The major deadline in Canada's transition to digital TV is now less than one year away, but you'd never know it from the deafening silence on the issue.
Beginning next September 1, Canadian over-the-air TV viewers in 32 cities will need digital equipment to continue watching television. They will need either a newer TV with a digital receiver or a converter box for their older analog set.
But it's Canadians in the other cities, towns and rural areas that are in for the really rude shock. Starting in less than a year, their local stations will start unplugging the analog over-the-air transmitters and replace them with ... nothing. If you want to watch TV in those areas, you'll need a cable or satellite hookup, unless you are close enough to US stations to pick those up over the air.
It is quite a shock to compare the before-transition and after-transition maps of Canada. Check it out.
Here's a live version of the after-transition map, where you can see what stations will be available in what cities:
View Free digital TV in Canada/La télé numérique gratuite au Canada in a larger map
Don't forget to compare it to the map of where free, over-the-air TV is available today.
Meanwhile, viewers in the US, where the transition is already more than a year old, and Canada who have tried digital over-the-air TV seem to love it. First, there's no monthly bill. Second, the picture quality is great. There is evidence of a growing grassroots movement in favour of over-the-air TV.
Too bad so many smaller-town and rural Canadians are slated to be thrown under the digital bus.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
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Is this yet another example of the Canadian governments support for cable and telecom monopolies? They seem to screw over the public to cater to Rogers and Bell.
ReplyDeleteI like that you've already removed Sun TV from your line ups.
ReplyDeleteThis is Harper's way of killing the CBC. You can bet, anonymous, that he's already approved lots of digital only Sun-TV stations... like the ones currently on in Ottawa and London.
ReplyDeleteThe "REAL" problem is Canadians Apathy. Governments of all stripe's know that they can "SELL OUT" the Public for financial considerations from The Corporate Lobbies and the "Sheep" will "Bleat" but do nothing except vote the "Thieves" back in at the next election.
ReplyDeleteThis is government not stepping up to say how things are and should be done, while Bell and others keep telling people that rabbit ears are a thing of the past. Canadians cannot make the difference between marketing and truth.
ReplyDeleteSun TV is now on the live map for Toronto, Ottawa, London and Hamilton (the CRTC hadn't published Sun's transition plans when the map was first created, but it now has). The question remains what will happen to those channels, whether or not Sun gets its wish of a digital-cable-channel-that-subscribers-must-pay-for-for-three-years-whether-they-want-to-or-not. If Sun gets the specialty licence and goes ahead, it stands to reason it will have to abandon the over-the-air licences. And if Sun doesn't get what it wants, will it keep the shaky Sun TV running as an OTA station?
ReplyDelete