ED
I don't know the percentage of TV viewers that subscribe to cable or satellite, but I would hazard a guess that the figure would be around 90% (or even higher). Canada also has a high percentage of users on broadband internet, so more and more people are starting to use services like Netflix or just downloading the shows from legal (or illegal) sources.
I agree that CBC/Radio-Canada maybe shouldn't have transmitters in ultra remote areas, but as I stated in my previous post there are large cities or major regional centres that are losing one or both CBC TV services.
Fredericton, New Brunswick, for example - a city of around 50,000 people - has an "originating" CBC station (the station produces local programming/news), so it has digital over-the-air service. Meanwhile, Saint John - a city with more than double the population of Fredericton in the same broadcasting region - has lost its CBC over-the-air service. An even greater example is London, Ontario - a city of about 450,000, and a market that was part of the mandatory digital switchover - is losing both its CBC TV over the air services, simply because its city did not have an originating CBC station. Calgary, with a population of over 1 million people, has lost its Radio-Canada TV service as well, because the originating station is 300km north in Edmonton.
It's a shame that multiplexing has not been utilized in Canada's DTV infrastructure. Surely, the CBC could have saved lots of money by having CBC on .1 in HD, and Radio-Canada on .2 in SD in English Canada (and the reverse in French Canada). CBC could have also multiplexed their rural DTV signals (if they had any) and rented out any subchannels to private networks.
It's also worth noting that Global Television, which has converted all its transmitters in mandatory digital markets to DTV in 2011, is on its way to fulfilling its commitment to convert its entire transmitter network outside of those markets by 2016. This was a condition promised by its owners, Shaw Media (which also own cable and satellite companies in Canada), in exchange for the country's television regulators to approve their purchase of Global TV.
ED
Founding member
International Presentation
I notice that they are blaming government cuts for the closedowns, saying that would have wanted to continue the analogue service for a few more years.
The page says 1,7 percent of Canadians are affected. I generally don't think you need to use money and spectrum to give every hermit TV reception, but 1,7 percent of the population seems a bit much if that figure excludes people within the reception areas that have satellite.
How is cab/sat penetration in Canada? Is it at 90 percent like in the US?
The page says 1,7 percent of Canadians are affected. I generally don't think you need to use money and spectrum to give every hermit TV reception, but 1,7 percent of the population seems a bit much if that figure excludes people within the reception areas that have satellite.
How is cab/sat penetration in Canada? Is it at 90 percent like in the US?
I don't know the percentage of TV viewers that subscribe to cable or satellite, but I would hazard a guess that the figure would be around 90% (or even higher). Canada also has a high percentage of users on broadband internet, so more and more people are starting to use services like Netflix or just downloading the shows from legal (or illegal) sources.
I agree that CBC/Radio-Canada maybe shouldn't have transmitters in ultra remote areas, but as I stated in my previous post there are large cities or major regional centres that are losing one or both CBC TV services.
Fredericton, New Brunswick, for example - a city of around 50,000 people - has an "originating" CBC station (the station produces local programming/news), so it has digital over-the-air service. Meanwhile, Saint John - a city with more than double the population of Fredericton in the same broadcasting region - has lost its CBC over-the-air service. An even greater example is London, Ontario - a city of about 450,000, and a market that was part of the mandatory digital switchover - is losing both its CBC TV over the air services, simply because its city did not have an originating CBC station. Calgary, with a population of over 1 million people, has lost its Radio-Canada TV service as well, because the originating station is 300km north in Edmonton.
It's a shame that multiplexing has not been utilized in Canada's DTV infrastructure. Surely, the CBC could have saved lots of money by having CBC on .1 in HD, and Radio-Canada on .2 in SD in English Canada (and the reverse in French Canada). CBC could have also multiplexed their rural DTV signals (if they had any) and rented out any subchannels to private networks.
It's also worth noting that Global Television, which has converted all its transmitters in mandatory digital markets to DTV in 2011, is on its way to fulfilling its commitment to convert its entire transmitter network outside of those markets by 2016. This was a condition promised by its owners, Shaw Media (which also own cable and satellite companies in Canada), in exchange for the country's television regulators to approve their purchase of Global TV.