CBMT-DT

For the radio station in La Tabatière, Quebec that uses the calls "CBMT-FM", seeCBVE-FM.

CBMT-DT

Montreal, Quebec Canada
Channels	Digital:21 (UHF) Virtual:6
Branding	CBC Montreal
Programming
Affiliations	CBC Television
Ownership
Owner	Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Sister stations	CBFT-DT,CBME-FM,CBM-FM,CBF-FM,CBFX-FM
History
First air date	January 10, 1954(1954-01-10)
Former channel number(s)	Analogue:6 (VHF,1954–2011)
Former affiliations	Paramount Television Network(secondary, 1954–1956)
Call signmeaning	Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Montreal Television
Technical information
Licensing authority	CRTC
ERP	25kW
HAAT	300 m (984 ft)
Transmitter coordinates	45°30′19″N73°35′29″W
Links
Website	CBC Montreal

CBMT-DT(channel 6) is atelevision stationinMontreal, Quebec,Canada, broadcasting the English-language service ofCBC Television.It isowned and operatedby theCanadian Broadcasting CorporationalongsideIci Radio-Canada TéléflagshipCBFT-DT(channel 2). The two stations share studios atMaison Radio-CanadaonRené Lévesque BoulevardEast inDowntown Montreal;CBMT-DT's transmitter is located atopMount Royal.

History

CBMT first signed on the air on January 10, 1954, as Montreal's second television station; previously,EnglishandFrench-language programs had shared time on CBFT, Canada's first television station. By the end of 1953, Canada had about a dozen television stations either licensed or under construction, and American competition was about to arrive in Montreal with the construction ofWCAX-TVinBurlington, Vermont,and WIRI-TV inPlattsburgh, New York(now known asWPTZ). The CBC decided that it was imperative to stop time-sharing in English and in French, so CBMT was included in the network's expansion plans for television; upon its sign-on, CBMT became the exclusive English-language CBC station for Montreal; CBFT, simultaneous to this, became an exclusive French-language station.

The station was branded in the late 1970s and early 1980s as "Montreal 6", becoming "CBC Television Montreal 6" by the mid-1980s, and "CBC Television Montreal" during the 1990s. Since 1997, CBMT has been the only full-fledged CBC station in the province of Quebec. Previously, the only other CBC station in the province had beenQuebec City'sCKMI-TV.However, in 1997, CKMI switched its affiliation to theGlobal Television Network.CBMT set up a full-power rebroadcaster, CBVE, on CKMI's old channel 5, while CKMI moved to channel 20.

CBMT transmits from theMount Royalcandelabra tower,inMount Royal Park,overlooking the city of Montreal. As a result, channel 6 experiences severemultipath interferencein parts of the city and South Shore.

It was also previously seen unscrambled on C-band satellite until the early-2000s, when it switched to a proprietary digital satellite signal. When the signal was sent unscrambled on the C-band, many American satellite viewers tuned into CBMT for a variety of news, entertainment, and sports – particularly the CBC'sHockey Night in CanadaandOlympic Gamestelevision broadcasts, which gave a different perspective than the American broadcasts. That Canadian signal is still available, but it requires the purchase of a dedicated and expensive receiver, or agrey marketsubscription to a Canadian satellite service.

Due to several cutbacks over the years, master control for the station is now based at theCanadian Broadcasting CentreinToronto.

Former logo used for local programming from 2015 to 2019

News operation

CBMT-DT presently broadcasts 10 hours, 40 minutes of locally produced newscasts each week (with two hours each weekday, a half-hour on Saturdays and ten minutes on Sundays); in regards to the number of hours devoted to news programming, it is the lowest local newscast output out of any English-language television station in the Montreal market. CBMT airs local news programming for Montreal seven days a week. On weekdays, the station airs half-hour newscasts at 6 and 11 p.m. On weekends,Montreal at 6airs on Saturdays for 30 minutes and a ten-minute summary airs on Sundays at 11 p.m.

AnchorDebra Arbecwon theCanadian Screen Awardfor Best Local Anchor at the12th Canadian Screen Awardsin 2024.

Technical information

Subchannel of CBMT-DT

Channel	Res.	Aspect	Short name	Programming
6.1	720p	16:9	CBMT-DT	Main CBMT-DT programming /CBC Television

Analogue-to-digital conversion

CBMT began broadcasting its digital signal over-the-air on February 21, 2005.On August 31, 2011, when Canadian television stations in CRTC-designated mandatorymarketstransitioned from analogue to digital broadcasts,the station's digital signal remained onUHFchannel 21, usingvirtual channel6.

Former transmitters

CBMT once operated over 50 analogue rebroadcasters throughout the province of Quebec and in three communities in northernManitoba:Brochet,Poplar River,andShamattawa.

Due to federal funding reductions to the CBC, in April 2012, the CBC responded with substantial budget cuts, which included shutting down the CBC's and Radio-Canada's remaining analogue transmitters on July 31, 2012.None of the CBC or Radio-Canada's rebroadcasters were converted to digital.

Transmitters in mandatory markets were required to go digital or be taken off the air by the transition deadline of August 31, 2011. The CBC had originally decided that none of its rebroadcasters will transition to digital and instead will remain in analogue. The CBC had rebroadcasters of CBMT in the following mandatory markets:

• CBVE-TVQuebec City
• CBJETSaguenay
• CBMT-3Sherbrooke
• CBMT-1Trois-Rivières

On August 16, 2011, theCanadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission(CRTC) granted the CBC permission to continue operating 22 repeaters in mandatory markets, including the above, in analogue until August 31, 2012, by which time the transmitters had to be converted to digital or shut down.

Quebec

City of license	Call sign	Channel	ERP(W)	Notes
Alma	CBJET-1	32 (UHF)	4,000
Baie-Comeau	CBMIT	28 (UHF)	4,200
Blanc-Sablon	CBMST	5 (VHF)	150
Chandler	CBVB-TV	23 (UHF)	184
Chibougamau	CBMCT	4 (VHF)	276
Chicoutimi(Saguenay)	CBJET	58 (UHF)	10,000
Chisasibi	CBMGT	12 (VHF)	10
Escuminac	CBVA-TV	18 (UHF)	5,200
Fermont	CBMRT	9 (VHF)	18
Gaspé	CBVG-TV	18 (UHF)	5,000
Harrington Harbour	CBMUT	13 (VHF)	129
Îles-de-la-Madeleine	CBMYT	7 (VHF)	2,900
La Tabatiere	CBMLT	10 (VHF)	62
La Tuque	CBMET	9 (VHF)	103
Malartic	CBVD-TV	5 (VHF)	9,300
Maniwaki	CBVU-TV	15 (UHF)
Mistissini	CBMDT	12 (VHF)	10
Murdochville	CBMMT	21 (UHF)	30
New Carlisle	CBVN-TV	45 (UHF)	5,300
New Richmond	CBVR-TV	27 (UHF)	6,000
Nouveau-Comploir	CBMNT	12 (VHF)	10
Old Fort Bay	CBMVT	13 (VHF)	10
Perce	CBVP-TV	14 (UHF)	3,700
Port Daniel	CBVF-TV	16 (UHF)	1,310
Quebec City	CBVE-TV	5 (VHF)	13,850	FormerlyCKMI-TV
Rivière-Saint-Paul	CBMPT	11 (VHF)	23
Schefferville	CBSET-1	7 (VHF)	89
Sept-Îles	CBSET	3 (VHF)	1,500
Sherbrooke	CBMT-3	50 (UHF)	11,000
St. Augustin(Saguenay)	CBMXT	7 (VHF)	10
Saguenay	CBJET	58 (UHF)
Thetford Mines	CBMT-4	32	1,140
Trois-Rivières	CBMT-1	28 (UHF)	13,000
Wakeham	CBVH-TV	24 (UHF)	100
Waskaganish	CBMHT	12 (VHF)	10
Waswanipi	CBVW-TV	10 (VHF)	5
Wemindji	CBMNT	12 (VHF)

Northeast Ontario

City of licence	Call sign	Channel	Notes
Armstrong	CBLIT	10	Part of the licence forCBLT-DT/Toronto,but it repeated CBMT's signal.

Northern Manitoba

City of licence	Call sign	Channel	ERP
Brochet	CBDE-TV	9 (VHF)
Poplar River	CBDI-TV	13 (VHF)	10
Shamattawa	CBDG-TV	9 (VHF)	10

Audience outside Canada

CBMT also has substantial viewership in the United States, mostly fromMaineto northeasternNew York.It is also seen via cable television inMichigan,northernWisconsin,and northernMinnesota;CBMT is the main CBC station forCharter Spectrumsystems inBay City,Midland,Mount Pleasant,AlpenaandMarquette, Michigan.

CBMT is also broadcast inJamaicaandTrinidad and TobagoonFlow Cableand in theBahamasonCable Bahamas.

See also

• List of Quebec media

External links

• CBC Montreal
• CBMT-DTat The History of Canadian Broadcasting by theCanadian Communications Foundation
• CBMT at TV Hat
• CBMTin the REC Canadian station database