CJNT-DT (PatrZDZ's vision)

**CJNT-DT** (channel 62) is a independent television station in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, owned and operated by Shaw Media, alongside CTV affiliate CFCF-DT (channel 12) and radio stations CHMP-FM, CINF-AM, CKAC-AM, CINW-AM, CKBE-FM and CKOI-FM. The stations share studios located at the Montréal Téléport building, at the intersection of Avenue Papineau and Boulevard René-Lévesque Est in downtown Montreal, while CJNT's transmitter is located at Mount Royal Park, near downtown Montreal.

## History

The station signed on the air on September 8, 1997, but had its roots in the 1980s as La Télévision Ethnique du Québec (TEQ), a public access ethnic cable channel. It had plans on moving over-the-air as early as the early 1990s, but was dogged by financial problems. Even after it signed on, its finances were in such a state that it never signed on earlier than noon. Part of the problem was that its effective radiated power was only 11 kilowatts, easily the weakest full-power station in Montreal and one of the weakest in North America—roughly on the same level as low-powered UHF stations in the United States. This effectively limited its over-the-air footprint to the Island of Montreal, Jésus Island and a few areas on the mainland; even in those areas, its signal was marginal at best. Most viewers could only get a clear picture on cable.

Many shows that had aired on TEQ for many years did not make the cut for CJNT because they did not meet the standards for commercial broadcasting. However, many of the shows that did make it were of somewhat marginal quality. Its commitment to ethnic groups was questioned, especially late at night when it would frequently show English-language infomercials for a psychic hotline.

### WIC and Corus

Western International Communications bought CJNT in 1999, creating a duopoly with CFCF. WIC figured that CJNT would give it much-needed leverage in Montreal. It planned to relaunch CJNT on the model of Canada's first multicultural station, CFMT-TV in Toronto, with 60% ethnic content and 40% American content. However, WIC was only able to buy the shares of CJNT held by Marie Griffiths, as ownership of the rest of the shares was being contested in court. It was not allowed to make changes to CJNT's license without majority ownership, and its plans became moot when Shaw bought WIC in 2000.

On September 8, 2001, Shaw relaunched the station with a mixture of ethnic, English and French language programming. CJNT airs the most local and Canadian shows in Canada (apart from CBC/Radio-Canada). However, all such shows on CJNT are ethnic or French-language programming — all English-language shows are American imports.

For much of 2003 and 2004, CJNT fought a "commercial war" with Burlington, Vermont's Fox affiliate, WFFF-TV. Due to Canada's "simultaneous substitution" rules, WFFF frequently moved syndicated reruns of That '70s Show around its schedule to keep its signal from being replaced with CJNT's on Montreal cable providers during the show's broadcast. However, whenever possible, CJNT, which was airing the same show, duplicated the move in order to maintain the signal substitutions. This resulted in a cat-and-mouse game in which the Montreal and Champlain Valley editions of TV Guide were often out of date before they were published. WFFF depends on advertising in Montreal for its survival, since Montreal is 10 times more populous than that station's entire American viewing area.