CHLT-DT

CHLT-DT

Sherbrooke, Quebec Canada
Channels	Digital: 7 (VHF) Virtual: 7 (PSIP)
Affiliations	TVA (O&O)
Owner	Groupe TVA
First air date	August 12, 1956
Call letters' meaning	CHerbrooke (uses C instead of S) La Tribune (local newspaper, original owner)
Former callsigns	CHLT-TV (1956–2011)
Former channel number(s)	Analogue: 7 (VHF, 1956-2011)
Former affiliations	Radio-Canada (1956–1974) CBC (secondary, 1956–1974) Réseau Pathonic (1986–1990)
Transmitter coordinates
Licensing authority	FCC

CHLT-DT, virtual and VHF digital channel 7, is a TVA owned-and-operated television station licensed to Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada. The station is owned by the Groupe TVA subsidiary of Quebecor Media. CHLT-DT's studios are located on Rue King Ouest (near Route 112) in Sherbrooke, and its transmitter is located in Orford. This station can also be seen on Vidéotron channel 4 and in high definition on digital channel 604.

History

The station went on the air for the first time on August 12, 1956. It was owned by La Tribune, the city's major newspaper, along with CHLT radio. Like most television stations in Quebec, it was a dual affiliate of both CBC and Radio-Canada. It usually went on the air sooner than other Quebec stations, forcing it to fill the schedule with local shows. La Tribune was eventually acquired by Power Corporation of Canada, which sold CHLT to Telemedia in 1968.

When CKSH-TV went on the air on September 19, 1974, it took all Radio-Canada programming away from CHLT. Sherbrooke's anglophone population was too small for CHLT to be viable as a privately owned CBC Television affiliate. As a result, it joined TVA that same day after CBMT in Montreal opened a translator in Sherbrooke. Five years later, Pathonic Communications acquired CHLT and four other stations from Telemedia.

Pathonic's stations often aired a schedule different from that offered on TVA flagship station CFTM-TV in Montreal. As a result, since CHLT's over-the-air signal reaches Montreal, it was carried on CF Cable and Vidéotron in that city. However, CFTM's owner, Télé-Metropole, bought full control of TVA in 1990. Since then, CHLT has been basically a semi-satellite of CFTM, except for newscasts and commercials. CF Cable stopped carrying CHLT in the early 1990s, and Vidéotron followed suit in 1995.

During the analogue era, CHLT was one of TVA's most powerful stations; its terrestrial footprint extended as far as northwestern Maine. Also, as with CKSH-DT, CHLT enjoys cable coverage throughout selected areas of Northern New England, as far east as Augusta and Rockland, Maine.

External links

• CHLT-DT history – Canadian Communications Foundation
• Query the REC's Canadian station database for CHLT-TV