CJNT-TV
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| CJNT (CH) | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
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| Montreal, Quebec | ||
| Channel 62 / Cable 14 | ||
| Owner | CanWest Global | |
| Founded | 1997 | |
| Signal Radius | 5.5 kW | |
| CH | ||
| CHCH (Hamilton) |
CJNT (Montreal) |
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CJNT is a multicultural television station in Montreal, Quebec owned by CanWest Global. When not airing ethnic programming, the station acts as the Montreal member of CanWest's CH system, and in all cases is branded as "CH".
The station signed on in 1997, but had its roots in the 1980s as La Télévision Ethnique du Québec (TEQ), a public access ethnic cable channel. It had plans on moving over-the-air as early as the early 1990s, but was dogged by financial problems. Even after it signed on, its finances were in such a state that it never signed on earlier than noon. Much of the programming was below broadcast standards. Its commitment to ethnic groups was questioned, especially late at night when it would frequently show an infomercial for a psychic hotline — in English.
WIC bought CJNT in 1999. WIC owned Montreal's CTV affiliate, CFCF-TV, but was facing serious competition from Global, which had expanded into Quebec the same year CJNT signed on. WIC figured CJNT would give it much-needed leverage in Montreal. It planned to relaunch CJNT on the model of Canada's first multicultural station, CFMT in Toronto, with 60% ethnic content and 40% American content. Those plans never materialized, and became moot when CanWest Global bought WIC's television assets in 2000.
CanWest had CJNT file bankruptcy, and changed its conditions of licence to reduce the ethnic content to 60%. On September 8, 2001, Global relaunched the station with a mixture of ethnic, English- and French-language programming. The bulk of the English-language shows came from CH, so CJNT became, for all intents and purposes, the third CH station. Since there was no "H" in "CJNT" (unlike CHCH and CHEK), the CH in Montreal stood for "Canal Horizon." It changed its on-air name to "CH" in 2002.
CJNT airs the most local and Canadian shows in Canada (apart from CBC/Radio-Canada). However, all such shows on CJNT are ethnic or French-language programming — all English-language shows are American imports. For much of 2003 and 2004, CJNT fought a "commercial war" with Burlington, Vermont's Fox affiliate, WFFF. Due to Canada's "simultaneous substitution" rules, WFFF frequently shifted its schedule to keep its commercials from being blocked in Montreal.
[edit] External links
| Broadcast television stations in the Montreal market | ||
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CBFT 2 (SRC) - CBMT 6 (CBC) - CFTM 10 (TVA) - CFCF 12 (CTV) - CIVM 17 (TQC) - CFTU 29 (Savoir) - CFJP 35 (TQS) - CKMI 46 (Global) - CJNT 62 (CH/Multicultural) |
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| Local cable television channels | ||
| See also Broadcast television in the Champlain Valley, Ottawa, Trois-Rivières / Mauricie and Sherbrooke-Estrie markets | ||
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Corporate Directors: David Asper | Gail Asper | Leonard Asper | Lloyd Barber | Derek Burney | Ronald Daniels | David Drybrough | Paul Godfrey | Frank King | Lisa Pankratz |
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Radio Stations: CJZZ | CKBT |
