CBAT-DT

CBAT-DT

New Brunswick
City of license	Fredericton, New Brunswick
Branding	CBC Television
Slogan	Canada Lives Here
Channels	Digital: 31 (UHF) Virtual: 4.1 (PSIP)
Translators	see below
Affiliations	CBC
Owner	Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
First air date	March 22, 1954
Call letters' meaning	Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Atlantic Television
Sister station(s)	CBA-FM, CBAM-FM, CBD-FM, CBZ-FM, CBZF-FM
Former callsigns	CHSJ-TV (1954-1994)
Transmitter power	7.36 kW
Height	102.8 m
Transmitter coordinates	45°28′39″N 66°13′59″W
Website	CBC New Brunswick

CBAT-TV is the CBC's television station in New Brunswick. The station's main studios are located in Fredericton. It broadcasts terrestrially on VHF channel 4 from its main transmitter on Mount Champlain near Saint John, its city of licence until 2011, and serves the province via a network of relay transmitters. The station has broadcast CBC programming for its entire existence.

Despite there being no radio station using the "CBAT" call sign, and the CBC's preference for television call signs without the "-TV" suffix, the Fredericton station is listed in Industry Canada's database as "CBAT-TV", not "CBAT", for unknown reasons.

History

The station first went on the air on March 22, 1954 as CHSJ-TV, owned by the New Brunswick Broadcasting Company and located in Saint John. Its network of rebroadcasters was built up between 1961 and 1978.

Originally, CHSJ was the CBC affiliate for southern New Brunswick while CKCW-TV in Moncton served the northern portion. However, in 1969, CKCW switched to CTV and signed on a full-time satellite in Saint John, CKLT-TV. Since CHSJ needed time to build rebroadcasters in the southern part of the province, three of CKCW's rebroadcasters continued to air some CBC programming until 1976.

Over the years, CHSJ had a tendency to pre-empt large blocks of network programming, forcing an entire province to miss several of CBC's most well-known shows. This was the subject of complaints to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), which in 1988 mandated that CHSJ clear the minimum block of CBC programming.

Although CBC's Fredericton and Moncton studios had produced programming for CHSJ since as early as the 1970s, New Brunswick remained the last province without a CBC owned-and-operated television station (O&O) until 1994, when CBC bought CHSJ-TV, recalled it as CBAT-TV, and relocated its studios to Fredericton.

Programming

The station's flagship 6:00 p.m. newscast has been broadcast from Fredericton since the 1980s, first as the CBC News for New Brunswick, then as NB Now. This arrangement continued until 2000, when the national restructuring of CBC local news led to the creation of Canada Now, which consisted of a half-hour national and international news segment produced from Vancouver airing at 6pm, and a locally-produced half-hour segment airing at 6:30pm. Following the cancellation of Canada Now in 2007, the station's local news reverted to a full-hour format as CBC News: New Brunswick at Six. On August 31, 2009, CBC New Brunswick expanded the supper-time newscast from 60 to 90 minutes and pushed it back an hour (from 5:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.) in compliance with CBC News' mandate for more local news coverage. The 5:30 p.m. portion was titled CBC News: Maritimes at 5:30, and was also seen on Prince Edward Island on CBCT. In January 2010, CBC News: Maritimes at 5:30 was cancelled, replaced with an extra half hour of the provincial newscasts on CBAT and CBCT.

CBAT-TV is also the only CBC owned and operated television station to simulcast a local CBC Radio One station's morning program. CBAT-TV's CBC News: New Brunswick First is a simulcast of CBZF-FM's Information Morning. It airs Monday to Friday from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m.

The current local anchor on CBAT is Harry Forestell. Past anchors have included Andy Wilson, Todd Battis, Carole MacNeil, Geoff Britt, Anita Sharma, Terry Seguin and Genevieve Tomney. Weathercaster Rose Arseneault was popular with viewers until she lost her job due to budget cutbacks in 2000. The weather forecast is now done by meteorologist Peter Coade (a CTV Atlantic alum), via satellite from CBC Halifax.

In 2003 CBAT made a controversial programming decision to pre-empt CBC's broadcast of Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals in order to carry live returns from the provincial election.

Coverage

The station is also carried on cable across the border in Maine, particularly in the cities of Presque Isle, Bangor and Houlton, as well as in Washington County.

Transmitters

Station	City of licence	Channel	ERP	HAAT	Transmitter Coordinates	Notes
CBAT-TV	Saint John	4 (VHF)	22 kW	423.6 m	45°28′39″N 66°13′59″W	formerly the primary station
CBAT-TV-1	Bon Accord	6 (VHF)	100 kW	346.5 m	46°38′57″N 67°35′33″W	near Perth-Andover
CBAT-TV-2	Moncton	7 (VHF)	325 kW	343.7 m	45°48′32″N 64°44′56″W	formerly CHMT-TV
CBAT-TV-3	Miramichi	6 (VHF)	12.76 kW	106.1 m	47°3′32″N 65°34′35″W	formerly CHCN-TV, relaying CHMT-TV
CBAT-TV-4	Campbellton	4 (VHF)	25.12 kW	412.7 m	48°8′7″N 66°6′57″W	formerly CHCD-TV, relaying CHMT-TV
CBAT-TV-5	Doaktown	8 (VHF)	0.008 kW	NA	46°34′19″N 66°7′52″W
CBAT-TV-6	Boiestown	13 (VHF)	0.009 kW	NA	46°27′12″N 66°27′33″W

Digital television

Digital Channel	Virtual Channel	Programming
31	4.1	main CBAT programming / CBC

As of March 2011, CBAT-DT has not been approved by the CRTC for a digital television transmitter. The existing analog transmitter covers Fredericton and Saint John. On March 23, 2011, the CRTC denied an application by the CBC to install a digital transmitter that would have provided coverage to Fredericton, but not Saint John. Not providing coverage to Saint John would have resulted in a nearly 70% decrease in population that would be able to received CBC's signal as compared to the analog transmitter. Had this application been approved, Saint John would have lost access to over-the-air signal to CBAT as of the transition deadline of August 31, 2011. The CBC stated that this proposed decrease in coverage is due to financial reasons and did not commit to restoring this coverage at a future date.

During the analogue shutdown and digital conversion on August 31, 2011, CBAT-DT is required to begin broadcasting on its post-transition channel number, 44; however should the digital station sign on before the transition date, the station will broadcast on channel 62. With the use of PSIP, digital receivers will list CBAT-DT's virtual channel number as 4.1.

CBC had decided that none of its rebroadcasters will transition to digital. On August 16, 2011, the CRTC granted the CBC permission to continue operating 22 repeaters in mandatory markets, including CBAT-TV-2 in Moncton, in analogue until August 31, 2012, in which by then they must either convert to digital or close down. In addition, CBAT-TV's main analogue transmitter will also remain in operation, serving Saint John. This is pending the corporation's license renewal process, which will include an evaluation of its transition plans.

External links

• CBC New Brunswick
• Canadian Communications Foundation - CBAT-TV History
• Query the REC's Canadian station database for CBAT-TV
• Query TV Fool's coverage map for CBAT