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CHBX-TV

CTV station in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

This article needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (January 2022)

CHBX-TV

Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario Canada
Channels	Analog: 2 (VHF) Digital: allocated 13 (VHF)
Branding	CTV Northern Ontario (general) CTV News Northern Ontario (newscasts)
Programming
Network	CTV Northern Ontario
Affiliations	CTV
Ownership
Owner	Bell Media Inc.
History
First air date	November 5, 1977 (46 years ago) (1977-11-05)
Former call signs	CKCY-TV (1977–1985)
Technical information
Licensing authority	CRTC
ERP	100 kW
HAAT	182.9 m (600 ft)
Transmitter coordinates	46°35′42″N 84°21′3″W / 46.59500°N 84.35083°W / 46.59500; -84.35083
Links
Website	CTV Northern Ontario

CHBX-TV (analogue channel 2) is a television stationinSault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada, part of the CTV Television Network. It is owned and operated by network parent Bell Media, and maintains studios and transmitter facilities on 6 Line East (just east of Peoples Road) in Sault Ste. Marie.

CHBX-TV is part of the CTV Northern Ontario sub-system. It essentially operates as a de facto semi-satelliteofCICI-TVinSudbury, running the same programming as that station at all times (except for certain commercials and regional news inserts during its newscasts).

The station's signal also reaches the eastern portion of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and can be seen over-the-air as far south as Gaylord, Michigan. It is carried on Charter SpectruminSt. Ignace on Channel 2; however, it is not seen on Spectrum in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.

History[edit]

The station began broadcasting on November 5, 1977, as CKCY-TV. It was owned by Huron Broadcasting along with CBC affiliate CJIC-TV, and was a sister station of an AM radio outlet with the same call letters. Prior to the sign-on of CKCY, CTV programming was available in Sault Ste. Marie on cable from Sudbury's CKSO-TV (now CICI).

It adopted the current CHBX call sign in 1985, when the radio station was sold to Mid-Canada Radio. In 1990, Huron sold CHBX and its CBC-affiliated twinstick CJIC-TV to Baton Broadcasting, which merged them into the MCTV system.^[1] Ironically, MCTV flagship CICI had been available on cable in Sault Ste. Marie for part of the 1980s; the two stations aired radically different programming at the time.

Baton became the sole corporate owner of CTV in 1997, and sold CJIC to the CBC in 2002.

Transmitters[edit]

CHBX also broadcasts on CHBX-TV-1 channel 7 in Wawa; this repeater was among a long list of CTV rebroadcasters nationwide to have shut down on or before August 31, 2009, as part of a political dispute with Canadian authorities on paid fee-for-carriage requirements for cable television operators.^[2] A subsequent change in ownership assigned full control of CTVglobemediatoBell Canada Enterprises; as of 2011, these transmitters remain in normal licensed broadcast operation.^[3]

On February 11, 2016, Bell Media applied for its regular license renewals, which included applications to delete a long list of transmitters, including CHBX-TV-1. Bell Media's rationale for deleting these analog repeaters is below:

"We are electing to delete these analog transmitters from the main licence with which they are associated. These analog transmitters generate no incremental revenue, attract little to no viewership given the growth of BDU or DTH subscriptions and are costly to maintain, repair or replace. In addition, none of the highlighted transmitters offer any programming that differs from the main channels. The Commission has determined that broadcasters may elect to shut down transmitters but will lose certain regulatory privileges (distribution on the basic service, the ability to request simultaneous substitution) as noted in Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2015–24, Over-the-air transmission of television signals and local programming. We are fully aware of the loss of these regulatory privileges as a result of any transmitter shutdown."

At the same time, Bell Media applied to convert the licenses of CTV 2 Atlantic (formerly ASN) and CTV 2 Alberta (formerly ACCESS) from satellite-to-cable undertakings into television stations without transmitters (similar to cable-only network affiliates in the United States), and to reduce the level of educational content on CTV2 Alberta.^[4][5]

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• CTV Northern Ontario
• CHBX-TV at The History of Canadian Broadcasting by the Canadian Communications Foundation
• CHBX-TV in the REC Canadian station database