Branding ICI Ottawa-Gatineau Owner Société Radio-Canada | Affiliations Ici Radio-Canada Télé First air date June 24, 1955 | |
Slogan ICI Radio-Canada Télé, c'est ma télé Channels Digital: 33 (UHF)
Virtual: 9.1 (PSIP) | ||
CBOFT-DT, virtual channel 9.1 (UHF channel 33), is a Ici Radio-Canada Télé owned-and-operated television station located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The station is owned by the Société Radio-Canada arm of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, as part of a twinstick with CBC Television station CBOT-DT (channel 4) and both stations share studios at the CBC Ottawa Broadcast Centre on Sparks Street in Downtown Ottawa, alongside the main corporate offices of the CBC, and its transmitter on the Ryan Tower at Camp Fortune in Chelsea, Quebec, north of Gatineau.
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The station serves Franco-Ontarians in Eastern Ontario and Quebecers in the Outaouais region of Quebec. This station can also be seen on Rogers Cable channel 5 and digital channel 601 and in high definition on digital channel 602.
History
CBOFT first signed on the air on June 24, 1955 as the first French-language television station in Ontario. Previously, CBOT aired both CBC and Radio-Canada programs.
For a brief time during 1977 and 1978, until CHOT opened, CBOFT also carried some TVA programs, after Ottawa's first TVA affiliate, CFVO-TV (whose channel 30 frequency is now occupied by CIVO) went bankrupt.
Due to cost-cutting measures at the CBC in the early 1990s, local programming on Toronto's CBLFT and its rebroadcasters, as well as CBLFT semi-satellite CBEFT in Windsor was discontinued in 1991. All Radio-Canada transmitters in Ontario (except the northwest, which was served by CBWFT in Winnipeg) were reclassified as rebroadcasters of CBOFT, under the name "Radio-Canada Ontario-Outaouais". The station produced two distinct newscasts through the 1990s and 2000s, one for the Ottawa region and one for the remainder of Ontario.
In 2010, the CBC applied to the CRTC to have CBLFT relicensed as a separate station, which would again produce a separate newscast for broadcast in most of the province outside of CBOFT's market. The application was approved on April 28, 2010, leading to CBLFT resuming newscast production from Toronto, and most of the network's transmitters in Ontario were reassigned to CBLFT's license. Following this split in the network, CBOFT and its Quebec transmitters became "Radio-Canada Ottawa-Gatineau", while most other Ontario transmitters became the "Radio-Canada Ontario".
Prior to the arrival of the Ottawa Senators NHL team, the station would broadcast the Montreal Canadiens games on Saturday nights, while the English counterpart, CBOT, would carry the Toronto Maple Leafs games during the Saturday Hockey Night in Canada slot.
Current on-air staff
Anchors
Reporters
Transmitters
CBOFT operated three analog television rebroadcasters all located in Quebec in the communities of Chapeau, Rapides-des-Joachims and Notre-Dame-du-Laus.
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 rebroadcasters were converted to digital.
Analogue-to-digital conversion
On August 31, 2011, when Canadian television stations in CRTC-designated mandatory markets transitioned from analogue to digital broadcasts, the station's digital signal relocated from UHF channel 22 to VHF channel 9. Due to reception issues on channel 9, the station was granted permission to move to UHF channel 33.