CFTM-TV

Infobox_Broadcast
call_letters = CFTM-TV
station_
station_slogan =
station_branding = TVA
analog = 10 (VHF) / Cable 7
digital = 59 (UHF)
affiliations = TVA
founded = 1961
location = Montreal, Quebec
callsign_meaning = C F Télé Métropole
owner = Québecor
former_affiliations = Independent (1961-63)
effective_radiated_power = 325kw
homepage = [http://tva.canoe.com TVA Montreal]

CFTM, channel 10, is the flagship of the TVA television network, located in Montreal, Quebec.

It opened on February 19, 1961, a few weeks after CFCF-TV went on the air for the first time. It was owned by Joseph Alexandre DeSève and his company, Télé-Métropole. At first it relied primarily on kinescopes from RTL, and also from Tele Monte Carlo, but it wasn't long before it settled into a more peculiar and local form. In 1963, it began sharing programs with CJPM-TV in Chicoutimi. They were joined by CFCM-TV in Quebec City in 1964. This was the beginning of TVA, though the network wasn't formally established until 1971. When DeSève died in 1968, the city government renamed the street in front of CFTM's studios "rue Alexandre DeSève" in his honour.

CFTM has always been by far the largest station in the TVA network. Not surprisingly, it dominated TVA for many years, producing as much as 90 per cent of the network's programming. This became even more pronounced after Télé-Métropole bought majority control of TVA in 1990. Even today, TVA's network feed is little more than a retransmission of CFTM. Whenever CFTM has to interrupt its programming for breaking news or weather alerts, the entire network gets interrupted as well.

Since May 1. 1999, all Canadian cable companies have been required to carry a TVA station. CFTM is the affiliate carried in most markets outside of Quebec — excepting some markets in Northern Ontario, Eastern Ontario and New Brunswick, which carry stations from locally-adjacent areas of Quebec instead. The station also provides a time-shifted feed for cable companies in western Canada.

External links

* [http://tva.canoe.com TVA Montreal]
* [http://www.geocities.com/tvhatton/mtl-local/cftm.html CFTM at TV Hat]
*