Hello all,

A reporter at the London Free Press contacted me today for information on the CBC's current plan. If anyone else from the area would like to speak with him send me a private message and I'll pass your name and number along.

I'm not entirely sure what the angle of the article is (in theory it should be impartial ;) ) but he was asking for an explanation in lamens terms of how things work now, what will happen at the transition, and why it matters.

Cheers!

While I'm not happy with the CBC for leaving London and other regions "in the dark" post-DTV transition, one aspect of this issue deserves mention: The federal government hasn't committed any of the funds it will accept from the 700MHz auction--which should be in the billions. Even a fraction of that money would completely pay for the DTV transition. Yet not a penny will go to broadcasters.

Hello all,

A reporter at the London Free Press contacted me today for information on the CBC's current plan. If anyone else from the area would like to speak with him send me a private message and I'll pass your name and number along.

I'm not entirely sure what the angle of the article is (in theory it should be impartial ;) ) but he was asking for an explanation in lamens terms of how things work now, what will happen at the transition, and why it matters.

Cheers!

Hi micah,

You can always refer the London Free Press Reporter to this site, and specifically this thread, regarding CBC's decision to essentially drop the City of London (which is the tenth largest city in Canada) in their DTV plans.

Perhaps some of our comments here may make it into the LFP news article?! It would help make the general population aware of what the CBC has decided.

I find it totally ridiculous that the CBC won't be upgrading London's OTA transmitter to DTV by August 31, 2010 (which is exactly 1 year from now, as of this posting!!). If there was a way, I would like to drop my tax dollars from going to the CBC, as the CBC is mainly funded by taxpayers.

Just London's OTA transmitter from the Byron tower (which is owned by TVO), currently services the City of London of about ~355000, plus surrounding area, which is a total of about 460000 people, according to Population and dwelling counts, for census metropolitan areas and census agglomerations, 2006 and 2001 censuses - 100% data (http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2006/dp-pd/hlt/97-550/Index.cfm?TPL=P1C&Page=RETR&LANG=Eng&T=201&S=3&O=D&RPP=150) on the Statistics Canada website.

CBLN (CBC London) = London + Kitchener. Thats not true as the CBLN contours doesnt reach Kitchener.

I never suggested that the current contours serve both metropolitan regions. Instead I suggested that a new station (with a transmitter in say Woodstock) could.

You can always refer the London Free Press Reporter to this site, and specifically this thread, regarding CBC's decision to essentially drop the City of London (which is the tenth largest city in Canada) in their DTV plans.

Perhaps some of our comments here may make it into the LFP news article?! It would help make the general population aware of what the CBC has decided.

I'll be sure to point him here, but he found me on the forums, so I'm pretty sure he has already seen this thread. I think he wanted to talk to a real person, not my avatar on the forums. Anyway, if anyone is interested, let me know.

Just London's OTA transmitter from the Byron tower (which is owned by TVO), currently services the City of London of about ~355000, plus surrounding area, which is a total of about 460000 people, according to Population and dwelling counts, for census metropolitan areas and census agglomerations, 2006 and 2001 censuses - 100% data on the Statistics Canada website.

It would be even more than that, if you factor in Middlesex, Elgin, Oxford, Perth, Huron, and Lambton Counties, and Chatham-Kent, although parts of some of those areas would have access to other CBC signals including Windsor.

It would be even more than that, if you factor in Middlesex, Elgin, Oxford, Perth, Huron, and Lambton Counties, and Chatham-Kent, although parts of some of those areas would have access to other CBC signals including Windsor.

Chatham has its own CBC transmitter, but it's on channel 64. That will have to be moved down into the 2-51 range, but I haven't seen any mention of the CBC's plans for such transmitters. Has anyone asked about that?

That will have to be moved down into the 2-51 range, but I haven't seen any mention of the CBC's plans for such transmitters. Has anyone asked about that?

I haven't asked, but my guess is they will be shut down. I can't imagine them spending money to change them to a different analog channel (if the CRTC even permitted that) and if they are shutting down repeaters in larger markets, they aren't going to upgrade one in a smaller one to DTV.

I just posted to another thread about how to see the CBC's transition plan. The only Ontario towns on their list are Toronto, Windsor and Ottawa. Here's how to find the list:

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showpost.php?p=1144605&postcount=28

I just posted to another thread about how to see the CBC's transition plan. The only Ontario towns on their list are Toronto, Windsor and Ottawa. Here's how to find the list:

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showpost.php?p=1144605&postcount=28
Thanks Reader for the link & instuctions. Reading the CBC/SRC letter to the CRTC (July 9, 2010) document, I see a small chance other CBC OTA transmitters could be converted to DTV:


Given its financial challenges, CBC/Radio-Canada will only be installing DTV
transmitters in markets where it originates programming. This will result in 14 DTV
transmitters for CBC and 13 DTV transmitters for Radio-Canada. However,
CBC/Radio-Canada’s capital budget limitations will only permit the completion of its
DTV transition by August 31, 2012. As a result, to ensure continuity of service, the
Corporation will be seeking authority to maintain certain analogue transmitters in
operation until 31 August 2012.
These plans are subject to the outcome of a corporate wide strategic review launched in
Spring 2010. This review will be finalized by the end of 2010 and it will set the
Corporation's strategies, priorities and goals to 2015. We will update our DTV rollout, if
necessary.


The take away here is that if the CBC reconsiders its DTV rollout plan, and any changes are made, that would be finalized by the end of the year. Hopefully cities like London (which is on the list of Mandatory Markets in Ontario) will see the transmitter converted to DTV.

Looking through all the other documents in 2010-169, the other transmitters in and around the City of London (CITS, TVO, OMNI1, CITYtv, CHCH, A, etc) are being converted to digital, except for the CBC ! This seems very, ugh.... ridiculous.

Great find Reader. Strange that the CBC has not completed the column indicating what channel they plan to use post transition.

Would it not be feasable to have a programmable [filter] chip in the satellite controller box that would filter 'out-of-zone' network stations, and only allow the [networks'] local channels to be viewed?


That would be nothing lesss than a conditional access system. The programming would still be encrypted, but the CA system programmed with a region key, although there is no reay way to prevent region fraud with such a system.

There would be no way to transmit a national satelite signal with no encrpytion, and control who cannot see it, without sending people around to inspect systems, or transmitting on the honor system. If they want to trasnmit with no encryption, and regionally control the signal, simply set up a terrestrial transmitter.

There would be no way to transmit a national satelite signal with no encrpytion, and control who cannot see it, without sending people around to inspect systems, or transmitting on the honor system.

This has been discussed elsewhere and spot beaming would be one way that it could be done, but it isn't accurate enough to differentiate between cities that are close to each other. The reality is the DTH providers would rather encrypt the signal and have people use their boxes to make it easy to have their free "customers" transition to paying customers with only a push of a button.

Another aspect to this, if CBC is not prepared to continue broadcasting over-the-air in London, they should be prepared to accept an affiliation agreement with either a new television station or with CFPL. There's got to be a way the CRTC can force CBC to have a private station affiliate in a region without a CBC-owned station.

It's too bad the CBC has a hyper-obsession with owning all of its stations, otherwise the above would be a possibility for London. I know because I read that after CBC Calgary had its local newscasts cancelled in 1990, a local group submitted an offer to buy CBRT from the CBC and the corporation was absolutely unwilling to discuss the possibility.

It wouldn't surprise me if this is a scare tactic by the CBC to tap into government auction money to fund the DTV transition.

One could hope that's all it is...

It wouldn't surprise me if this is a scare tactic by the CBC to tap into government auction money to fund the DTV transition.

One could hope that's all it is...

Amen, brother!

I went over the list of mandatory markets and where CBC has transmitters and came up with this summary.

1. Will be digital by Aug. 31, 2011

Vancouver
Calgary
Edmonton
Toronto
Ottawa
Montreal

2. Will be digital by Aug. 31, 2012 :rolleyes:

Regina
Winnipeg
Windsor
Saint John/Fredericton
Halifax
Charlottetown
St. John's
Yellowknife

3. No existing analog transmitter to convert

Victoria
Rivière-du-Loup
Rouyn-Noranda/Val d’Or

4. Stations with no conversion :rolleyes:

Lloydminster
Saskatoon
Thunder Bay
Whitehorse
Iqaluit

5. Repeaters with no conversion :rolleyes:

Lethbridge
London
Kitchener
Quebec
Trois-Rivières
Sherbrooke
Saguenay
Moncton

Anyone see any errors on my list?

Bell TV carries only nine of 14 CBC stations and eight of 13 Radio-Canada stations,
Maybe someone at the CBC can explain why there are so many stations but the 10th and 11th largest Canadian markets (London and Kitchener) have no CBC stations and will be without any CBC service after August 31, 2011. IMHO, the CBC should be planning on providing independent stations to those markets, not shutting down repeaters.

the CBC should be planning on providing independent stations to those markets, not shutting down repeaters.I fully agree.

If the CBC does not continue to broadcast nationally after August 31, 2011, then it's new slogan can be "CBC, Canada's national broadcaster, only in select areas" ;)

A couple of corrections to El Gran Chico's list:

- Rouyn-Noranda does have access to the CBC English service over-the-air. They should be in range of both the Malartic transmitter (repeating Montreal) and the Kearns, Ontario transmitter (repeating Toronto).

- Lloydminster's station, CKSA is owned by NewCap, and I thought the CRTC was going to require stations in markets with more than one originating station to convert to digital. Lloydminster also has CITL, the CTV affiliate.

- I'm not sure why Saskatoon would not be converting to digital. Not only is Saskatoon in a mandatory market, but the CRTC considers CBKST to be an originating station (unlike CBLN in London), even if it functions as a "contributing bureau" for the network and has newscasts originating in Regina with some local content.