Canadian Forces Radio and Television (CFRT), ''Radiotélévision des Forces canadiennes'' (RTFC) in

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

, was a

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

and

radio network There are two types of radio network currently in use around the world: the one-to-many (simplex communication) broadcast network commonly used for public information and mass media, mass-media entertainment, and the two-way radio (Duplex (teleco ...

system broadcast by

satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...

to those members of the

Canadian Forces The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF; , FAC) are the unified Military, military forces of Canada, including sea, land, and air commands referred to as the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army and the Royal Canadian Air Force. Under the ''National Defenc ...

ground forces who served overseas in places such as the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

and

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and, due to popular demand, the service began broadcasting to His Majesty's Canadian Ships in April 2002. The network was not available domestically within Canada. The network consisted of two separate feeds, one for each of Canada's

official language An official language is defined by the Cambridge English Dictionary as, "the language or one of the languages that is accepted by a country's government, is taught in schools, used in the courts of law, etc." Depending on the decree, establishmen ...

s, English and

, sourcing programming from the

CBC/Radio-Canada The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is the Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a Crown corporation that serves as the national public broadcaster, with its English-language and F ...

, and commercial networks such as CTV and

TVA The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is a federally owned electric utility corporation in the United States. TVA's service area covers all of Tennessee, portions of Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, and small areas of Georgia, North Carolina ...

. On February 5, 2014, CFRT announced it would cease operations in April 2014. The closure was due to a reduction of Canadian military personnel serving overseas and budget cuts by the Canadian government, as well as advancements in other avenues of television and radio broadcasting. The final broadcast ended April 1, 2014, at 00:00 EST. Broadcasts to Canadian forces in Europe began in 1951. The ''Canadian Forces Network'' (CFN), or ''Reseau des Forces Canadiennes'' (RFC), made radio broadcasts from

Brunssum Brunssum (; ) is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a town in the province of Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg in the Netherlands. The municipality of Brunssum has residents as of . Brunssum was a center of coal mining until 197 ...

, the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

from 1978 until September 30, 2014, to Brunssum,

Ramstein Air Base Ramstein Air Base is a United States Air Force installation located in Rhineland-Palatinate, southwestern Germany. It serves as the headquarters for the United States Air Forces in Europe – Air Forces Africa (USAFE-AFAFRICA) and NATO Alli ...

and Lahr (Baden-Württemberg) in Germany and

Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe The Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) is the military headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) Allied Command Operations (ACO) that commands all NATO operations worldwide. SHAPE is situated in the villag ...

(SHAPE) in

Casteau Casteau () originated as a village in the Hainaut Province, Hainaut province of Wallonia, in the French language, French speaking south of Belgium. Casteau has become a district of the municipality of Soignies, centred around Soignies (town), and ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. CFN Europe was broadcast on the

Astra 1A Astra 1A was the first satellite launched and operated by SES (Société Européenne des Satellites), launched in December 1988. During its early days, it was often referred to as the Astra Satellite, as SES only operated one satellite origi ...

satellite, until its decommissioning in December 2004, and later on the

Eutelsat Eutelsat S.A. is a French satellite operator. Providing coverage over the entire European continent, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and the Americas, it has been the world's third-largest satellite operator in terms of revenues. Its subsidiary E ...

9A satellite. The network kept Canadian military personnel overseas in touch with Canada and Canadian defence news. In countries where telephone service is difficult, families could send broadcast messages to soldiers abroad through an 800 number. An earlier Canadian Forces Network was established and operated by the

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is the Canadian Public broadcasting, public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a Crown corporation that serves as the national public broadcaster, with its E ...

in 1945 for Canadian troops in England following the closure of the

BBC Allied Expeditionary Forces Programme The BBC Allied Expeditionary Forces Programme was a national radio station during World War II in the mid-1940s. History Overview Upon the outbreak of World War II on 1 September 1939, the BBC had merged its two nationwide radio stations – th ...

which had included shows for Canadian military personnel."Canadian Troops in UK Soon Will Hear Own Shows",

Canadian Press The Canadian Press (CP; , ) is a Canadian national news agency headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. Established in 1917 as a vehicle for Canadian newspapers to exchange news and information, The Canadian Press has been a private, not-for-profit c ...

, '' Evening Citizen'', July 28, 1945, page 2 The station, which transmitted programs to Canadian Forces stationed in Europe after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, was established with the cooperation of the

and the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

and augmented broadcasts by the CBC International Service on shortwave from Canada.

References

External links

CFN TV Lahr, Germany, Station Identification, probably late 1980sCFN Radio Europe, Last hour before final shutdown, 30 September 2014
Defunct television networks in Canada Defunct Canadian radio networks Defunct broadcasting companies of Canada 1951 establishments in Canada Radio stations established in 1951 Radio stations disestablished in 2014 Television channels and stations disestablished in 2014 Military of Canada Military broadcasting 2014 disestablishments in Canada {{Canada-bcast-stub

See also

References

External links