Canadian regulators have approved the permanent shutdown of a major TV signal in southwestern Manitoba that had carried CTV.
In a decision released Jan. 29, the CRTC approved an application from Bell Media to delete CKYB-TV/4 (Brandon) from the license of CKY-DT (Winnipeg). Its analog signal transmitted with 100kW, the maximum for a VHF Low station, covering the southwestern corner of Manitoba.
The CRTC says it received no interventions to the application.
Bell’s 2024 filing stated that CKYB-TV was already off the air due to a transmitter problem and that that parts for the transmitter are no longer made.
“In order to operate this transmitter again, we would have to replace it with a digital transmitter, which would represent significant costs for the station. Absorbing these costs is unbearable for a local news station given the current crisis in news,” the filing stated.
The filing explained that CKYB had no revenue and no programming of its own. CKY-DT’s programming continues to be available via cable and satellite providers, and its newscasts stream freely online.
It appears CKYB was the last of what had once been a network of transmitters relaying CKY-DT’s signal provincewide. The move is the latest in a series of shutdowns by multiple broadcasters that have ended or severely limited broadcast TV service outside of Canada’s major population centers.
Up until about 15 years ago, communities such as Brandon typically received three or four analog TV signals carrying CBC, Radio-Canada, and private networks. Local CBC affiliate CKX-TV/5 (Brandon) ceased operations in 2009, followed by Radio-Canada transmitter CBWFT-10 (channel 21) in 2012.
The only remaining broadcast TV signal in western Manitoba is Global’s CKND-DT-2 (Minnedosa), which transmits on channel 9.
This article was originally posted Oct. 13, 2024, and was updated Jan. 29, 2025 to reflect the CRTC decision.