Canadian Forces Radio and Television
Canadian Forces Radio and Television, Radiotélévision des Forces canadiennes in French, was a television and radio network system broadcast by satellite to those members of the Canadian Forces ground forces who served overseas in places such as the Middle East, Africa and Europe and, due to popular demand, the service began broadcasting to Her Majesty's Canadian Ships in April 2002. The network was not available domestically within Canada.
The network consisted of two separate feeds, one for each of Canada's official languages, English and French, sourcing programming from the CBC/Radio-Canada, and commercial networks such as CTV and TVA.
On February 5, 2014, CFRT announced it would cease operations in April 2014. The closure was due to a reduction of Canadian military personnel serving overseas and budget cuts by the Canadian government, as well as advancements in other avenues of television and radio broadcasting. The final broadcast ended April 1, 2014, at 00:00 EST.
Broadcasts to Canadian forces in Europe began in 1951. The Canadian Forces Network, or Reseau des Forces Canadiennes, made radio broadcasts from Brunssum, the Netherlands from 1978 until September 30, 2014 to Brunssum, Ramstein Air Base and Lahr in Germany and Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe in Casteau, Belgium. CFN Europe was broadcast on the Astra 1A satellite, until its decommissioning in December 2004, and later on the Eutelsat 9A satellite.
