The CBC announced on February 17, 1959 that they would appear before the BBG in Ottawa on March 18 to apply for a license to extend Radio-Canada's television signal into the Winnipeg area. CBWFT first signed on at 3 p.m. on April 24, 1960, using channel 6 with an EIRP of 2,800 watts. At the same time two VTRs, worth $75,000 each were installed at the station. It was the first francophone television station west of Ontario. Its opening broadcast was a ceremony held at the Notre Dame Auditorium in St. Boniface. Dignitaries included in attendance were Lieutenant-GovernorErrick Willis, PremierDuff Roblin, CBC President Alphonse Ouimet, Marcel Ouimet, general manager of Radio-Canada, J. R. Finlay, CBC Prairie Region Director, and Leo Remillard, CBWFT's program director. At first, CBWFT's broadcast day ran between 6 and 12 hours, with a longer programming day on weekends. Over the years, this was extended to encompass most of the day. Initially, Radio-Canada's microwave link did not reach as far as Winnipeg. Instead, videotapes and films were "bicycled" from Montreal and delayed by one week, except for news and live events like La Soirée du hockey. On November 15, 1964, it swapped frequencies with CBWT and a higher-powered transmitter was installed at the new site near Starbuck. From 1964 till the early 1980s, it referred to itself simply as "CBWFT canal 3 Winnipeg". During the early 1980s, CBWFT was known as "CBWFT 3/10", signifying its position on Channel 3, Cable 10 in Winnipeg. On January 1, 1986, it became known as "Radio-Canada Manitoba". By October 31, 1966, CBWFT was connected to the Radio-Canada microwave signal, allowing the live feed of Le Téléjournal at 6 p.m. Prior to this the newscast consisted of Radio-Canada's radio news with locally inserted images. Several months after the first Anik A satellite was launched in 1972, CBWFT switched to the satellite feed of Radio-Canada and dropped the microwave feed, except to distribute its signal within its coverage area, Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario, and part of Saskatchewan. In 1976, a rebroadcaster of CBWFT programming in Regina became CBKFT. In 1985, CBKFT was issued a separate license to broadcast its own Ce Soir regional news program.
Transmitters
CBWFT operated 11 analogue television retransmitters in Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario. Due to federal funding reductions to the CBC, in April 2012, the CBC responded with substantial budget cuts, which included shutting down CBC's and Radio-Canada's remaining analog transmitters on July 31, 2012. None of CBC or Radio-Canada's television rebroadcasters were converted to digital.
Manitoba
Northwest Ontario
News operation
In 2005, the long-running Ce Soir news program was renamed to Le Téléjournal, which is the same name of the French national news program on Radio-Canada. The Téléjournal local edition is normally 30 minutes in length, however the Wednesday edition is 60 minutes. The program is also rebroadcast at 11 p.m.
Digital television
Digital channel
Analogue-to-digital conversion
CBWFT switched from analogue to digital television broadcasting on December 9, 2011, from its Winnipeg transmitter atop the Richardson Building, after several delays, due to an "unforeseen delay that is outside of the Corporation's control," involving antenna erection. CBWFT's digital signal operates on UHFchannel 51. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers will display CBWFT's virtual channel as 3.1.
