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Blurry Outlook for Canadian Digital TV Transition

Earlier this week, hundreds of U.S. television stations plan to shut down their analog broadcasts as they complete the transition to digital over-the-air broadcasts.  While the U.S. had planned for a nationwide change this month, last minute legislation has delayed the full mandatory transition until mid-June.  My weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) argues that the U.S. experience to date highlights what should be a major concern for Canada – the transition from analog to digital broadcasts is years behind the U.S. with virtually no industry or government support.  This sounds like a purely technical issue, yet the policy implications of that transition will have a profound effect on both the national broadcast and telecom landscape. 
The basic notion of the transition is fairly straightforward.  For decades, Canadian broadcasters have used spectrum to transmit over-the-air analog broadcast signals. Before the widespread use of cable and satellite, many Canadians used antennae – "rabbit ears"- to access those broadcast signals.  Today, approximately ten percent of Canadians still rely on over-the-air television signals.

Early in the next decade, Canadian broadcasters are scheduled to complete the switch from analog to digital broadcasts. The shift to digital brings several advantages including better image and sound quality as well as more efficient use of spectrum that will open the door to new telecom services.   

The shift will require some significant investments, however, since broadcasters must phase out their analog transmitters in favour of new digital equipment.  Regulators first hoped that broadcasters would voluntarily make the switch. In response to concerns that North American broadcasters were moving too slowly (several European countries have already transitioned from analog to digital), both the United States and Canada established mandatory deadlines under which the change must be completed.

While Canada and the U.S. negotiated an agreement on the digital television transition in 2000, the U.S. is now over two years ahead of Canada, with their mandatory transition set for June 12, 2009.  By contrast, the Canadian deadline is August 31, 2011 (there are some exceptions for northern and remote communities).

Notwithstanding the longer Canadian phase-in period, there are mounting concerns that Canadian broadcasters will not be ready in time. Last year, Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Chair Konrad von Finckenstein delivered a stinging rebuke to the broadcasters, noting the paucity of digital transmitters in Canada and lamenting that "so far, the industry has not shown the sense of urgency that I think is called for right now."  Given the difficult economic climate, Canadian broadcasters are likely to lobby Industry Minister Tony Clement heavily for a deferral of the digital transition.

The shift will also have implications for Canadian consumers, who may need new equipment since televisions that do not feature a digital tuner will require a special set-top box in order to view the over-the-air digital signals.  This additional cost could affect lower income Canadians, who are also more likely to rely on the over-the-air signals rather than cable or satellite services. 

U.S. lawmakers have established a plan to support for those in need of the digital equipment with a coupon program that subsidizes the cost.  The program does not come cheap, with US$1.5 billion set aside to cover the cost of the program.  At the moment, there are no similar plans in Canada.  The CRTC has made it clear that consumer subsidies fall outside its statutory mandate and last week Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore told a House of Commons committee that there were no government plans to establish a consumer program.

While the digital transition may result in some challenges for broadcasters, the implications are even greater for telecommunications since an important by-product of the transition will be that much of the spectrum currently used by broadcasters for analog broadcasts will be freed up for other uses.  Next week's column will examine the potential for dramatic new uses of spectrum – including more open networks and unlicensed "white spaces" that could foster new innovation and deliver wireless broadband services.

3 Comments

  1. Brad Fortner says:

    Who’s Promoting Free Over-The-Air TV In Canada?
    One of the big problems as I see it is that no-one is promoting free Over-The-Air TV in Canada. Somehow the majority of us all got hooked on Cable or Satellite TV. However one used to be able to purchase Cable TV at a reasonable price and I can tell you that is no longer the case. Rogers cable TV (from their website) rates are advertised as low as $32.97.

    As low as 32.97 a month! Who is Rogers kidding? Basic cable TV packages go for as low as $10 U.S. a month in the states. (http://bit.ly/NpMbY)To make the situation in Canada even worse, Rogers are raising their rates –again– on March 1. (http://bit.ly/17aERf)And with Rogers now owning over-the-air TV stations, coupled with their Toronto area monopoly on cable I don’t see them promoting free over-the-air TV given that they are in the business of charging for delivery of TV signals. The same goes for Bell and its interest in CTV (http://bit.ly/dXDSK). My sense is we’ve created a real mess in Canada with no entity promoting something that should be fundamentally free.

    As a contrast last weekend I posted a a story on my blog about Jeffrey Breen of the Yankee Group on my blog. It’s an interesting story where he tells about how pleasantly surprised he was with the quality and quantity of free TV his mother got when he tuned into the DTV signals in the Boston area. Canadians need to hear more stories by like Jeffrey’s. If you want to have a look at the post, you can find in at http://bit.ly/7sVMC

    ….brad….
    http://www.bradfortner.com

  2. More like Analog to NO signal transition
    “Given the difficult economic climate, Canadian broadcasters are likely to lobby Industry Minister Tony Clement heavily for a deferral of the digital transition.”

    I think not, more likely they will use the current economic climate as an excuse NOT to upgrade to digital at all – they will simply turn off the transmitters and walk away. Its already started, see: http://www.cbc.ca/arts/tv/story/2009/02/20/mb-brandon-tv.html

    I fear that Brandon is just the tip of the iceberg, and that none but the largest Canadian cities will have broadcast television stations at all. If this station goes out there is a precedent for not having a CBC broadcast affiliate serving an area of about 100’000 people (“Westman”).

    Good luck keeping your broadcast stations in the sparsely populated north – we can’t even keep them in moderately populated area’s in the south!

  3. ahole
    1st format your blog to firefox so it looks right(the right hand side is over lapping), 2nd free ota dtv is the way to go (note all the $40 C box are sold out in Toronto….tiger sold over 200 in one day)3,dump ripe off rogers , save your money in these R word times