The two stations share studios on Portage Avenue and Young Street in Downtown Winnipeg; CBWT-DT's transmitter is located near Red Coat Trail/Highway 2 in Macdonald.

Planning for CBWT started in November 1952, when the Government of Canada announced its intention of setting up a television station in Winnipeg.

[7] CBWT's first equipment consisted of an RCA Victor TT10AL transmitter and a 60-metre (196 ft) six-section Super Turnstile Type TF-6AM antenna, located atop the station's roof.

[9] However, the equipment was different and there were complains of television receivers becoming stuck in the vertical or horizontal hold when the mobile unit switched cameras.

[10] On September 30, 1956, the station connected to the Trans-Canada Microwave Relay System, which allowed Winnipeggers to watch CBC Television programming on the same day it was broadcast in Toronto and Montreal.

[11] To celebrate this link, CBC Television produced a special one-hour program, Along the Tower Trail, the Winnipeg segment featured a view of the CPR's Marshalling Yards, the Saint Boniface Cathedral, a prairie harvest clip, and a musical piece sung by the Andrew Mynarski School choir.

[16] On November 16, 1964, CBWT swapped channels with CBWFT and higher-powered transmitters were installed on a new 324-metre (1,064 ft) antenna mast near Starbuck, Manitoba.

[18] The move to VHF channel 6 also permitted people in the coverage area to hear the English feed's audio on FM radios tuned to 87.7; this option was no longer available after the station shifted to digital and shut down the analogue transmitter.

There was a large National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians (NABET) strike throughout the CBC organization in the spring of 1981, and production of 24Hours was halted.

[19] Shortly after the Mulroney government came to power in 1984, they made major cuts to the CBC, and as a result, 86 staff members were let go at CBWT.

On February 27, 1997, CBC Manitoba announced that it would update and expand its studio facilities by 2,700 square metres (29,063 sq ft) at a cost of $2.8 million.

This differs from other Canadian television networks, whose Eastern and Central time zones stations air programs simultaneously.

Show Business, hosted by Tom McCulloch, and Ten O'Clock Live, a music program from a local bar, were produced by CBWT in 1981.

[24] In Search of the Perfect Summer was a summertime series produced by Sean Sullivan and was co-hosted by Anne Harding and Laurie Mustard in the 1982 season.

CBWT airs a 60-minute supper hour newscast from 6 to 7 p.m. CBC Radio One's Information Radio program is also simulcast on CBC Television weekdays from 6 to 7 a.m.[29] CBWT-DT used to produce a 10-minute summary at 11 p.m. on weeknights, however as of March 2024, the station now airs a rebroadcast of the 6 p.m. newscast at 11 p.m.[30] The first big news story CBWT covered was on June 8, 1954, about one week after the station opened, when the Time Building at 333 Portage Avenue caught fire.

[37] CBWT switched from analogue to digital television broadcasting on December 9, 2011, from its Winnipeg transmitter atop the Richardson Building.

[42] At one time, CBWAT in Kenora offered separate local news programming from CBWT, which was discontinued in 1979–80 when CJBN-TV went on the air.