Digital Television In Canada Information
Digital terrestrial television in Canada, like the United States, Mexico and South Korea, is based on the US ATSC standard.
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) initially decided not to enforce a single date for ending analog broadcasts, opting to let market forces decide when the switchover will occur.[1] It subsequently reversed its position, a later decision[2] setting an analogue shutoff date of August 31, 2011,[3] just over two years after the American transition date of June 12, 2009. This position was further revised in 2010 to allow some small one-station markets to remain in analogue after 2011;[4] the 31 markets in which stations are to be forced to digitise by the 2011 deadline are Whitehorse, Yellowknife, Iqaluit, Victoria, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Lloydminster, Lethbridge, Regina, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Thunder Bay, Windsor, London, Kitchener, Toronto/Barrie/Hamilton, Ottawa-Gatineau, Rouyn-Noranda/Val-d'Or, Montréal, Trois-Rivières, Sherbrooke, Québec, Chicoutimi-Jonquière, Rivière-du-Loup, Fredericton, Saint John, Moncton, Charlottetown, Halifax and St. John's.[5]
While there are no requirements that individual stations simulcast digitally before this date, a handful are doing so on a limited basis as a means of delivering high-definition television over-the-air in the largest media markets.
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History
Several broadcasters, including the CBC, have argued that there is no viable business case for a comprehensive digital conversion strategy in Canada. At CRTC hearings in 2007 on the future direction of regulatory policy for television, broadcasters proposed a number of strategies, including funding digital conversion by eliminating restrictions on the amount of advertising that television broadcasters are permitted to air, allowing terrestrial broadcasters to charge cable viewers a subscription fee (retransmission consent) similar to that already charged by cable specialty channels, permitting license fees similar to those which fund the BBC in the United Kingdom, or eliminating terrestrial television broadcasting entirely and moving to an exclusively cable-based distribution model.
The CRTC ultimately decided to relax restrictions on advertising, gradually removing all limits to the number of advertisements per hour of broadcast programming, as the funding mechanism. However, a CRTC statement issued in June 2008 indicated that as of that date, only 22 digital transmitters had been fully installed across the entire country,[6][7] and expressed the regulator's concern that Canada's television broadcasters were not adequately preparing for the shift to digital broadcasting. The sole Canadian broadcaster to have delivered a digital-only terrestrial TV signal, CKXT-TV (in Ottawa and London), signed on its pair of digital-only transmitters in 2008. These are both rebroadcasters of the same Toronto station with no local programme origination; the main Toronto station continues to transmit in both analogue and digital format.
The US financial crisis and subsequent 2008 recession has greatly limited the ability of broadcasters to increase the number of advertisements, most notably leaving Canwest's Global Television Network cash-strapped due to large debts incurred during an earlier period of expansion into newspaper publishing and speciality TV channel acquisitions. CTV launched an aggressive campaign to re-open the paid cable retransmission consent debate in 2009, with some success.
In 2009, engineering firm Spectrum Expert Inc. estimated a total cost to Canadian broadcasters of $378-425 million dollars to convert all 738 Canadian full-power television transmitters to DTV on their newly-assigned channels; if the 1238 low-power transmitters were to be converted, costs would increase further.[8] Some of the highest costs were for existing full-power VHF rebroadcast transmitters which would have to be replaced by new UHF facilities in locations far from broadcast studios; as a worst case, CTV-owned CJOH-TV-6 and CJOH-TV-8 were estimated at a conversion cost of over four million dollars each. While CTV had threatened to shut down a long list of these full-power rebroadcasters on August 31, 2009, as of 2010[update] the transmitters are still on the air.
In 2010, the CRTC revised its list of stations which must convert to digital on the August 31, 2011 deadline; the new list includes 31 markets [9] which have more than one local originating station, are over 300000 in population and/or are provincial or territorial capitals. In some cases (such as Charlottetown and the three territorial capitals), CBC is the only local television producer in these locations. All broadcast transmitters above UHF channel 51 would, however, be required to move to lower frequencies in 2011 in all markets.
On August 6, 2010, CBC/Radio-Canada announced that only its existing digital stations, along with both Alberta CBC originating stations plus all Radio-Canada originating stations in Quebec City and Moncton, would be DTV-ready in time for the August 2011 deadline. The remaining CBC/R-C originating O&O's were to be converted a year later in August 2012, subject to CRTC approval.[10] Transmitters operating solely as full-power repeaters of CBC/R-C stations currently have no viable digital transition plan, despite in some cases being in markets (such as Kitchener, London and Saskatoon) required to convert in 2011. While many CBC affiliate stations are in small one-station markets not required to digitise, Corus Entertainment intends to voluntarily upgrade CHEX-TV's main Peterborough signal to HDTV at the end of 2011 and Rivière-du-Loup "triple-stick" affiliate Télé Inter-Rives (Radio-Canada/TVA/V) is working to comply with its mandatory 2011 digital deadline.
As of 2010[update], there are no requirements that new televisions sold in Canada include digital tuners (as they must in the US market), nor are there any labelling requirements for analogue-only receivers; many new television receivers are therefore unable to tune a digital signal without an external ATSC tuner. Manufacturers now legally unable to export analogue-only NTSC equipment to the US may have an incentive to redirect this inventory to Canada. As of 2010[update], an estimated 900000 Canadians currently relying on antennas stand to lose all OTA TV reception in 2011, as not ready for the digital transition. While a new HDTV receiver connected to a terrestrial television antenna will receive OTA digital television, Canadian regulations do not require cable television operators to carry these free local HDTV signals in unencrypted digital format on their systems.
Restrictions written directly into each of the individual broadcast licenses for Canadian digital transitional television severely limit the amount of additional programming which otherwise could be carried using digital subchannels, by permitting no more than 14 hours per week of programming that would not be duplicated on the analog service and requiring what little unique digital content can be broadcast be entirely in widescreen high definition with a minimum of 50% Canadian content.[11] Corresponding restrictions are imposed upon terrestrial digital radio as well as on the HDTV services of pay-TV operators[12]
This renders digital terrestrial television less marketable than in other countries such as the United States, where the use of subchannels to double or triple the number of viewing choices to audiences in underserved markets is commonplace. In most cases, viewers will not obtain any additional programming from Canadian stations by becoming early adopters of terrestrial digital television technologies. Outside large markets, the majority of broadcasters to date have adopted a wait-and-see approach, due to cost (V, formerly TQS, alone estimates $15 million in costs to convert its remaining five analogue-only owned-and-operated stations and associated network feeds in 2010-2011, although Montréal flagship CFJP-TV is already digital) and the lack of a viable business case to justify the conversion.
For stations which intend to use their existing analogue channel, antenna or other facilities for their new digital transmitters after the end of transition, it is therefore economically prudent to simply wait for the August 2011 transition date before deploying facilities instead of building a second, transitional digital television facility on another channel. In some cases, stations like CHEX-TV 12 Peterborough (which is in a one-station market, not required to convert) have planned upgrades in such a manner as to provide an HDTV signal to cable subscribers well before the 2011 transition while delaying the start of over-the-air DTV broadcasts in order to re-use an existing analogue channel in 2011.
The CRTC has expressed concern that "if all broadcasters wait until the last moment to proceed to the transition, there could be a shortage of professional engineers and competent technicians capable of assuming the development of new plans and the installation of new systems and structures"[13] but, unlike the United States, Canadian authorities offer no incentives, no subsidies and no real requirements for broadcasters, television manufacturers or viewers to adopt the technology early.
Deployment
CITY-TV was the first Canadian station to provide digital terrestrial service, first broadcasting in January 2003, and going full-time in March 2003. The first HD broadcast in Canada was CBC Sports' coverage of the Heritage Classic, an outdoor NHL game. CBC ultimately launched a high definition feed of their eastern flagship CBLT in 2005, later launching feeds in Vancouver, Ottawa, and Montreal. As of 2008, other digital stations on-air include the CBC and Radio-Canada stations in Toronto and Montreal, as well as CTV's CFTO and CIVT, and Quebecor Media's independent station CKXT.
See list of television stations in Canada, list of United States stations available in Canada and individual television station listings for details.
Although as of 2010[update] digital television broadcasts have commenced in just nine of Canada's largest markets, most — although not all — Canadian television stations have digital channel assignments pre-allocated. This does not signify that the stations have applied for nor that they have received construction permits for these channels. In some cases, allocated channels are listed to Canada-US border communities with frequencies which overlap proposed US emergency services;[15] affected stations can be expected to require either new allocations or a flash-cut on an existing analogue channel.
See also
References
- ^ "Broadcasting Public Notice CRTC 2002-31". http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2002/pb2002-31.htm. Retrieved 2009-10-08.
- ^ "Broadcasting Public Notice CRTC 2007-53". http://www.crtc.gc.ca/Eng/archive/2007/pb2007-53.htm. Retrieved 2009-10-08.
- ^ Canada’s Office of Consumer Affairs - What You Need to Know About the Analog-to-Digital Television Transition in Canada
- ^ http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/com200/2010/s100614.htm
- ^ Télévision: Fin de l'analogique, Radio-Canada, July 16, 2010
- ^ "Networks unprepared for digital TV shift: CRTC", The Globe and Mail, June 24, 2008.
- ^ Networks unprepared for digital TV shift: CRTC by Grant Robertson
- ^ Cost Estimate of Digital Television (DTV) Conversion for Canada, P. Lemée / F. Gauthier, Spectrum Expert Inc., March 31, 2009
- ^ Digital TV: 1 million Canadians not ready, CBC News, July 16, 2010
- ^ CBC won't meet digital TV deadline, CBC News, August 6, 2010
- ^ Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2003-8, 9 January 2003 CHUM Limited, CITY-TV Toronto - transitional digital television licence
- ^ Broadcasting Public Notice CRTC 2006-74, 15 June 2006, Regulatory framework for the licensing and distribution of high definition pay and speciality services
- ^ Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2008-129, 26 June 2008 re: Change in the effective control of TQS inc. and licence renewals, Section 86: Conversion to digital
- ^ "Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2009-410". http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2009/2009-410.htm. Retrieved 2009-10-08.
- ^ Proposed Revisions to the Frequency Plan for Public Safety in the Band 700 MHz, January 2008, Industry Canada, Spectrum Management and Telecommunications
External links
- Canadian OTA TV Station Database is a listing compiled daily from the official Industry Canada database of stations
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Categories: Digital television by country | Science and technology in Canada | Television in Canada
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