CJCH-DT (channel 5) is a
television station
A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth ...
in
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of the 2021 Census, the municipal population was 439,819, with 348,634 people in its urban area. The ...
, Canada, part of the
CTV Television Network
The CTV Television Network, commonly known as CTV, is a Canadian English-language terrestrial television network. Launched in 1961 and acquired by BCE Inc. in 2000, CTV is Canada's largest privately owned television network and is now a divis ...
.
Owned and operated
In the broadcasting industry, an owned-and-operated station (frequently abbreviated as an O&O) usually refers to a television or radio station owned by the network with which it is associated. This distinguishes such a station from an affiliate ...
by network parent
Bell Media
Bell Media Inc. ( French: ) is a Canadian company formed by the amalgamation of several companies.
Establishment (2011–13)
On December 9, 2011, the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan announced the sale of its majority stake in Maple Leaf Sports ...
, the station maintains studios on Robie and Russell Streets in Halifax, and its transmitter is located on Washmill Lake Drive on the city's west side.
CJCH-DT is the
flagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...
of the
CTV Atlantic
CTV Atlantic (formerly known as the Atlantic Television, or ATV) is a system of four television stations in the Maritimes, owned and operated by the CTV Television Network, a division of Bell Media. Despite the name, it is not available on ba ...
regional system, producing all of the system's programming except for some commercials and local news inserts on the other stations.
History
CJCH-TV first went on the air on January 1, 1961, as an
independent station
An independent station is an independent radio or terrestrial television station which is independent in some way from broadcast networks. The definition of "independence" varies from country to country, reflecting governmental regulations, market ...
, and it became one of the original CTV stations when the network began operations on October 1, 1961.
CHUM Limited
CHUM Limited was a Canadian media company based in Toronto, Ontario in operation from 1945 to 2007. The company was founded in 1945 as York Broadcasters Limited when it launched CHUM-AM 1050 but was acquired by salesman Allan Waters in 1954. CHU ...
sold CJCH-TV along with ATV and the
Atlantic Satellite Network
CTV 2 Atlantic is a Canadian cable television channel serving Atlantic Canada owned by Bell Media, with its studios located in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Owned by the Bell Media subsidiary of BCE Inc., it operates as a ''de facto'' owned-and-operated ...
(ASN) to
Baton Broadcasting
Bell Media Inc. ( French: ) is a Canadian company formed by the amalgamation of several companies.
Establishment (2011–13)
On December 9, 2011, the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan announced the sale of its majority stake in Maple Leaf Sports ...
(CTV) on February 26, 1997 (with CRTC approval given on August 28, 1997), but kept
CJCH radio. CTVglobemedia's acquisition of CHUM Limited on June 22, 2007, brought CJCH-TV and CJCH radio back under common ownership.
Notable former on-air staff
*
Gord Martineau
Gord Martineau (born September 23, 1947) is a Canadian television journalist. In April 2007, he received a lifetime achievement award from the RTNDA for 40 years in broadcasting.
Martineau worked briefly in radio in Halifax, Nova Scotia and Mo ...
– brief stay before heading to
Citytv
Citytv is a Canadian television network owned by the Rogers Sports & Media subsidiary of Rogers Communications. The licence of the original Citytv station, granted the callsign of CITY-TV by the CRTC on November 25, 1971 to Cable Television Ass ...
flagship station
CITY-DT
CITY-DT (channel 57) is a television station in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, serving as the flagship station of the Citytv network. It is owned and operated by network parent Rogers Sports & Media alongside Omni Television outlets CFMT-DT (chan ...
in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
.
*
Steve Murphy – weeknight anchor (retired November 30, 2021)
Technical information
Subchannel
Analogue-to-digital conversion
The station ceased broadcasting in analogue on August 31, 2011 and began broadcasting in digital on the same date.
Transmitters
* The Bridgetown transmitter was among a long list of CTV
rebroadcasters nationwide to shut down on or before August 31, 2009, as part of a political dispute with Canadian authorities on paid
fee-for-carriage
Fee-for-carriage, value-for-signal, negotiation for value, or the "TV tax" all refer to a proposed Canadian television regulatory policy which would require cable and satellite television companies to compensate conventional, over-the-air televi ...
requirements for
cable television
Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with broa ...
operators. A subsequent change in ownership assigned full control of CTVglobemedia to
Bell Canada
Bell Canada (commonly referred to as Bell) is a Canadian telecommunications company headquartered at 1 Carrefour Alexander-Graham-Bell in the borough of Verdun in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is an ILEC (incumbent local exchange carrier) in t ...
; as of 2011, these transmitters remain in normal licensed broadcast operation.
On February 11, 2016, Bell Media applied for its regular license renewals, which included applications to delete a long list of transmitters, including CJCH-TV-2 and CJCH-TV-8. Bell Media's rationale for deleting these analog repeaters is below:
"We are electing to delete these analog transmitters from the main licence with which they are associated. These analog transmitters generate no incremental revenue, attract little to no viewership given the growth of BDU or DTH subscriptions and are costly to maintain, repair or replace. In addition, none of the highlighted transmitters offer any programming that differs from the main channels. The Commission has determined that broadcasters may elect to shut down transmitters but will lose certain regulatory privileges (distribution on the basic service, the ability to request simultaneous substitution) as noted in Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2015–24, Over-the-air transmission of television signals and local programming. We are fully aware of the loss of these regulatory privileges as a result of any transmitter shutdown."
At the same time, Bell Media applied to convert the licenses of CTV 2 Atlantic (formerly ASN) and
CTV 2 Alberta
CTV 2 Alberta is a Canadian English language entertainment and former educational television channel in the province of Alberta. Owned by the Bell Media subsidiary of BCE Inc., it operates as a ''de facto'' owned-and-operated station of its s ...
(formerly ACCESS) from satellite-to-cable undertakings into television stations without transmitters (similar to cable-only network affiliates in the United States), and to reduce the level of educational content on CTV 2 Alberta.
On July 30, 2019, Bell Media was granted permission to close down two additional transmitters as part of Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2019-268. The transmitters for CJCH-TV-3 and CJCH-TV-4 will be shut down by December 3, 2021.
References
External links
CTV Atlantic*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cjch-Dt
JCH-DT
JCH-DT
Mass media in Halifax, Nova Scotia
Television channels and stations established in 1961
1961 establishments in Nova Scotia