CBC Television - Stations

Stations

Most CBC television stations, including those in the major cities, are owned and operated by the CBC itself. CBC O&O stations deviate very little from the main network schedule, although there are some regional differences from time to time. For on-air identification, most CBC stations use the CBC brand rather than their call letters, not identifying themselves specifically until sign-on or sign-off (though some, like Toronto's CBLT, don't ID themselves at all). All CBC O&O stations have a standard call-letter naming convention, in that the first two letters are "CB" and the last letter is "T". Only the third letter varies from market to market; however, that letter is typically the same as the third letter of the CBC Radio One and CBC Radio 2 stations in the same market. An exception to this rule are the CBC North stations in Yellowknife, Whitehorse and Iqaluit, whose call signs begin with "CF" due to their historic association with the CBC's Frontier Coverage Package prior to the advent of microwave and satellite broadcasting.

Some stations that broadcast from smaller cities are private affiliates of the CBC, that is, stations which are owned by commercial broadcasters but air a predominantly CBC schedule. Such stations generally follow the CBC schedule, although they may opt out of some CBC programming in order to air locally-produced programs, syndicated series or programs purchased from other broadcasters, such as A, which do not have a broadcast outlet in the same market. In these cases, the CBC programming being displaced may be broadcast at a different time than the network, or may not be broadcast on the station at all. Most private affiliates generally opt out of CBC's afternoon schedule and Thursday night arts programming. Private affiliates carry the 10 p.m. broadcast of The National as a core part of the CBC schedule, but generally omitted the 11 p.m. repeat (which is no longer broadcast). Most private affiliates produce their own local newscasts for a duration of 35 minutes. Some of the private affiliates have begun adding CBC's overnight programming to their schedules since the network went to 24-hour broadcasting.

Private CBC affiliates are not as common as they were in the past, as many such stations have been purchased either by the CBC itself or by Canwest Global or CHUM Limited, respectively becoming E! or A-Channel (now CTV Two) stations. One private CBC affiliate, CHBC-TV Kelowna, joined E! (then known as CH) on February 27, 2006. When a private CBC affiliate reaffiliates with another network, the CBC has normally added a retransmitter of its nearest O&O station to ensure that CBC service is continued. However, due to an agreement between CHBC and CFJC-TV in Kamloops, CFJC also disaffiliated from the CBC on February 27, 2006, but no retransmitters were installed in the licence area. Former private CBC affiliates CKPG-TV Prince George and CHAT-TV Medicine Hat disaffiliated on August 31, 2008 and joined E!, but the CBC announced it will not add new retransmitters to these areas. Incidentally, CFJC, CKPG and CHAT are all owned by The Jim Pattison Group as an independent media group. With the closure of E! and other changes in the media landscape, several former CBC affiliates have since joined Citytv or Global, or closed altogether.

According to filings to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) by Thunder Bay Electronics (owner of CBC's Thunder Bay affiliate CKPR-DT) and Astral Media (owner of CBC affiliates CFTK-TV in Terrace and CJDC-TV in Dawson Creek), the CBC informed them that it will not extend its association with any of its private affiliates beyond August 31, 2011. Incidentally, that is also the date for analogue shutoff in Canada. Given recent practice and the CBC's decision not to convert any re-transmitters to digital, even in markets with populations in the hundreds in thousands, it is not expected that the CBC will open new transmitters to replace its affiliates, and indeed may pare back its existing transmitter network. However, in March 2011 CKPR announced they had come to a programming agreement with the CBC, in which CKPR will continue to provide CBC programming in Thunder Bay for a period of five years. On March 16, 2012, Astral Media announced the sale of its assets to Bell Media, owners of CTV and CTV Two, for $3.38 billion with CFTK and CJDC included in the acquisition. Whether the stations will remain CBC affiliates or become owned-and-operated stations of CTV or CTV Two following the completion of the merger is undetermined.

CBC television stations in Nunavut, the Northwest Territories and Yukon, branded as CBC North, tailor their programming mostly to the local native population, and broadcast in many native languages such as Inuktitut, Gwichʼin, and Dene.