CBEM

CBEM is the CBC affiliate that serves the Montreal, Quebec market. It broadcasts on channel 16.

History
CBEM first signed on the air on January 10, 1954, as Montreal's second television station; previously English and French-language programs had shared time on CBFM, Canada's first television station. By the end of 1953, Canada had about a dozen television stations either licensed or under construction, and American competition was about to arrive in Montreal with the construction of WKAW in Burlington, Vermont and Plattsburgh, New York and WLAN in Burlington, Vermont and Plattsburgh, New York. The CBC decided that it was imperative to stop time-sharing in English and in French, so CBEM was included in the network's expansion plans for television. This station was branded in the late 1970s and early 1980s as "Montreal 16", becoming "CBC Television Montreal 16" by the mid-1980s, and "CBC Television Montreal" during the 1990s.

CBEM transmits from the Mount Royal candelabra tower, in Mount Royal Park, overlooking the city of Montreal. As a result, channel 16 experiences severe multipath interference in parts of the city and South Shore.

It was also previously seen unscrambled on C-band satellite but this has since ended in the early-2000s, when it switched to a proprietary digital satellite signal. When the signal was sent unscrambled on the C-band, many American satellite viewers tuned into CBEM for a variety of news, entertainment, and sports – particularly CBC's Hockey Night in Canada and Olympic Games television broadcasts, which gave a different perspective than the American broadcasts. That Canadian signal is still available, but it requires the purchase of a dedicated and expensive receiver, or a grey market subscription to a Canadian satellite service. CBEM is also still available on many cable systems in Northern Vermont, Northern New York State, as far east as Bucksport, Maine, and as far west as Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Due to several cutbacks over the years, master control for the station is now based at the Canadian Broadcasting Centre in Toronto.