CHEX-TV-2

CHEX-TV-2

City of license	Oshawa, Ontario
Branding	Channel 12 Durham
Channels	Analog: 22 (UHF) Digital: allocated 48 (UHF)
Affiliations	CBC
Owner	Corus Entertainment (591989 B.C. Ltd.)
First air date	1992 (as transmitter of CHEX-TV)
Transmitter power	5.5 kW
Height	133.5 m
Transmitter coordinates	43°57′16″N 78°48′22″W / 43.95444°N 78.80611°W / 43.95444; -78.80611
Website	Channel 12 Durham

CHEX-TV-2, branded as Channel 12 Durham (for its cable position; its broadcast channel is 22), is a CBC-affiliated television station in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada, serving the Durham Region. The station's affiliation is despite the fact the Durham region is within the broadcast area of Toronto's CBLT. It is owned by Corus Entertainment, and is carried on Rogers Cable throughout the Greater Toronto Area.

History

Oshawa, though larger than Peterborough, had not been granted a television station in the original 1950s channel assignments. Instead, it was folded into the Toronto market.

CHEX-2's former logo used until February 2004

In 1992, CHEX-TV, based in Peterborough, started broadcasting its programming on a new transmitter in Oshawa, broadcasting on a channel used prior to 1988 as a Toronto-area rebroadcaster of CIII-TV (since Shaw acquired Global in 2010, no indication whether CHEX-2 can be converted to a Global affiliate). In 1993, the Oshawa transmitter became a semi-satellite with some slight differences in local programming. By the early 2000s, the station had adopted a very different schedule; for instance, its local current-affairs programs, Live at 5 and Lifestyles with Rita, are produced and aired independently of the Peterborough station, and focus on the Durham Region.

Programming

Most of CHEX-TV-2's CBC programming are children's shows, prime-time and weekend programs -- the rest of the schedule is filled with syndicated shows, local programming and infomercials. Notable non-CBC programs include The Oprah Winfrey Show (seen at 1PM, three hours earlier than on WIVB-TV and CFTO-TV) and shows from Corus Entertainment's specialty channels, such as Divine Design (which airs on W Network).

CHEX-2's current local programs are Live at 5, a one hour newscast with Dan Carter, Mark Orton, Dave Gilbert and Jay Scotland, and Lifestyles with Rita, a half-hour show hosted by Rita Nave airing weekdays at 6 PM that focuses on topics such as health, wellness, fashion, money and food.

The only news program from CHEX-TV proper currently seen on CHEX-TV-2 is the 11PM weeknight edition of Newswatch.^[1]

Digital television and high definition

CHEX-TV-2 has not yet begun broadcasting in digital. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has not listed Oshawa as one of its mandatory markets for analogue television shutdown and digital conversion,^[2] and therefore CHEX-TV-2 will not be required to convert to digital transmissions on the transition date of August 31, 2011.^[3]

While CHEX-TV's current plans say the main station "will probably not be broadcasting HD over-the-air until the end of 2011, at the earliest",^[4] no schedule has as of 2010^[update] been announced for conversion of any other Corus-owned terrestrial television transmitters. If and when CHEX-DT-2 begins operation, it will broadcast digitally after analogue shutoff on the existing channel (UHF 22); digital television receivers will display CHEX-TV-2's virtual channel as 22.1.

References

1. ^ CHEX-2 Schedule
2. ^ Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2010-167
3. ^ http://www.ic.gc.ca/epic/site/oca-bc.nsf/en/ca02336e.html
4. ^ When will CHEX be broadcasting a digital transmission?, CHEX-TV FAQ

External links

• Channel 12 Durham
• Query the REC's Canadian station database for CHEX-TV-2
• Query TV Fool's coverage map for CHEX-TV-2