The station first went on the air in 1954 and was founded by Fred A. Lynds and his company, Moncton Broadcasting, along with CKCW radio (AM 1220, now 94.5 FM). It was originally the CBC Television affiliate for central and northern New Brunswick. CKCW was part of a regional network of stations called the Lionel Television System. Its mascot was called Lionel the Lobster.
On September 21, 1969, as part of a complex realignment of television affiliations in the Maritimes, Saint John's original station, CHSJ-TV (now CBAT-DT) set up a rebroadcaster in Moncton, enabling CKCW-TV to switch to CTV. CKCW then built a full-time satellite in Saint John, CKLT. However, since CHSJ-TV needed time to build rebroadcasters in the northern part of the province, CKCW's rebroadcasters in Campbellton, Upsalquitch and Newcastle aired a mixed CBC-CTV schedule until October 1976.[1]
The two stations were bought by CHUM Limited and merged into the Atlantic Television System, forerunner of CTV Atlantic, in 1972. At the same time, CKCW signed on a repeater in Charlottetown, making PEI the last portion of eastern Canada to receive CTV.
Although for many years the station continued to air local programming, since the mid-1990s it has been a semi-satellite of CTV Atlantic flagship CJCH-DT in Halifax, Nova Scotia, except for local news inserts and some commercials.
* These and a long list of CTV rebroadcasters nationwide were to shut down on or before August 31, 2009, as part of a political dispute with Canadian authorities on paid fee-for-carriage requirements for cable television operators.[3] A subsequent change in ownership assigned full control of CTVglobemedia to Bell Canada; as of 2011, these transmitters remain in normal licensed broadcast operation.[4]
Additionally, CKLT (and its associated rebroadcasters) is considered a full-time satellite of CKCW.
On February 11, 2016, Bell Media applied for its regular license renewals, which included applications to delete a long list of transmitters, including CKAM-TV-1, CKAM-TV-2, CKCW-TV-2, and CKCD-TV. Bell Media's rationale for deleting these analog repeaters is below:
"We are electing to delete these analog transmitters from the main licence with which they are associated. These analog transmitters generate no incremental revenue, attract little to no viewership given the growth of BDU or DTH subscriptions and are costly to maintain, repair or replace. In addition, none of the highlighted transmitters offer any programming that differs from the main channels. The Commission has determined that broadcasters may elect to shut down transmitters but will lose certain regulatory privileges (distribution on the basic service, the ability to request simultaneous substitution) as noted in Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2015–24, Over-the-air transmission of television signals and local programming. We are fully aware of the loss of these regulatory privileges as a result of any transmitter shutdown."
At the same time, Bell Media applied to convert the licenses of CTV2 Atlantic (formerly ASN) and CTV2 Alberta (formerly ACCESS) from satellite-to-cable undertakings into television stations without transmitters (similar to cable-only network affiliates in the United States), and to reduce the level of educational content on CTV2 Alberta.[5][6]
On July 30, 2019, Bell Media was granted permission to close down two additional transmitters as part of Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2019–268. The transmitters for CKAM-TV-3 and CKAM-TV-4 will be shut down by December 3, 2021.[7]
On January 27, 2016, Bell Media was granted approval by the CRTC to delete their analog repeater (CKAM-TV) in Upsalquitch, New Brunswick. Bell estimated that only 200 viewers were served by this transmitter, and had received zero complaints or questions about the proposed shut-down. To further complicate matters, the high-powered VHF transmitter cost a great deal to maintain and operate, as well being expensive on electricity, and does not bring in any revenue of its own. Since CKCW-DT would remain available on local cable and satellite providers, there would be no loss of coverage or CTV programming to the area.
