CFTU-TV

Infobox_Broadcast
call_letters = CFTU-TV
station_
station_slogan =
station_branding = Canal Savoir
analog = 29 (UHF)
digital = 54 (UHF)
affiliations = Independent
founded = August 20, 1986
"(Origins go back to 1981)"
location = Montreal, Quebec
callsign_meaning = CF Télé Université
owner = Corporation pour l'avancement de nouvelles applications des langages ltée
former_affiliations = None
effective_radiated_power = 10 kW
homepage = [http://www.canal.qc.ca/ Canal Savoir]

CFTU is a Canadian French language educational television station in the province of Quebec, owned by a private consortium known as CANAL, consisting primarily of Quebec-based post-secondary institutions. CFTU currently uses the on-air brand, Canal Savoir. It is licensed to and located in the city of Montreal.

CFTU is available over-the-air on channel 29 in Montreal; on cable through much of Quebec, parts of Ontario, New Brunswick, and Western Canada; and on satellite (Bell TV channel 152 and Star Choice channel 720).

CFTU broadcasts at 10 kilowatts, one of Montreal's weakest television signals, on the same level as most low-powered UHF stations in the United States. As a consequence, the station's over-the-air signal is very poor, even in Montreal.

History

CFTU's history starts in 1981, when an organization known as "Télé-Université" (the "TU" in the station's callsign) negotiated with Vidéotron, the local cable provider in Montreal, to take responsibility for running an educational television service in the province. The following year, an agreement between Télé-Université and Vidéotron was reached, subsequently leading to the startup of a publicly-accessible educational cable television service, using Radio-Québec as its over-the-air gateway for its programming.

In the next three years, thirteen other educational institutions around Quebec, starting with the Université de Montréal, joined up with Télé-Université to provide administrative and technical support for the new television service. The institutions formed a new consortium, known as the "Corporation pour l'Avancement des Nouvelles Applications des Langages", or "CANAL" for short, to co-ordinate the educational television service and prepare it to begin broadcasting over-the-air.

After over a year of test transmissions on channel 62, Télé-Université officially launched its OTA service, CFTU-TV channel 29, on August 20, 1986. On cable television in Montreal, it airs on channel 26 on the West Island and 47 in the east, and was the first OTA television station in Canada to be given a cable assignment outside the basic band (channels 2-13) of the dial. CFTU launched under the name of "Canal de Télé-enseignement", and changed its name to Canal Savoir in 1997.

ee also

*List of Canadian television channels
*Television of Quebec
*Culture of Quebec

External links

* [http://www.canal.qc.ca/ Canal Savoir] fr icon
* [http://www.geocities.com/tvhatton/mtl-local/cftu.html CFTU at TV Hat]
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