CFCL-TV
| City of license | Timmins, Ontario |
|---|---|
| Branding | MCTV - CBC |
| Channels | Analog: 6 (VHF) also heard on 87.7 MHz on the FM broadcast band |
| Translators | see below |
| Affiliations | CBC |
| Owner | J. Conrad Lavigne (1956 - 1980) Mid-Canada Communications (1980 - 1990) Baton Broadcasting/CTV Inc. (1990 - 2002) |
| First air date | June 21, 1956 |
| Last air date | October 27, 2002 |
| Call letters' meaning | CF Conrad Lavigne (original owner) |
| Sister station(s) | CITO-TV |
| Transmitter power | 100 kW |
| Height | 174.6 m |
| Transmitter coordinates | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. |
CFCL-TV was a television station in Timmins, Ontario. The station was in operation from 1956 to 2002 as a private affiliate of CBC Television.
History
The station was established on June 21, 1956 by J. Conrad Lavigne. It was originally established as a bilingual private affiliate of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's English and French television networks. It aired on channel 6.
The station added a rebroadcast transmitter in Kapuskasing in 1957. Lavigne subsequently added rebroadcasters in several communities in Northern Ontario and Western Quebec; by 1965, CFCL had the largest privately owned microwave transmission network in the world. CFCL remained a dual affiliate until the mid-1960s, when CBOFT added a transmitter in Timmins, CBFOT (later becoming CBLFT-3).
In 1971, Lavigne opened new CBC stations in Sudbury (CKNC) and North Bay (CHNB). The existing CBC stations in those cities became CTV affiliates; their owner also extended its Sudbury signal to Timmins via transmitter CKSO-TV-2, later standalone station CITO.
Until 1980, CFCL and CKSO-2 aggressively competed with each other for advertising dollars, leaving both in a precarious financial position due to the Timmins market's relatively small size. In 1980, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission approved the merger of the two stations, along with their co-owned stations in North Bay and Sudbury, into the MCTV twinstick.
In 1990, the MCTV stations were acquired by Baton Broadcasting, which became the sole corporate owner of CTV in 1997.
End of operations
CTV subsequently sold its four CBC affiliates in Northern Ontario — CFCL, CHNB in North Bay, CJIC in Sault Ste. Marie and CKNC in Sudbury — directly to the CBC in 2002.[1] All four ceased to exist as separate stations on October 27, 2002, becoming rebroadcasters of Toronto's CBLT, with CFCL's call sign changed to CBLT-7. These translators would close on July 31, 2012, due to budget cuts affecting the CBC.[2][3]
Transmitters
| Station | City of licence | Channel | ERP | HAAT | Transmitter Coordinates | Notes |
| CFCL-TV-2 | Kearns | 2 (VHF) | 70 kW | 212.4 m | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | later CBLT-8; also served Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec |
| CFCL-TV-3 | Kapuskasing | 2 (VHF) | 4.6 kW | 121.1 m | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | later CBLT-9 |
| CBCC-TV | Hearst | 5 (VHF) | 8.11 kW | 146.6 m | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | |
| CBCO-TV-1 | Moosonee | 9 (VHF) | 0.009 kW | NA | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | |
| CBCU-TV | Chapleau | 7 (VHF) | 3.996 kW | 128 m | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. |
References
External links
- CRTC Decision 2001-457-6, license renewal for all MCTV stations.
- Canadian Communications Foundation - CFCL-TV History
