CBMT

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CBMT is the CBC's television station in Montreal, Quebec. Programming on CBMT is seen on a network of more than 50 rebroadcasters throughout Quebec and in three communities in northern Manitoba: Brochet, Poplar River, and Shamattawa.

CBMT also has substantial viewership in the United States, mostly from Maine to northeastern New York. It is also seen in Michigan — CBMT is the CBC station of choice for Charter systems in (at least) Bay City, Midland, Mount Pleasant, Alpena and Marquette.

CBMT was Montreal's second television station; previously English and French-language programs had shared time on CBFT, channel 2, which was both Montreal's and Canada's first television station. By the end of 1953, Canada had about a dozen television stations either licensed or under construction, and American competition was about to arrive in Montreal with the construction of WCAX-TV (channel 3 in Burlington, Vermont, transmitting from the top of Mount Mansfield) and WIRI-TV (now WPTZ, channel 5 in Plattsburgh, New York). The CBC felt it imperative to cease time-sharing English and French, so CBMT was included in the network's expansion plans for television from a very early date.

CBMT has used a number of on-air brands over the years. During the 1960s it was known as "Channel 6", and for awhile later on it was known as "Montreal 6". It has also been known as "CBC 6" from time to time.

Since 1997, CBMT has been the only CBC station in Quebec. Previously, Quebec City had its own CBC affiliate, CKMI. However, in 1997, CKMI switched its affiliation to Global. CBMT set up a full-power rebroadcaster, CBVE, on CKMI's old channel location, channel 5, while CKMI moved to channel 20.

CBMT transmits from the Mount Royal candelabra tower, in Mount Royal Park, overlooking the city of Montreal. As a result, channel 6 experiences severe multipath interference in parts of the city and South Shore. On cable, CBMT is seen on Videotron channel 13 in the Montreal area, Charter Plattsburgh channel 6 and Adelphia Burlington channel 19; it is also seen on direct broadcast satellite throughout Canada.

It was also previously seen unscrambled on C-Band satellite but this has since ended, when it switched to a proprietary digital satellite signal. When the signal was unscrambled on C-Band, many Americans with the dishes tuned into CBMT for a variety of news, entertainment and sports — particularly CBC's Olympic broadcasts, which gave a different perspective than NBC's American broadcasts. The signal is still available, but requires the purchase of a $3000 receiver.

CBMT's studios are located at Maison Radio-Canada along with the CBC's other Montreal stations.

Logos

See also

• List of Quebec media
• List of CBC television stations

External links

• [CBC Montreal]
• [CBMT at TV Hat]