Digital television in Canada: Difference between revisions
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Revision as of 12:19, 19 April 2011
In Canada, digital terrestrial television, also known as over-the-air television (OTA), is transmitted using the US ATSC standard. Because Canada and the United States, use the same standard and frequencies for channels, people near the Canada and US border can watch both countries' signals, if available. ATSC is also the standard used in Mexico and South Korea.
Jurisdiction over over-the-air broadcasting in Canada is primarily regulated by Industry Canada and the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commissions (CRTC). Industry Canada has jurisdiction over the allotment of over-the-air spectrum and the CRTC has jurisdiction over the allotment of licences broadcast.
The CRTC has imposed in 28 mandatory markets, a digital transition deadline of August 31, 2011.
Industry Canada has already stopped issuing licenses within Canada for new television transmitters broadcasting in analog.
History
The digital television transition in Canada and the United States will result in spectrum on channels 52 to 69 being re-allocated for other purposes. The United States government already auctioned most of this spectrum and Canada is planning on doing the same. The United States government, using some proceeds of the spectrum action, funded an education campaign in advance of the transition, provided subsidies to many broadcasters in support of transitioning to digital, and provided subsidies to consumers for digital to analog converter boxes. In contrast, the Canadian government has no plans to provide any similar funding in support of the digital television transition.
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 converted, costs would increase further.[1] Some of the highest costs were for existing full-power VHF rebroadcast transmitters that 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.
Several broadcasters, including the CBC, have argued that there is no viable business case for a comprehensive digital conversion strategy in Canada. Converting a transmitter to digital has up front capital equipment costs in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, which can in more extreme cases reach over a million dollars, though some cost recovery in energy costs is possible due to lower transmission power required to cover an area as compared to analog, if the same channel is used. 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 licence fees similar to those that 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,[2][3] and expressed the regulator's concern that Canada's television broadcasters were not adequately preparing for the shift to digital broadcasting.
The US financial crisis and subsequent 2008 recession adverserly impacted advertising sales, the primary source of revenue for most broadcasters. Inadequate revenue in combination with debt incurred from purchasing other media companies caused Canwest, owner of the Global Television Network, to file for bankruptcy protection and to be subsequently purchased by Shaw Communications. Some Global Television Network and CTV stations in smaller markets were closed or sold. Seeking further sources of revenue, the television broadcasters including CTV launched an aggressive and somewhat successful campaign to re-open debate for introducing value for signal from cable and satellite television providers) debate in 2009.
On August 6, 2010, CBC/Radio-Canada announced in a press release that only its existing digital stations, along with both Alberta CBC Television originating stations plus all Télévision de Radio-Canada (SRC) originating stations in Quebec City and Moncton, would be DTV-ready in time for the August 2011 deadline. The remaining CBC/SRC originating O&O's were to be converted a year later in August 2012, subject to CRTC approval.[4] In December 2010, CBC/Radio-Canada updated the information on its website to state that its was striving to convert originating O&O by August 31, 2011. CBC has stated that it does not intend on transitioning any of its full-power repeaters to digital, despite in some cases being in markets (such as Kitchener, London and Saskatoon) required to convert by August 31, 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.
In many instances, stations transitioning to digital will continue utilizing the same channel, antenna or other facilities for their new digital transmitters after the end of transition. To save costs, with the exception of some stations in the largest markets, stations are choosing to flash cut from analog to digital at the transition deadline rather than spending on the infrastructure and energy costs needed to broadcast the station in analog and digital at the same time. 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".[5]
There are no requirements for new televisions sold in Canada to include digital tuners (as they must in the US market), nor are there any labelling requirements for analogue-only receivers; some new televisions may be unable to tune a digital signal without an external ATSC tuner. As of 2010[update], an estimated 900000 Canadians currently relying on antennas stand to lose all OTA TV reception in 2011, as they are 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.
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.
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.
Although as of April 2011[update] digital television broadcasts have commenced in just 10 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 broadcasting permits for these channels. In some cases, allocated channels are listed to Canada-US border communities with frequencies that overlap proposed US emergency services;[6] affected stations can be expected to require either new allocations or a flash-cut on an existing analogue channel.[7][8]
Broadcasting digital terrestrial signals instead of in analog offers numerous advantages to the viewer, such as the following: support for high definition (HD) picture, support for 5 speaker surround sound, support for information on the current and the next few programs shown the channel, support for sub-channels, and support for mobile devices (i.e. ATSC-M/H). Canadian broadcasters have implemented many of the listed features to varying extents, though unlike in US, there are no known broadcasters in Canada using sub-channels to show multiple stations on the same channel nor are there any transmitters broadcasting TV signals intended for mobile devices.
Mandatory Markets for Over-Air Transition to Digital
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.[9] It subsequently reversed its position, a later decision[10] setting an analogue shutoff date of August 31, 2011,[11] just over two years after the American transition date of June 12, 2009. Note that the transition deadline only concerns over-the-air signals and does not impact other televisions reception methods in Canada such as over the internet (already digital), cable (some analog, some digital), or satellite (already digital).
On July 6, 2009, the CRTC issued a decision[12] that limited the required digital conversion to mandatory markets meeting any of the following criteria:
- the National Capital Region, provincial capitals, and territorial capitals
- markets served by multiple originating stations (including CBC stations)
- markets with populations greater than 300,000.
On March 14, 2011, the CRTC removed territorial capitals as mandatory markets on the basis that these are small and remote markets, and that only 1 of the 6 transmitters in these markets were planned to be converted to digital, while the remainder of the transmitters would be shut down rather than converted.[13]
Mandatory markets with a transmitter that does not transition to digital by the deadline will lose the over-the-air signal for the corresponding station permanently or until a digital transmitter is brought on-the-air for that station in that area.
On March 18, 2011, the CRTC mandated a requirement that television stations must broadcast public service announcements regarding the digital over-the-air television transition from May 1, 2011 until August 31, 2011.[14] Stations must broadcast these ads 6 times a day, and increase this to 8 times a day starting August 1, 2011 or one month before the digital transition date for that station, whichever is sooner.
List of Mandatory Markets (as of March 14, 2011)
| Province | Mandatory Markets | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| AB | Calgary, Edmonton, Lethbridge, Lloydminster | |
| BC | Vancouver, Victoria | |
| MB | Winnipeg | |
| NB | Saint John, Moncton, Fredericton | |
| NL | St. John's | |
| NS | Halifax | |
| PE | Charlottetown | |
| ON | Barrie, Hamilton, Kitchener, London, Ottawa-Gatineau, Thunder Bay, Toronto, Windsor | Barrie and Hamilton are included in the Toronto market since their stations compete in the Toronto market |
| QC | Montréal, Québec, Rivière-du-Loup, Rouyn-Noranda/Val d’Or, Saguenay, Sherbrooke, Trois-Rivières | |
| SK | Regina, Saskatoon |
In addition, full-power stations occupying channels 52 to 69 in non-mandatory markets are required to vacate those channels by August 31, 2011 and are permitted to move to another channel in analog or digital, as part of a spectrum re-allocation.[15] There are 17 of such transmitters across Canada:
- 5 transmitters (3 TVO, 1 CTV, 1 independent) are being transitioned to digital as part of the change in channel.
- 10 transmitters, all owned by CBC, are to remain in analog, but on a different channel.
- 2 transmitters (1 Global, 1 Miracle Channel) are to be shut down, though only in the case of the Miracle Channel rebroadcaster is signal coverage within Canada expected to be lost.
Plans of major networks to transition to digital
Note that the list below does not take into account plans of network affiliate stations.
| Network | Language | All transmitters in mandatory markets planned to go digital by August 31, 2011 deadline | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| CBC / SRC | English / French | No | Plans to convert only the digital transmitter in the home market of each originating station (i.e. location where each station is physically located). CBC/SRC will not be converting any of its rebroadcasters in mandatory markets to digital. There are 23 rebroadcasters (11 CBC and 12 SRC) operated by CBC in mandatory markets. |
| Citytv | English | Yes | |
| CTV / A | English | Yes (except Access) | CTV states that it is "not in a position to invest in Access’ digital transition at this time, nor is such an investment required given ACCESS’ licence status as a satellite-to-cable undertaking."[16] Access' transmitters are in Calgary and Edmonton. |
| Global | English | Yes (except Barrie) | Plans on also converting Barrie transmitter and all transmitters in non-mandatory markets to digital by 2016. Global's Toronto transmitter will increase signal coverage to include coverage to Barrie, though not all areas serviced by the existing Barrie transmitter will receive coverage. |
| Omni | English / Multi-language | Yes | |
| TVO | English | Yes | Also plans to transition all three full power analog transmitters outside mandatory markets broadcasting within channel range of 52 to 69. Transmitters will flash cut to digital on August 16 and August 18, 2011.[17] Transmitter network only located within Ontario, with the transmitter for Ottawa based in Quebec. |
| TVA | French | Yes | |
| Télé-Québec | French | Yes | Intends on converting all transmitters to digital including within non-mandatory markets by early September 2011. Transmitter network only located within Quebec. |
| V | French | Unclear | Montreal transmitter is already in digital and Quebec transmitter will be by the deadline. Transmitters in Saguenay, Sherbrooke, and Trois-Rivières will broadcast in digital if permitted to negotiate value for signal payments from broadcasting distribution undertakings (BDUs). |
Status of Digital Television Transition
| Province | Market | Mandatory Market | Transmitters | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AB | Burmis | No | CJIL-TV-2 (Ind) | Plans to decommission transmitter |
Full power analog station occupying channel within 52 to 69 range. |
| AB | Calgary | Yes |
CBRFT (SRC) |
Not planned to go digital |
CTV owns Access. |
| AB | Edmonton | Yes |
CBXFT (SRC) |
Transmitter approved by CRTC |
CTV owns Access. |
| AB | Lethbridge | Yes |
CBRT-6 (CBC) |
Not planned to go digital |
|
| AB | Lloydminster | Yes |
Transmitter approved by CRTC | ||
| BC | Vancouver | Yes |
CBUFT (SRC) |
Transmitter approved by CRTC |
CKVU-TV broadcasts in analog with one transmitter serving Vancouver and Victoria. In its place, two digital transmitters will broadcast, one for Vancouver and one for Victoria. |
| BC | Victoria | Yes |
CHEK-TV (Ind) |
Transmitter approved by CRTC |
CKVU-TV broadcasts in analog with one transmitter serving Vancouver and Victoria. In its place, two digital transmitters will broadcast, one for Vancouver and one for Victoria. |
| MB | Winnipeg | Yes |
CBWFT (SRC) |
Transmitter approved by CRTC |
|
| NB | Fredericton | Yes |
Not planned to go digital |
||
| NB | Moncton | Yes |
CBAFT (SRC) |
Transmitter approved by CRTC |
|
| NB | Saint John | Yes |
CBAFT-1 (SRC) |
Not planned to go digital |
CBC had applied for digital transmitter CBAT based in Fredericton in the place of its existing transmitter based in Saint John. Had it been approved, the digital signal would have covered Fredericton and surrounding area, but would not have covered Saint John. The analog transmitter covers both Saint John and Fredericton. CBC must therefore submit a new application in order for this station to continue broadcasting. |
| NL | St. John's | Yes |
Not planned to go digital |
||
| NS | Halifax | Yes |
Not planned to go digital |
||
| ON | Barrie | Yes |
CBLFT-11 (SRC) |
Not planned to go digital |
CIII-TV-7 is not planned to be digital by the August 31, 2011 deadline, but is planned to transition to digital by 2016. |
| ON | Belleville | No | CICO-TV-53 (TVO) | Transmitter approved by CRTC |
Full power analog station occupying channel within 52 to 69 range. |
| ON | Brighton | No | CKWS-TV-1 (CBC) | Transmitter approved by CRTC |
Full power analog station occupying channel within 52 to 69 range. |
| ON | Chatham | No | CICO-TV-59 (TVO) | Transmitter approved by CRTC |
Full power analog station occupying channel within 52 to 69 range. |
| ON | Cloyne | No | CICO-TV-92 (TVO) | Transmitter approved by CRTC |
Full power analog station occupying channel within 52 to 69 range. |
| ON | Fort Erie | No | CIII-TV-55 (Global) | Not planned to go digital |
Full power analog station occupying channel within 52 to 69 range. Over-the-air signal coverage in digital to be provided by station's Toronto transmitter, which will boost its signal coverage to reach Fort Erie and the surrounding area. |
| ON | Hamilton | Yes |
On-Air |
||
| ON | Kitchener | Yes |
CBLFT-8 (SRC) |
Not planned to go digital |
|
| ON | London | Yes |
CBLFT-9 (SRC) |
Not planned to go digital |
CKXT is digital-only in London. |
| ON QC |
Ottawa Gatineau |
Yes |
CBOFT-DT (SRC) |
On-Air |
CKXT is digital-only in Ottawa. |
| ON | Peterborough | No | CFTO-TV-54 (CTV) | Transmitter approved by CRTC |
Full power analog station occupying channel within 52 to 69 range. |
| ON | Thunder Bay | Yes |
CBLFT-18 (SRC) |
Not planned to go digital |
|
| ON | Toronto | Yes |
CBLFT-DT (SRC) |
On-Air |
|
| ON | Windsor | Yes |
CBEFT (SRC) |
Not planned to go digital |
|
| PE | Charlottetown | Yes |
CBAFT-5 (SRC) |
Not planned to go digital |
|
| QC | Montreal | Yes |
CBFT-DT (SRC) |
On-Air |
|
| QC | Quebec City | Yes |
CBVE-TV (CBC) |
Not planned to go digital |
|
| QC | Rivière-du-Loup | Yes |
Transmitter approved by CRTC |
||
| QC | Rouyn-Noranda / Val-d'Or | Yes |
CFEM-TV (TVA) |
Transmitter approved by CRTC |
|
| QC | Saguenay | Yes |
CBJET (CBC) |
Not planned to go digital |
|
| QC | Sherbrooke | Yes |
CBMT-3 (CBC) |
Not planned to go digital |
|
| QC | Trois-Rivières | Yes |
CBMT-1 (CBC) |
Not planned to go digital |
|
| SK | Regina | Yes |
Transmitter approved by CRTC |
||
| SK | Saskatoon | Yes |
Not planned to go digital |
See also
References
- ^ Cost Estimate of Digital Television (DTV) Conversion for Canada, P. Lemée / F. Gauthier, Spectrum Expert Inc., March 31, 2009
- ^ "Networks unprepared for digital TV shift: CRTC", The Globe and Mail, June 24, 2008.
- ^ Networks unprepared for digital TV shift: CRTC by Grant Robertson
- ^ CBC won't meet digital TV deadline, CBC News, August 6, 2010
- ^ 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
- ^ Proposed Revisions to the Frequency Plan for Public Safety in the Band 700 MHz, January 2008, Industry Canada, Spectrum Management and Telecommunications
- ^ Broadcasting Information Bulletin CRTC 2010-719
- ^ Over The Air Television Stations In Canada
- ^ "Broadcasting Public Notice CRTC 2002-31". Retrieved 2009-10-08.
- ^ "Broadcasting Public Notice CRTC 2007-53". Retrieved 2009-10-08.
- ^ Canada’s Office of Consumer Affairs - What You Need to Know About the Analog-to-Digital Television Transition in Canada
- ^ "Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2009-406". Retrieved 2011-03-14.
- ^ "Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2011-184". Retrieved 2011-03-14.
- ^ "Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2011-198". Retrieved 2011-03-18.
- ^ "Broadcasting Information Bulletin CRTC 2010-719". Retrieved 2011-03-14.
- ^ "Applicant response dated 6 December 2010". Retrieved 2011-03-17.
- ^ "About TVO - Digital Over the Air". Retrieved 2011-03-12.
External links
- Canadian OTA TV Station Database is a listing compiled daily from the official Industry Canada database of stations