CBHT-DT (channel 3) is a CBC Television station in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The station's studios are located on Chebucto Road in Halifax, and its transmitter is located on Washmill Lake Drive (near Bently Drive) on the city's west side.

CBHT-DT serves as CBC's Atlantic Time Zone flagship station. The station broadcasts the network's schedule in local time, except during live events. CBHT also became Cape Breton Island's CBC station, when CBIT-TV was closed in 2012 as part of the CBC's digital transition.

History

CBHT started broadcasting on December 20, 1954, using temporary studios at College Street School. In October 1956, CBHT moved into a brand-new facility on Bell Road. It entered CBC's microwave network in 1958, and began colour programming in 1966.

In November 2014, CBHT moved to a new facility on Chebucto Road in Halifax, located inside a former Hudson's Bay department store, joined by CBC's Halifax radio stations, which had previously been located in the CBC Radio Building. Originally, plans called for the new facility to completely replace the larger Bell Road studios, which were to close at the end of the 2014–15 television season. Despite this, Studio 1 at Bell Road remained in operation for some time, accommodating productions which were too complex to be produced at Chebucto Road, particularly This Hour Has 22 Minutes. The Bell Road Studio building was finally demolished in November 2020 as part of the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre redevelopment project.

CBIT-TV

On September 26, 1972, CBHT began broadcast operations for a branch station in Sydney, covering all of Cape Breton Island, and parts of eastern Nova Scotia, called CBIT-TV; its call sign meant "Cape Breton Island Television". CBIT broadcast on terrestrial channel 5 and local cable channel 3. CBIT had its own newscast – Cape Breton Report – until December 1990. The CBC suffered major cutbacks at the time in terms of staff and funding that eliminated local suppertime news broadcasts in small markets across the country, turning CBIT into just a news bureau feeding the regional production hub in Halifax. Cape Breton Report was cancelled and replaced with CBHT's First Edition. Since then, CBIT was CBHT's full-time repeater station in the Cape Breton market. CBIT was shut down on July 31, 2012 — along with the rest of CBHT's repeaters — resulting in CBC Television abandoning over-the-air service in those Cape Breton and mainland Nova Scotia markets. None of CBC or Radio-Canada's television rebroadcasters were converted to digital.

Post-shutdown coverage in Newfoundland and Labrador

As a result of the closedown of the repeater network, some cable systems in Newfoundland and Labrador owned by Eastlink replaced the province's regional CBC outlet, CBNT-DT, with CBHT, due to what Eastlink claimed were "technical issues" involving CBNT.

Notes

References

  • Coverage Map
  • CBC Halifax Digital
  • CBC Halifax's Digital Transition