@j0dest3r

From CRTC Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2010-485, issued July 6, 2010

34. Having reviewed the submission of parties and broadcasters’ plans, the Commission is of the view that the conversion of one or more trial market(s) several months before the conversion of the remaining markets would be beneficial. It also considers that Winnipeg would constitute an appropriate trial market given its size, its distance from other mandatory markets and the presence of all major English-language broadcasters in the market. The Commission is also of the view that the city of Québec would constitute an appropriate trial market given its size and the presence of all major French-language broadcasters. The Commission notes that most broadcasters in these markets have stated their intentions to implement digital transmitters by 2011 and that some broadcasters in the Québec market are already operating DTV transmitters on their post-transitional channels.

roger1818 - Isn't Calgary a major market in either of the official languages? It is a city of around 1.2 Million inhabitants - bigger than Ottawa (number 4 in Canada I understand). If francophones can't be served over the air in Calgary by SRC in their own language - there is obviously something wrong with the system!

Quote downbeat:-

As was mentioned in the CBC/Radio-Canada transition thread, they are only converting their originating stations. This means CBRFT is off the list, as it is a full-time rebroadcaster of CBXFT Edmonton. (And I'm pretty sure this doesn't comply with CRTC stipulations.)

I must admit I don't recall the CRTC specifying whether repeaters in major markets are required to upgrade to DTV. That said, the spirit of the rules would suggest that it should occur.
In short, CBC/Radio-Canada's policy diverges from that of Canada's other TV broadcasters.

Does anyone find it ironic that the federal government stands to make $billions from the sale of television frequencies freed up by digital conversion but has done practically nothing to help consumers and broadcasters with the transition? This is especially applicable to "public" broadcasters like the CBC that have a mandate to serve the all Canadians.

Something just occurred to me relating to the CBC/Radio-Canada's unwillingness to convert analog repeaters to digital right away — there might be a technological obstacle preventing them from feeding high-definition DTV signals to their repeaters.
I read in their FAQ that CBC/Radio-Canada's distribution system is currently analog and is soon coming to the end of its useful life. From that, I've extrapolated that as of now, they don't have an appropriate means of distributing regional signals in digital format.
If what I understood from their FAQ is true, then I can see how it makes no sense to convert their repeaters to DTV. This certainly would add a little wrinkle (and extra costs) to CBC/Radio-Canada's DTV rollout.
Still, it's still no excuse seeing how they had practically a decade to get things rolling, but it's just one more football for us to throw around.

P.S. If anyone on the forum can confirm that my extrapolation/understanding is correct, that would be most awesome.

roger1818 - Isn't Calgary a major market in either of the official languages? It is a city of around 1.2 Million inhabitants - bigger than Ottawa (number 4 in Canada I understand). If francophones can't be served over the air in Calgary by SRC in their own language - there is obviously something wrong with the system!

I don't deny that Calgary is a major market. I am just asking where it says that major cities must have an SRC transmitter? Ottawa/Gatineau has one (despite recently being passed by Calgary in population) because it is a fully bilingual city with a large francophone population.

This document only talks about originating stations. There is no mention of repeaters in mandatory markets. We can only assume that they will be shut down, but we really don't know if and when that will happen.



I must admit I don't recall the CRTC specifying whether repeaters in major markets are required to upgrade to DTV. That said, the spirit of the rules would suggest that it should occur.
In short, CBC/Radio-Canada's policy diverges from that of Canada's other TV broadcasters.



So, does anyone know what the CRTC's decision is regarding repeaters in mandatory markets?
It would be totally ridiculous if London loses its OTA CBC repeater, as it does not have an originating CBC station. If other broadcasters upgrade their repeater transmitters in London, I would hope/expect CBC/SRC to do the same. I believe SRC (french) will upgrade their repeater to DTV in London, and it would NOT make sense if CBC (english) does not.

Nope — Radio-Canada in London is not on their list.

Nope — Radio-Canada in London is not on their list.
Well, that really sucks! Thanks downbeat for confirming.
Perhaps London is a special "case", as it does not show in the "CBC tower locations" at http://cbctransmission.ca/. Many broadcasters have their London OTA repeaters at the Byron antenna. I don't believe CBC owns the Byron tower in London.
I looked at other CBC locations on the cbctransmission.ca map, and the CBC does identify the CN Tower in Toronto, where many broadcasters have their OTA transmitters, and CBC definitely does not own.

downbeat - can you please help me out here as regards roger1818's comment with respect to the case of a possible SRC DT repeater in Calgary (a major populated area). I had understood from your post below that not installing a CBRFT-DT transmitter would not comply with CRTC stipulations/regulations?

As was mentioned in the CBC/Radio-Canada transition thread, they are only converting their originating stations. This means CBRFT is off the list, as it is a full-time rebroadcaster of CBXFT Edmonton. (And I'm pretty sure this doesn't comply with CRTC stipulations.)

Thank you!

It is my understanding that the CRTC's DTV conversion policy makes no difference between repeaters and originating stations.
That said, the policy doesn't appear to address repeaters specifically, either. Therein lies the source for confusion for me (and others, too, I presume).
Of course, I'm open to the possibility that, somewhere along the way, I missed a DTV conversion policy that addresses repeaters in mandatory market.

You also have to understand that the CRTC can't force a station to stay on-air. All they can do is tell them the conditions that must be met to stay on-air. So if the SRC wants to shut down their Calgary repeater, there is nothing the CRTC can do about it and no rules have been broken.

Oh well - it seems that the final answer with CBRFT-DT will lie in the politics.

At least I am hoping that if an eventual dicision is positive then it will appear on UHF.

Here's hoping for Calgary's growing French speaking population!

I find it interesting that a huge deal is being made here of Calgary losing its SRC repeater but no one seems at all concerned that Saskatoon may lose its CBC station, though that may have more to do with the demographics of this forum than anything else.

Probably getting that impression because I'm writing lots these days. :P LOL
But seriously, you're correct. I'm making a big deal about Calgary because I live there. And people who live in Saskatoon need to make a big deal to have BOTH their CBC stations switch to digital.
It can't just be one or two or ten people advocating something nation-wide. It has to be dozens and hundreds of people all across the country speaking up and speaking out to tell CBC/Radio-Canada they have to try harder to put up ATSC transmitters. Perhaps not blanketing the country like they did back decades ago, but certainly enough to properly cover the larger centres, like Saskatoon.

Well, that really sucks! Thanks downbeat for confirming.
Perhaps London is a special "case", as it does not show in the "CBC tower locations" at http://cbctransmission.ca/. Many broadcasters have their London OTA repeaters at the Byron antenna. I don't believe CBC owns the Byron tower in London.
I looked at other CBC locations on the cbctransmission.ca map, and the CBC does identify the CN Tower in Toronto, where many broadcasters have their OTA transmitters, and CBC definitely does not own.

CBC not upgrading their transmitters in London (or any other city of respectable size) is Un-Acceptable for a publicly funded network.

I believe CBC should even have an originating local station here (along with a locally produced radio programs) but that's for another thread.

CBC not upgrading their transmitters in London (or any other city of respectable size) is Un-Acceptable for a publicly funded network.

I believe CBC should even have an originating local station here (along with a locally produced radio programs) but that's for another thread.

I agree. It is abhorrent that the CBC is considering cutting out any of our cities, but I guess thats reality/money/politics. It would be nice if someone from the CBC would join our discussion here, or at least comment on the mandatory markets with repeaters. Since they posted their plan, I'm willing to bet most of us have contacted them and so far nobody has heard anything back (i assume, since nobody has posted).

roger1818 - I think that it is true to say that most Calgarians are proud in live in their City including myself. However that isn't to say that I don't think that whole of the country doesn't deserve to have good coverage of CBC/SRC ATSC services. Moreover I would expect the same services to be available in Saskatoon and if I lived there, I would say so and perhaps more strongly!
I would like to see all the major population centers with CBC/SRC services in both official languages.

As far as demographics go, I think that if more people understood the benefits of OTA ATSC services, there would be a much greater response from all locations of the country. However, it seems that various entities both official and otherwise are taking great care not to advertise OTA very much at all!

I can certainly understand the pride you have in your city. Myself, I have multiple allegiances having be born and raised on the west coast and then later moving to Ottawa as an adult. I even spent some time living in Montreal and have even spent short periods working in Calgary.

I think the biggest reason why we haven't heard much from those in Saskatoon is that, unlike Calgary, they don't currently have and DTV stations and thus not many people from there visit this forum.

CBC not upgrading their transmitters in London (or any other city of respectable size) is Un-Acceptable for a publicly funded network.

I believe CBC should even have an originating local station here (along with a locally produced radio programs) but that's for another thread.

I agree with you that CBC should have a station (not just a repeater) in London. It is the largest metropolitan region (other than Hamilton which is part of the Toronto market) not to have a local CBC or SRC station. Even if they shared it with Kitchener/Waterloo, though in reality they are both large enough to support their own stations.

IMHO, there should be a CBC or SRC station in every market with a population greater than 300,000 with a minimum of one of each per province.