CBC North

CBC North
Founded	1958 (radio) 1967 (television)
President	Richard Stursberg
Company	Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Notable Series	CBC News: Northbeat CBC News: Igalaaq Maamuitaau
Former Names	CBC Northern Service (1958-1981?)

CBC North (in Inuktitut, ᓰᐲᓰ ᐊᑭᐊᖅᑕᖅᑐᒥ) is the broadcast radio and television service run by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, serving the citizens of the Canadian Arctic in English, Inuktitut and other northern aboriginal languages.

History

The television service began in 1967 as part of what was then known as the CBC Northern Service. At that time, limited TV service was carried by the CBC to remote and northern Canadian communities in the form of the Frontier Coverage Package (FCP), a four-hour daily schedule of black-and-white taped programming flown in from Toronto. CFYK-TV began operations as part of the FCP in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories in 1967, followed by CFWH-TV in Whitehorse, Yukon on November 26, 1968, then joined by CHAK-TV in Inuvik, NWT on August 22, 1969 and by CFFB-TV in Frobisher Bay, NWT (now Iqaluit, Nunavut) on February 1, 1972.

Satellite delivery of 12 hours of daily color programming via the Anik satellite began in 1973. Local program production began in 1982 with the debut of the current affairs program Focus North, along with Inuktitut-language programs produced for CBC North by the Inuit Broadcasting Corporation. CBC North's head office moved from Ottawa, Ontario to Yellowknife in 1992, the same year it began contributing some programming to the newly-established Television Northern Canada (the predecessor of the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network).

CBC North's television unit airs mostly English-language Canadian content produced in Toronto and at the regional CBC production centres in southern Canada, along with some off-network American programs, and it produces some local content in the form of two daily newscasts, CBC News: Northbeat (anchored in English by Juanita Taylor) and CBC News: Igalaaq (anchored in Inuktitut by Madeleine Allakariallak), and a weekly Cree-language magazine program, Maamuitaau (hosted by Benjamin Masty). All local programming on CBC North originates in Yellowknife and its regional news bureaus in Whitehorse, Inuvik, Iqaluit and Hay River, NWT. Following the shutdown of CBC Television's analogue rebroadcasters (including most of CBC North's rebroadcasters, except for retransmitters owned by local governments or community groups, which remain in operation at present) on July 31, 2012, CBC North flagship CFYK flash-cut to a digital signal on channel 8 in Yellowknife, while CBC North continued its availability in the rest of Northern Canada on cable and satellite via CFYK.

CBC North is broadcast on two satellite feeds originating in Toronto, one for the Northwest Territories and Nunavut which airs on a Mountain Time schedule, and one for the Yukon which airs a Pacific Time schedule. Prior to the switch to digital broadcasting in 2000, the CBC North satellite feeds originated at CBUT in Vancouver (seen in the Yukon and the western NWT on Pacific Time) and at CBNT in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador (seen in the eastern Arctic on Newfoundland Time). Also prior to 2000, the CBC North feed also doubled as the main network feed for CBC Television, with local commercials, station IDs, newscasts and other local programming and, in some cases, syndicated shows replacing CBC North programming and material on CBC-owned stations and privately-owned affiliates elsewhere in Canada. Unlike other CBC-owned stations, CBC North does not air conventional advertising, choosing instead to run promos for CBC shows and public service announcements tailored to the Canadian Arctic.

CBC North stations (including city of licence and date of first sign-on)

Station	City	First sign-on date	Notes
CHAK-TV	Inuvik, Northwest Territories	August 22, 1969	Ceased operations as a standalone over-the-air station on July 31, 2012
CFFB-TV	Iqaluit, Nunavut	February 1, 1972	Ceased operations as a standalone over-the-air station on July 31, 2012
CFWH-TV	Whitehorse, Yukon	November 26, 1968	Ceased operations as a standalone over-the-air station on July 31, 2012
CFYK-DT	Yellowknife, Northwest Territories	1967	Flagship station of CBC North

External links

• CBC North