Aroostook Co, ME (July 17, 1987)

[Bluenoser]

PARAGON CABLE
* Caribou, Fort Fairfield, Limestone, Loring AFB, Presque Isle
2 WLBZ-NBC Bangor
3 CNN
4 WAGM-CBS/NBC/ABC Presque Isle
5 CHSJ-CBC Saint John
6 Nickelodeon
7 WVII-ABC Bangor
8 WTBS Atlanta
9 Local Origination
11 CBN
13 WMEM-PBS Presque Isle
14 The Movie Channel
15 Showtime
17 HBO
18 Disney Channel
21 ESPN
22 Lifetime
23 TLC
24 Program Guide
25 Weather Channel
26 USA Network
27 WGN Chicago
28 WOR New York
29 Nickelodeon
30 A&E
31 CNN Headline News
32 C-SPAN
33 TNN
34 MTV

HOULTON CABLE TV
* Houlton/Hodgdon
WMEM was likely also carried, but the converter guide didn't list channel number
2 WLBZ-NBC Bangor
3 HBO
4 CHSJ-CBC Saint John/CBN
5 WABI-CBS Bangor
7 WVII-ABC Bangor
8 WAGM-CBS/NBC/ABC Presque Isle
12 Nickelodeon
13 WTBS Atlanta
17 TNN
18 WOR New York
20 ESPN
21 WGN Chicago
22 CNN
23 MTV

COUNTY CABLEVISION
*Madawaska, Frenchville
2 WLBZ-NBC Bangor
3 WTBS Atlanta
4 CHSJ-CBC Saint John
5 HBO
7 CKRT-SRC Riviere-du-Loup
8 WAGM-CBS/NBC/ABC Presque Isle
9 WVII-ABC Bangor
10 WMEM-PBS Presque Isle
11 CIMT-TVA/Pathonic Riviere-du-Loup
12 CBAFT-SRC Moncton
20 Community Guide/HSN
21 Disney Channel
23 USA Network
24 Lifetime
25 MTV
26 TNN
27 CNN
28 ESPN
29 Nickelodeon
30 WGN Chicago

*Fort Kent
2 WMEM-PBS Presque Isle
3 WTBS Atlanta
4 CKRT-SRC Riviere-du-Loup
5 HBO
6 WABI-CBS Bangor
7 WVII-ABC Bangor
8 WAGM-CBS/NBC/ABC Presque Isle
9 WLBZ-NBC Bangor
12 CBAFT-SRC Moncton
13 CIMT-TVA/Pathonic Riviere-du-Loup

MAINE CABLE CO.
*Island Falls (also serving Patten in Penobscot County)
2 WLBZ-NBC Bangor
4 ESPN
5 WABI-CBS Bangor
6 HBO
7 WVII-ABC Bangor
8 WTBS Atlanta
9 CBN
10 WMEM-PBS Presque Isle
11 CNN
12 USA Network
13 CHSJ-CBC Saint John

 

[Bluenoser]

A quick explanation about the Pathonic affiliation for CIMT...TVA in those days had two specific program feeds:

RESEAU PATHONIC
CFCM Quebec City (main station)
CHLT Shebrooke (O&O)
CHEM Trois-Rivieres (O&O)
CFER Rimouski (O&O; Pathonic's origins can be traced to the Tele-Capitale network in the late 70s, consisting of CFCM, CFER, and CIMT; CHLT and CHEM had their own network prior to joining Pathonic)
CHAU Carleton (affiliate)
CIMT Riviere-du-Loup (affiliate, partially owned by Pathonic)

TELE-METROPOLE (they also had a 1/3 stake in Reseau Pathonic as well!)
CFTM Montreal (main station; in the 60s, selected CFTM programming would air on some SRC affiliates)
CJPM Chicoutimi (affiliate; the nucleus of what would become TVA dates to 1963 when CJPM signed a program-supply agreement with CFTM, with CFCM joining the following year after SRC launched CBVT)
CHOT Hull (affiliate)
CFEM Rouyn-Noranda (affiliate)

The two feeds would merge when Tele-Metropole bought Pathonic in 1990.

 

[Gregg.]

I remember that CHLT Sherbrooke Tele 7 had a strong signal into Montreal. So it acted as an alternate French language station to Montreal's Canal 10 CFTM, the main independent French language TV station. Prime time shows and national news were simulcast. But some daytime and weekend shows were different, along with late night movies.

Until 1975, French speaking TV viewers had only a few choices in the second largest French speaking city in the world. Radio-Canada (the CBC's French network) and CFTM. But if you had a good antenna, you could pull in CHLT-TV from Sherbrooke, with some alternate programs to CFTM.

Radio-Quebec came on the air in 1975, but with non-commercial programming, like a French language PBS (now Tele-Quebec).

And Television Quatre-Saisons (now Noovo) came on in 1986, with a more popular commercial schedule. It was co-owned with Montreal's CTV station, CFCF-TV Channel 12.

But I don't think Radio-Quebec or TQS ever got picked up over the border on American cable providers. If an American community had a sizable number of French speakers, it would get Radio-Canada and TVA, along with the English CBC and CTV. That seemed to be the line up in Burlington and Northern Vermont.

 

[Bluenoser]

Somehow deleted the source name when I posted...info sourced from Bangor Daily News.