CBC Fredericton HD

About channel CBC Fredericton HD

CBAT-DT (channel 4) is a CBC Television station in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. It has common ownership with Moncton-based Ici Radio-Canada Télé station CBAFT-DT (channel 11). CBAT-DT's studios are located on Regent Street and Vanier Highway in Fredericton, and its transmitter is located on Rice Hill. CBAT originally broadcast from a transmitter located on Mount Champlain near Saint John, its city of licence until 2011,[1] and operated a network of rebroadcasters throughout the province.

The station's flagship 6 p.m. newscast has been broadcast from Fredericton since the 1980s, first as the CBC News for New Brunswick, then as NB Now. This arrangement continued until 2000, when the national restructuring of CBC local news led to the creation of Canada Now, which consisted of a half-hour national and international news segment produced from Vancouver airing at 6 p.m., and a locally produced half-hour segment airing at 6:30 p.m.

Following the cancellation of Canada Now in 2007, the station's local news reverted to a full-hour format as CBC News: New Brunswick at Six. On August 31, 2009, CBC New Brunswick expanded the supper-time newscast from 60 to 90 minutes and pushed it back an hour (from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.) in compliance with CBC News' mandate for more local news coverage.

The 5:30 p.m. portion was titled CBC News: Maritimes at 5:30, and was also seen on Prince Edward Island on CBCT. In January 2010, CBC News: Maritimes at 5:30 was replaced with an extra half hour of the provincial newscasts on CBAT and CBCT. As of September 2012, CBAT carries regional Maritime newscasts at 11 p.m. on Sunday – Friday and at 7 p.m. on Saturdays.

CBAT was also the only CBC owned-and-operated television station to simulcast a local CBC Radio One station's morning program until other O&Os began doing the same in 2014. CBAT's New Brunswick First is a simulcast of CBZF-FM's Information Morning, airing on weekday mornings from 6–8 a.m.

The current local anchor on CBAT is Harry Forestell. Past anchors have included Andy Wilson, Todd Battis, Carole MacNeil, Geoff Britt, Anita Sharma, Terry Seguin and Genevieve Tomney. Weathercaster Rose Arseneault was popular with viewers until she lost her job due to budget cutbacks in 2000. The weather forecast is now done by meteorologist Ryan Snoddon via satellite from CBC Halifax.

In 2003, CBAT made a controversial programming decision to preempt CBC's broadcast of Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals in order to carry live returns from the provincial election.

CBAT had seven analog television rebroadcasters throughout New Brunswick in communities such as Saint John and Moncton.

Due to federal funding reductions to the CBC, in April 2012, the CBC responded with substantial budget cuts, which included shutting down CBC's and Radio-Canada's remaining analog transmitters on July 31, 2012.[3] None of CBC or Radio-Canada's rebroadcasters were converted to digital.

The analog transmitter had covered Fredericton and Saint John. On March 23, 2011, the CRTC denied an application by the CBC to install a digital transmitter that provided coverage to Fredericton, but not Saint John. A few months later, the CRTC approved the application in conjunction with maintaining the existing analog transmitter at a reduced power to maintain coverage in Saint John. The CBC stated that this decrease in coverage was due to financial reasons and the CBC did not commit to restoring this coverage at a future date.