Slogan Love CBC First air date December 20, 1954 | ||
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CBHT-DT is the CBC Television owned-and-operated television station in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. It broadcasts a digital, high-definition, terrestrial over-the-air signal on UHF channel 39, from a transmitter located on Washmill Lake Drive (near Bently Drive) in Halifax. It also became Cape Breton Island's CBC station, when CBIT-TV was closed in 2012 as part of the CBC's digital transition.
Contents
- History
- CBIT TV
- Studios at Bell Road
- Studios at Chebucto Road
- Productions
- News programming
- Former on air staff
- Transmitters
- Post shutdown coverage in Newfoundland and Labrador
- References
Owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, it serves as the network's Atlantic Time Zone flagship station. The station broadcasts the CBC network schedules in local time, except during live events. Its studios and master control centre are located on 7067 Chebucto Road in Halifax. The station can also be seen on Eastlink TV channel 11 and Bell Aliant TV channel 3. There is a high definition feed offered on Eastlink TV digital channel 601, Bell Aliant TV channel 400 and Bell TV Channel 1010. On Shaw Direct, the channel is available on 300 (Classic) or 058 (Advanced), and in high definition on channel 051 (Classic) or 551 (Advanced).
History
CBHT started broadcasting on December 20, 1954, using temporary studios at College Street School. In October 1956, CBHT moved into brand new 57,000 square foot facility on Bell Road. It entered CBC's microwave network in 1958, and began colour programming in 1966. 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).
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. 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". 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. CBIT broadcast on terrestrial channel 5 and local cable channel 3. CBIT had its own newscast 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. 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.
Studios at Bell Road
Studios at Chebucto Road
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.
News programming
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 6:00pm. 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 and Amy Smith, along with meteorologist Kalin Mitchell, who also does the weather forecast for CBC News at 6 for New Brunswick via satellite from CBC's studio in Halifax.
Former on-air staff
Transmitters
CBHT had over 30 analog television rebroadcasters in several Nova Scotian communities such as Sydney and Truro. 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. 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.