CBC Television Local Newscasts - Overview

Overview

Currently, most CBC O&Os produce three 30-minute local newscasts during the early evening on weeknights, which are titled accordingly. For example, CBMT-DT's newscasts are called CBC News: Montreal at 5, CBC News: Montreal at 5:30 and CBC News: Montreal at 6. In addition, a ten-minute news summary is aired at 10:55 p.m. (immediately following the flagship network newscast The National), titled CBC News: Late Night.

This schedule varies for some stations depending on available resources or local considerations. CBET-DT Windsor airs an hour-long evening newscast at 6:00 p.m. instead of at 5:00 p.m. CBNT-DT St. John's airs CBC News: Here & Now - Early Edition at 5:30 p.m. Newfoundland Time followed by the hour-long CBC News: Here & Now at 6:00 NT.

Local evening newscasts are produced in all three Maritime provinces, but a single late night newscast for the region is produced at CBHT-DT Halifax. CBHT also produces the city-focused CBC News: Halifax at 5:30, book-ended by provincial newscasts at 5:00 and 6:00. Similarly, CBAT-DT in New Brunswick briefly produced the regional newscast CBC News: Maritimes at 5:30, which also aired on Prince Edward Island's CBCT-DT; both stations now produce local newscasts in that time slot.

Due to unique circumstances and needs in Northern Canada, two local television newscasts are aired in that region. The hour-long CBC News: Northbeat (5:30 CT / 6:30 ET) features local news in English and several Aboriginal languages (translated with English subtitles). This is preceded by a 30-minute newscast in Inuktitut, CBC News: Igalaaq (5:00 CT / 6:00 ET). CBC North does not produce a late night news summary.

Until 2011, CBUT-DT Vancouver was the only CBC O&O to produce weekend newscasts, with half-hour programs on Saturday nights at 10:30 p.m. (after Hockey Night in Canada) and Sundays at 11:00 p.m. On October 15, 2011, CBLT would add a half-hour 6 p.m. newscast on Saturdays, and a ten-minute news bulletin on Sundays at 10:55 p.m.; CBRT-DT Calgary would also join CBUT and CBLT in carrying weekend local news programming sometime in the fall of 2011, and CBNT-DT St. John's is expected to launch a local weekend newscast in the spring of 2012, as part of a five-year strategy by the CBC to improve its services to six million Canadian homes unserved or underserved by CBC's radio, television and internet services.