CBMT - Why Is It On In Michigan?

[OhioMediaWatch]

Montreal's CBMT enjoys some unusual cable carriage in the U.S.

It appears on quite a few Charter (I think) Cable systems in the Flint/Saginaw/Bay City MI area, for example. The closest CBC station would certainly be CBET/9 Windsor, but the systems carry CBMT instead, nowhere near Montreal.

Why? Is this a satellite availability/backhaul thing?

 

[azumanga]

Mainly because in the Tri-Cities, CBET is not easily-received, especially as WWTV in Cadillac, until the US switchover, also broadcasted on channel 9. In the UP, many Charter systems offer CBMT, as they are close enough to the border, but too far from the nearest CBC station (which would be CKPR-TV in Thunder Bay and a CBLT repeater in Sault Ste. Marie.)

I would imagine that Michigan systems outside Metro Detroit that carry CBET now will either switch to CBMT or drop the channel entirely (unless the CBC eventually offers CBET on satellite) after August, when CBET is forced to switch to digital, broadcasting on channel 9 at 26kw and 180m HAAT.

 

[mjlarochelle]

CBMT was the main CBC station offered through CANCOM, so it was beamed to several cable systems in the United States in order to receive a CBC station.

 

[OhioMediaWatch]

I would imagine that Michigan systems outside Metro Detroit that carry CBET now will either switch to CBMT or drop the channel entirely (unless the CBC eventually offers CBET on satellite) after August, when CBET is forced to switch to digital, broadcasting on channel 9 at 26kw and 180m HAAT.

I wonder what systems like Toledo's Buckeye Cablevision will do. I'd miss having CBET on those systems (Buckeye in Toledo and in Sandusky), but I don't know how they import 9 - and if the digital signal would be receiveable even with a big cable TV antenna in Toledo.

CBMT was the main CBC station offered through CANCOM, so it was beamed to several cable systems in the United States in order to receive a CBC station.

That might be an explanation. But why CBMT as opposed to, say, CBLT?

 

[plusone23]

It was uplinked on the Anik satellites (along with CBC North) and available unscrambled until at least 10 years ago. The reason for this was so that the CBC could provide a signal to CBMT transmitters in the Northern regions of Quebec. As CBMT was unscrambled on C-Band, some cable systems (the previously mentioned Michigan ones as well ones in Maine and the Caribbean) picked it up. I'm not sure how they are receiving

Oddly enough until recently, CBMT was carried on 3 translators in Northern Manitoba. The CBC has since switched them to CBWT in Winnipeg.

 

[azumanga]

It was uplinked on the Anik satellites (along with CBC North) and available unscrambled until at least 10 years ago.

Actually, CBC relocated its analog feeds to apparently a proprietary digital feed, requiring those who still want to receive it to buy a special receiver from them.

The reason for this was so that the CBC could provide a signal to CBMT transmitters in the Northern regions of Quebec. As CBMT was unscrambled on C-Band, some cable systems (the previously mentioned Michigan ones as well ones in Maine and the Caribbean) picked it up. I'm not sure how they are receiving

Apparently by using the aforementioned receiver provided to them by the CBC or a third party.

Oddly enough until recently, CBMT was carried on 3 translators in Northern Manitoba. The CBC has since switched them to CBWT in Winnipeg.

Back when the CBC still closed down nights, CBMT's sign-off and sign-off, which listed the station's translators, included the three MB translators, apparently as, at the time, CBWT was not available via satellite and the population did not justify resorting to CBC North's feeds.

 

[Joseph_Gallant]

I could understand if CBMT is available on Michigan cable systems where CBET (or other CBC affiliates in Ontario) is available over-the-air (and on cable as a "local signal").

CBMT does carry Montreal Canadiens' games during hockey season, while CBET usually carries the Toronto Maple Leafs.

 

[azumanga]

I could understand if CBMT is available on Michigan cable systems where CBET (or other CBC affiliates in Ontario) is available over-the-air (and on cable as a "local signal").

CBMT does carry Montreal Canadiens' games during hockey season, while CBET usually carries the Toronto Maple Leafs.

In some cases, CBET also carry Detroit Red Wings games if they involve a Canadian team, especially in situations where a game airs only on US cable.

 

[FreddyE1977]

It was uplinked on the Anik satellites (along with CBC North) and available unscrambled until at least 10 years ago. The reason for this was so that the CBC could provide a signal to CBMT transmitters in the Northern regions of Quebec. As CBMT was unscrambled on C-Band, some cable systems (the previously mentioned Michigan ones as well ones in Maine and the Caribbean) picked it up. I'm not sure how they are receiving

Oddly enough until recently, CBMT was carried on 3 translators in Northern Manitoba. The CBC has since switched them to CBWT in Winnipeg.

I recall watching this station frequently on an old C-band dish near Port Huron, circa 1990.

 

[Fenway1912]

American Cablevision in Cambridge, MA carried CBMT and that continued thru the Media One and AT&T Broadband days as did CKSH (SRC) Sherbrooke. When Comcast shutdown the Arlington, MA headend the signal vanished (2001)