CRTC Approves CBC Delay in Digital TV

[jon]

In the West, CBC-TV's English and French transmitters in Calgary, Lethbridge, Regina and Saskatoon, plus the French transmitter in Edmonton, won't switch from analogue to digital (SD to HDTV) for another year: until August 2012. The CRTC approved this delay this morning. The biggest surprise elsewhere in the country was that flagship station CBLT-TV Toronto is on the list of stations not switching for another year.

Because the government has already committed the spectrum of analogue UHF TV Channels 52 to 69 for other purposes after the end of this month, any CBC transmitters still on those frequencies must either move to a lower channel or switch to a low power license that allows Industry Canada to force the station to move to another Channel with virtually no notice.

[drmusic]

No, Regina and Calgary are switching to digital as scheduled. Saskatoon and Lethbridge were going to be shut down altogether, because those cities are mandatory markets but the CBC signals there are rebroadcasters and the Corp took the position that it could only afford to convert originating stations. It's being allowed to maintain those transmitters in analogue for another year. (Rebroadcasters in non-mandatory markets will stay in analogue for the forseeable future.)

Here's the CBC's story, which is a little confusing because of the included map.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/201 ... rsion.html

[jon]

I got suckered in by the CRTC Press Release, which lists both the rebroadcast transmitters that aren't going digital for another year AND the station each rebroadcasts.

Having now read the actual CRTC "Broadcasting Decision", rather than just the Press Release, I see that, in the West, on the English side, it is only transmitters, both rebroadcasters, in Saskatoon and Lethbridge that are covered by this decision. As for French, it is Calgary, Lethbridge and Saskatoon. My reference to Toronto's CBLT-TV should have been to its rebroadcaster in London, Ontario.