# CHCO-TV

CHCO-TV (channel 26) is a community television station in Saint Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada, serving the Charlotte County area.
CHCO-TV's studios and transmitting antenna are located at the W. C. O'Neill Arena Complex on Reed Avenue in Saint Andrews. The station also has production facilities in the village of Harvey, and in Grand Manan.
The station is available on digital over-the-air in Saint Andrews proper, Rogers Cable channel 126 in all of Charlotte County, Bell Fibe TV channel 26 in New Brunswick provincewide, and on Bell Satellite channel 539 in New Brunswick and all of Canada.

## History

CHCO-TV launched on March 13, 1993, on Fundy Cable channel 4 as "St. Andrews Community Channel". The station subsequently applied for a broadcast license in 2005, which was approved by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) on November 23, 2005, and began operation on UHF channel 26 on November 1, 2006, as CHCT-TV.
The advent of fibre optic technology and digital cable led to the shutdown of almost 30 community channels in New Brunswick, including those in the neighboring communities of St. Stephen and St. George. Long-time volunteer-operated channels in these areas were replaced in August 2010 by the cable operator's distant community channel in Saint John, approximately 100 kilometres (62 mi) away. Although St. George and St. Stephen received cable service from a cable headend in Saint Andrews, Rogers blocked CHCO-TV from being viewed outside Saint Andrews for eight years.
On August 18, 2010, CHCT-TV moved from cable channel 10 to channel 9, launching a new on-air identity as "Truly Local Television." Subsequently, on July 28, 2012, CHCT-TV's call sign was changed to CHCO-TV.
On December 20, 2012, CHCO-TV was added to the Bell TV satellite television service on channel 539, reaching almost 1.6 million subscribers across the country.
On October 24, 2014, CHCO-TV was included in the Bell Aliant Fibe television service on channel 58, available to most of New Brunswick. It was later moved to channel 26 on September 8, 2016, to align with its licensed over-the-air channel.
Finally, on November 21, 2018, CHCO-TV became available to mainland cable subscribers county-wide on channel 126, following a presentation by CHCO-TV volunteers before the CRTC during a Rogers' license renewal hearing the previous month.

## Today

CHCO-TV is the first community LPTV station in New Brunswick to operate independently from the cable television provider. It is also the only locally owned and operated television station in the Province of New Brunswick. CHCO-TV broadcasts local events, town council meetings, local sports, and produces such programs as NewsBreak26 with Vicki Hogarth, Good Day from the Bay, Fundy Tidings, NBWA: New Brunswickers Want Action, The Carr Brothers LIVE, Mc & T's Sports Report, The Rob Patry Show, John Higgins LIVE, What's the Call, The Etiquette Guy, Southwest Magazine, Your Town Matters, CHCO-TV Bingo and commentaries with Ross Ingram.

## Transition to digital television

On February 15, 2021, CHCO-TV started broadcasting their signal in high definition digital TV and concluded broadcasting their traditional analog/NTSC broadcast on UHF channel 26. On July 23, 2021, Rogers cable began distribution of CHCO-TV in HD.