for post-transition operations.CFMT's digital repeaters in London and Ottawa also relocated to new channels for the same reason behind the relocation of the main signal; these repeaters would use their former UHF analogue channel numbers (69 and 60) as their virtual channel numbers.

Transmitters

Station	City of licence	Channel (RF/VC)	ERP	HAAT	Transmitter coordinates
CFMT-DT-1	London	29 (UHF) 69	17.3 kW	201 m (659 ft)	42°57′16″N81°21′17″W
CFMT-DT-2	Ottawa	27 (UHF) 60	15 kW	202.3 m (664 ft)	45°13′2″N75°33′49″W

External links

• Official website
• CFMT-DTat The History of Canadian Broadcasting by theCanadian Communications Foundation
• CFMT-DTin the REC Canadian station database