Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore addressed a communications conference yesterday in Ottawa, emphasizing that he thrives on digital technologies and expressing concern about the digital television transition in Canada.
James Moore on the Digital TV Transition
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interoperability
I did not see any mention of interoperability of digital television services. Without something like cable card, and as long as the digital television companies insist on encrypting their content, consumers are going to be forced to either buy or rent a their set top box from the dtv provider.
I am very annoyed that if I buy a new hdtv today, it will contain a digital tuner, which will only be used if I can pick up an over the air signal. If I want digital cable, I have to buy/rent a box.
Hear hear!
I agree completely with Flocci.
James Moore waxes on and on about access and convenience (“getting to watch what I want, when I want, where I want” and “and enjoying great programming”) but access will in fact be more limited with the introduction to digital as the only “open” digital technology will exist OTA only and for people like me who do not live in the “big cities” OTA is for all intents and purposes non-existent.
Digital, to cable companies, means a terrific opportunity to create a silo and trap customers into having to spend more on equipment to decode proprietary encrypted signals.
If James Moore really values the transition to digital he needs to work to ensure that it’s a transition to digital AND open technologies so that third parties can come to market with products to enhance Canadians’ experiences and not trap them into silos.
Open technologies exist (i.e. DVB). Cable providers just choose not to use them as they know that means competition for their hardware sales and rentals.
cable gougers
I believe in the US, cable companies are required by legislation to carry the OTA HD channels unencrypted. This would normally mean that US cable viewers receive (at a minumum?) ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX unencrypted. For reasons of greed and/or ignorance Canadian legislators have not seen fit to do the same up here. I’m in Vancouver and I can get CBC, CTV, and Global OTA in HD. Yet, Shaw scrambles those channels (channels that Shaw itself does not pay for, IIRC).
In a sane world, there would be legislation requiring the cable companies to not encrypt any channel that is broadcast OTA in the North America. Too bad this is not a sane world, but rather one run at least to some extent by, and for, the media companies.
encryption is not the only issue
Jim R:
Encryption of OTA-originated content on cable is indeed an issue that needs to be solved, but that goes hand-in-hand with the openness of the signals on the digital cable. It doesn’t really matter if they encrypt them or not if the specification of the signal and freedom to create hardware and software to receive and display them is not open.
Amen.
Not sure what else needs saying.
Terrestrial digital TV quality is 10 times better than digital over cable
a)Terrestrial digital Tv is much higher quality than digital over cable because signal has to be highly compressed for cable. Hardly notice difference between standard TV and digital TV over cable. DIGITAL TV IS MEANT TO BE USED TERRESTRIALLY!
b)Long distance terrestrial digital Tv is easy to capture – need a good antenna, rotor, maybe some filters, good coax cable to TV. Easy to get 50 plus miles.
c)Long distance for small communities can be handled by television translators and boosters which rebroadcast digital TV.
Broken link
Interesting: doesn’t take long for this to become a broken link on Heritage’s site.