CBWFT-DT (channel 3) is an

Ici Radio-Canada Télé Ici Radio-Canada Télé (stylized as ICI Radio-Canada Télé, and sometimes abbreviated as Ici Télé) is a Television in Canada, Canadian Canadian French, French-language terrestrial television, free-to-air television network owned by the Can ...

station in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

, Manitoba, Canada, serving the province's

Franco-Manitoban Franco-Manitobans () are French Canadians or Francophone Canadians, Canadian francophones living in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Manitoba. According to the 2016 Canadian Census, 40,975 residents of the province stated that ...

population. It has common ownership with

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV, or simply CBC) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language terrestrial television, broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcasting, p ...

station

CBWT-DT CBWT-DT (channel 6) is a CBC Television station in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It has common ownership with Ici Radio-Canada Télé station CBWFT-DT (channel 3). The two stations share studios on Portage Avenue and Young Street in Downtown Winn ...

(channel 6). The two stations share studios on Portage Avenue and Young Street in

Downtown Winnipeg Downtown Winnipeg is an area of Winnipeg located near the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. It is the oldest urban area in Winnipeg, and is home to the city's commercial core, city hall, the ...

; CBWFT-DT's transmitter is located atop the Richardson Building.

History

The CBC announced on February 17, 1959, that they would appear before the BBG (predecessor to the

CRTC The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC; ) is a public organization in Canada tasked with the mandate as a regulatory agency tribunal for various electronic communications, covering broadcasting and telecommunic ...

) in

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

on March 18 to apply for a license to extend Radio-Canada's television signal into the Winnipeg area. CBWFT first signed on at 3 p.m. on April 24, 1960, using channel 6 with an ERP of 2,800 watts. At the same time two VTRs, worth $75,000 each were installed at the station. It was the first francophone television station west of

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

. Its opening broadcast was a ceremony held at the Notre Dame Auditorium in St. Boniface. Dignitaries included in attendance were

Lieutenant-Governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a " second-in-com ...

Errick Willis Errick French Willis (March 21, 1896 – January 9, 1967) was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He served as leader of the province's Conservative Party between 1936 and 1954, and was responsible for beginning and ending the party's all ...

;

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of govern ...

Duff Roblin; CBC President

Alphonse Ouimet Joseph-Alphonse Ouimet, (June 12, 1908 – December 20, 1988) was a Canadian television pioneer and president of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) from 1958 to 1967. Born in Montreal, Ouimet received a degree in electrical engineer ...

; Marcel Ouimet, general manager of Radio-Canada; J. R. Finlay, CBC Prairie Region Director; and Leo Remillard, CBWFT's program director. At first, CBWFT's broadcast day ran between 6 and 12 hours, with a longer programming day on weekends. Over the years, this was extended to encompass most of the day. Initially, Radio-Canada's microwave link did not reach as far as Winnipeg. Instead, videotapes and films were "bicycled" from

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

and delayed by one week, except for news and live events like ''

La Soirée du hockey ''La Soirée du hockey'' (literally translated to ''The Night of Hockey'') was the French language equivalent of the English Canadian CBC's NHL broadcasts ''Hockey Night in Canada'' produced by Radio-Canada, which targets on National Hockey League ...

''. On November 15, 1964, it swapped frequencies with CBWT and a higher-powered transmitter was installed at the new site near Starbuck. From 1964 till the early 1980s, it referred to itself simply as "CBWFT canal 3 Winnipeg". During the early 1980s, CBWFT was known as "CBWFT 3/10", signifying its position on Channel 3, Cable 10 in Winnipeg. On January 1, 1986, it became known as "Radio-Canada Manitoba". By October 31, 1966, CBWFT was connected to the Radio-Canada microwave signal, allowing the live feed of ''

Le Téléjournal ''Le Téléjournal'' () is the umbrella title used for the television newscasts aired on the Ici Radio-Canada Télé broadcast network. ''Le Téléjournal'' (by itself) has been used since 1954 as the title of the network's flagship newscast, ...

'' at 6 p.m. Prior to this the newscast consisted of Radio-Canada's radio news with locally inserted images. Several months after the first Anik A satellite was launched in 1972, CBWFT switched to the satellite feed of Radio-Canada and dropped the microwave feed, except to distribute its signal within its coverage area, Manitoba and

Northwestern Ontario Northwestern Ontario is a secondary region of Northern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario which lies north and west of Lake Superior and west of Hudson Bay and James Bay. It includes most of subarctic Ontario. Its western boundary is the ...

, and part of

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

. In 1976, a

rebroadcaster A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater ( two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or tr ...

of CBWFT programming in Regina became CBKFT. In 1985, CBKFT was issued a separate license to broadcast its own regional news program.

News operation

In 2005, the long-running news program was renamed to , which is the same name of the French national news program on Radio-Canada. The local edition is normally 30 minutes in length; however, the Wednesday edition is 60 minutes. The program is also rebroadcast at 11 p.m. As of 2023, the Monday to Thursday bulletins are presented by Godlove Kamwa and Friday to Sunday by Cédrick Noufele.

Technical information

Subchannel

Analogue-to-digital conversion

CBWFT switched from analogue to

digital television Digital television (DTV) is the transmission of television signals using Digital signal, digital encoding, in contrast to the earlier analog television technology which used analog signals. At the time of its development it was considered an ...

broadcasting on December 9, 2011, from its Winnipeg transmitter atop the Richardson Building, after several delays, due to an "unforeseen delay that is outside of the Corporation's control," involving antenna erection. CBWFT's digital signal operates on

UHF Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter ...

channel 32, using

virtual channel In most telecommunications organizations, a virtual channel is a method of remapping the ''program number'' as used in H.222 Program Association Tables and Program Mapping Tables to a channel number that can be entered as digits on a receiver's ...

3.Digital Television - Office of Consumer Affairs (OCA)

Transmitters

CBWFT operated 11 analogue television retransmitters in Manitoba (e.g. Brandon) and Northwestern Ontario (in the parts of that region which fall in the

Central Time Zone The North American Central Time Zone (CT) is a time zone in parts of Canada, the United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It ...

, e.g.

Kenora Kenora (), previously named Rat Portage (), is a city situated on the Lake of the Woods in Ontario, Canada, close to the Manitoba boundary, and about east of Winnipeg by road. It is the seat of Kenora District. The history of the name exten ...

). 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.Speaking notes for Hubert T. Lacroix regarding measures announced in the context of the Deficit Reduction Action Plan
/ref> None of CBC or Radio-Canada's television rebroadcasters were converted to digital.

Manitoba

Northwest Ontario

References

External links

ICI Manitoba

CBWFT-DT
at The History of Canadian Broadcasting by the

Canadian Communications Foundation The Canadian Communications Foundation (CCF) was a Canadian nonprofit organization which documented the history of broadcasting in Canada, particularly radio and television networks, programs and broadcasters. The organization was established in ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cbwft 1960 establishments in Manitoba Franco-Manitoban culture BWFT-DT Television channels and stations established in 1960 BWFT-DT