The Canadian Radio-Television Council (CRTC) approved the
establishment of television station CBXFT in Edmonton in August
1969. The station began broadcasting in March 1970, including an
English and French format. The English portion included
educational television, mostly broadcasting during the school
day. French programming included 60 hours of rebroadcasts from
Montreal. During this phase of the station, news was broadcast
live for only 15 minutes a day. The only local live programming
was the weather forecast.
As a result of the Official Languages Commission, CBXFT
television was made available to many more communities.
Nonetheless, the most isolated communities did not gain access.
Today, the local programming is still very limited, but the
local news is broadcast and rebroadcast each day.
Now with cable distribution, all the major urban centres of
the province have access to French language television and even
have the choice of several channels. The use of satellite dishes
gives viewers access to the television from all over the world. |