CITS-DT

CITS-DT

City of license	Hamilton, Ontario
Branding	CTS
Slogan	Television You Can Believe In
Channels	Digital: 36 (UHF) Virtual: 36.1 (PSIP)
Translators	see below
Affiliations	CTS
Owner	Crossroads Christian Communications (Crossroads Television System)
First air date	September 30, 1998
Call letters' meaning	Crossroads Independent Televison System
Former callsigns	CITS-TV (1998-2011)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 36 (UHF, 1998-2011) Digital: 35 (UHF, 2008-2011)
Former affiliations	Independent (1998-2007)
Transmitter power	20 kW
Height	335.0 m
Transmitter coordinates	43°12′27″N 79°46′31″W
Website	CTS Ontario

CITS-DT is a Canadian English language religious broadcasting television station based in Ontario. It is licensed to the city of Hamilton, although its studios are located in Burlington. CITS uses the on-air brand of CTS (Crossroads Television System). CTS transmits on Channel 36 from the CHCH-DT tower at 481 First Road West in Stoney Creek.

Programming

CTS airs programming for family viewing, mostly based on Christian values, including dramas, comedies, mini-series, talk shows and more, although CTS also features shows on political commentary and other religions, including Judaism, Islam, and Sikhism. It is administered by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) Religious Broadcast Regulations and follows a policy of not airing shows containing "coarse language, gratuitous violence or explicit sexual scenes."

History

Crossroads Centre located in Burlington, home of CTS studios

On December 4, 1996, the CRTC denied Crossroads Christian Communications a licence for a religious television station in Burlington, Ontario. Two years later on April 2, 1998, they were successful in obtaining a licence for Hamilton, Ontario, beating out Trinity Television Inc. for the licence. On September 30 of that year CTS-TV was launched under its current name. It was supposed to be launched on September 14, but it was pushed back to allow cable companies to make changes to some of their channel designations.

Throughout the years, CITS-TV expanded its coverage across southern Ontario by adding transmitters in London and Ottawa and by securing cable carriage on various cable companies across Ontario and Canada and on satellite.

CITS-TV began broadcasting a digital signal on UHF Channel 35 in Hamilton as of January 2008.

Transmitters

Station	City of licence	Channel	ERP	HAAT	Transmitter Coordinates
CITS-DT-1	Ottawa	42 (UHF) Virtual: 32.1 (PSIP)	37 kW	203.0 m	45°13′2″N 75°33′49″W
CITS-DT-2	London	14 (UHF) Virtual: 14.1 (PSIP)	4 kW	266.0 m	42°57′16″N 81°21′17″W

Digital television and high definition

After the analog television shutdown and digital conversion, which took place on August 31, 2011, the digital transmission plan was as follows:

• CITS-DT in Hamilton moved its digital signal from its current pre-transition channel number, 35, to its post-transition and former analog channel number, 36.

• CITS-DT-1 in Ottawa kept its digital signal on channel 42; however, through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display CITS-DT-1's virtual channel as 32.1.

• CITS-DT-2 in London kept its digital signal on channel 14, with a PSIP of 14.1.

External links

• CTS Ontario
• Canadian Communications Foundation - CITS-TV History
• Query the REC's Canadian station database for CITS-TV
• Query TV Fool's coverage map for CITS