Editing CFTM-DT

{{Short description|Television station in Montreal}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox television station
| callsign = CFTM-DT
| logo = TVA logo 2020.svg
| logo_size = 200px
| branding = {{ubl|TVA (general)|{{lang|fr|[[TVA Nouvelles]]}} (newscasts)}}
| digital = 11 ([[VHF]])
| virtual = 10
| affiliations = [[TVA (Canadian TV network)|TVA]]
| airdate = {{start date and age|1961|2|19|p=y}}
| location = [[Montreal]], Quebec
| country = Canada
| callsign_meaning = {{lang|fr|italic=no|Canal Francophone Télé-Métropole}}
| owner = [[Groupe TVA Inc.]]
| former_affiliations = [[Independent station|Independent]] (1961–1971)
| erp = 11 [[kW]]
| haat = {{convert|292|m|ft|0|abbr=on}}
| coordinates = {{Coord|45|30|20|N|73|35|30|W|type:landmark}}
| licensing_authority = [[CRTC]]
| website = {{URL|https://www.qub.ca/tvaplus/tva|TVA}}
}}

'''CFTM-DT''' (channel 10) is a [[television station]] in [[Montreal]], Quebec, Canada, serving as the [[Flagship (broadcasting)|flagship]] of the [[Canadian French|French-language]] network [[TVA (Canadian TV network)|TVA]]. Owned by [[Groupe TVA]], the station has studios in the ''[[Journal de Montréal]]'' building on Rue Frontenac in the [[Ville-Marie, Montreal|Ville-Marie]] borough of Montreal, and its transmitter is located on Voie Camillien-Houde (near [[Mount Royal]]).

==History==
[[Image:CFTM-TV 1969 logo.jpg|thumb|left|100px|CFTM-TV's third logo used from 1969 until 1978, as "CFTM 10".]]
It opened on February 19, 1961, a few weeks after [[CFCF-TV]] went on the air for the first time. It was owned by Joseph Alexandre de Sève and his company, {{lang|fr|italic=no|Télé-Métropole}}. At first it relied primarily on [[kinescope]]s from [[RTL Group|RTL]], and also from [[Télé Monte Carlo]], but it wasn't long before it settled into a more peculiar and local form. On April 14, 1963, CFTM started sharing programs with [[CJPM-TV]] in [[Chicoutimi]] (now [[Saguenay, Quebec|Saguenay]]) in the [[Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean]] region on the day the latter station signed on. They were joined by [[CFCM-TV]] in [[Quebec City]] in 1964. This was the informal beginning of TVA, though the network wasn't officially established until September 12, 1971. When de Sève died in 1968, the city government renamed the street in front of CFTM's studios {{lang|fr|rue Alexandre de Sève}} in his honour.

CFTM has always been by far the largest station in the TVA network. As such, it dominated the network long before Télé-Métropole bought majority control of TVA in 1990. At one point, CFTM produced as much as 90 percent of TVA's programming. Even today, TVA's network feed is little more than a retransmission of CFTM. Whenever CFTM has to interrupt its programming for breaking news or weather alerts in Montreal, the entire network usually gets interrupted as well.

CFTM-TV was essentially available on satellite beginning November 1, 1981, as "TCTV", carried via [[Cancom]] by cable television operators across Canada, though not in most major cities. TCTV carried mainly the same programs as CFTM, but with some local news and programming from other TVA affiliates.

The TCTV service ended when the [[Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission]] (CRTC) approved TVA for a national network license in 1998. Since May 1, 1999, all Canadian cable companies have been required to carry a TVA station. CFTM is the affiliate carried in most markets outside of Quebec—excepting some markets in [[Northern Ontario]], [[Eastern Ontario]] and [[New Brunswick]], which have long carried the stations in adjacent markets. The station also provides a time-shifted feed for cable companies in western Canada, delayed three hours after the original broadcast, matching up with [[Pacific Time]].

In May 2025, CFTM moved to the ''[[Journal de Montreal]]'' building on Rue Frontenac, which it shares with [[Qub Radio]] and the TVA network.<ref>{{Cite web |date=May 4, 2025 |title=Une page se tourne: TVA emménage dans ses nouveaux locaux et quitte le mythique 1600, boulevard de Maisonneuve |url=https://www.tvanouvelles.ca/2025/05/04/une-page-se-tourne-tva-emmenage-dans-ses-nouveaux-locaux-et-quitte-le-mythique-1600-boulevard-de-maisonneuve |language=fr |access-date=May 5, 2025 |website=TVA Nouvelles}}</ref>

== Digital television and high definition==
CFTM received CRTC approval in March 2006 for its request to broadcast digitally on UHF channel 59<ref>[http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2006/db2006-78.htm Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2006–78, 15 March 2006, re: TVA Group Inc, Montréal, Québec]</ref> and was granted a requested extension to August 31, 2009, to launch this service but the launch never occurred.<ref>[http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2008/pb2008-52.htm Broadcasting Public Notice 2008-0050-0 17 March 2008, approval of extension to 31 August 2009 to commence operation of transitional digital television at CFTM-TV Montréal]</ref> On July 6, 2009, as part of a license renewal hearing, TVA was granted a second extension in which to launch CFTM-DT.

During the analogue television shutdown and digital conversion, which took place on August 31, 2011,<ref name="Analog to Digital">{{cite web|url=http://www.ic.gc.ca/epic/site/oca-bc.nsf/en/ca02336e.html|title=Canada's Office of Consumer Affairs - What You Need to Know About the Analog-to-Digital Television Transition in Canada|accessdate=March 15, 2012|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080916083326/http://www.ic.gc.ca/epic/site/oca-bc.nsf/en/ca02336e.html|archivedate=September 16, 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref> CFTM silenced its analogue transmitter on September 1, [[2011 in Canadian television|2011]], at 12:01 a.m. during a movie's airing and began broadcasting a digital signal a few minutes later on its old analog channel number, 10.

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Official website}} {{in lang|fr}}
* [https://www.tvanouvelles.ca/regional/tva-montreal TVA News - Montréal] {{in lang|fr}}
* [https://broadcasting-history.ca/television/television-stations/quebec/quebec-montreal-et-ouest-du-quebec/CFTM-DT CFTM-DT] at The History of Canadian Broadcasting by the [[Canadian Communications Foundation]]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20091027123932/http://geocities.com/tvhatton/mtl-local/cftm.html  CFTM at TV Hat]
* {{RecnetCanada|CFTM-DT}}

{{Montreal TV}}
{{TVA stations}}
{{Quebecor}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cftm-Dt}}
[[Category:1961 establishments in Quebec]]
[[Category:Television channels and stations established in 1961]]
[[Category:Television stations in Montreal|FTM-DT]]
[[Category:TVA (Canadian TV network) stations|FTM-DT]]