Wayne, you didn't get to post #35 yet, I see! :D

Wayne, you didn't get to post #35 yet, I see! Sorry - I skipped over that as I was responding to post #37. ;)

This is really OT - but I don't see a quote button anymore. Did I screw something up in my profile or has this changed for the entire forum?

Yup, Hugh's working on site optimizations to hopefully reduce the server load, so the Quote feature was dropped because of all the unnecessary duplication of info. DHC's popularity has never been higher, but his revenue stream isn't robust enough to give the $$$ for a second server so he has to tweak the site.

Back on topic, I hope this happens. A few new channels with some interesting, different programming might just persuade me to drop cable and go OTA. It doesn't matter that I'm 500 km from the US border as PBS is the only US network I watch with any regularity.

A few new channels with some interesting, different programming might just persuade me to drop cable and go OTA.I hope you're right but I had high hopes for HDTV but they don't have that many decent shows on, at least not yet. And like others I really wonder where they are going to find HD content that we don't already get. Even much of HDTV's content is already available on PBS. Maybe these guys will just buy Canadian rights to more of the content from PBS and HD content from Britain once they get their HD up and running.

To be honest, I don't think this network should be allowed for the simple fact that I doubt they will have much original programming that people would want to watch and any programming that they get the rights to will likely come from sources that we already have access to now.
And this differs from the current broadcasters how?

There are many more channels available OTA in T.O. for example than most of the other cities listed. That extra programming that gets on the air in T.O. would be good for the rest of the country. But by having a T.O. station it puts a crimp in that plan.

What channels are available OTA in Toronto that aren't available in other cities? Omni1&2? Sun? Are there others? If it is only those three then who cares as they rearely have anything worth watching?

What channels are available OTA in Toronto that aren't available in other cities?

Most Canadian cities don't have any Canadian DTV stations. The cities that do are:

Vancouver (CBC and CTV),
Ottawa (CBC & SRC),
Montreal (CBC & SRC),
Quebec (SRC), and
Toronto (CBC, SRC, CTV, CITY and Sun with OMNI 1&2 expected soon) If you are talking analog OTA then that would depend on the city. Here in Ottawa we are pretty lucky and we have repeaters for almost all Toronto stations that don't have a local equivalent (I believe the only one that is missing is SunTV) and for those who are bilingual (I am not), there are 4 French stations, which (correct me if I am wrong) makes Ottawa have the most Canadian analog OTA stations (14) in the country.

Having said that, other cities are not so well off. Winnipeg for example only receives CBC, SRC, Global, CTV and CITY. So the Toronto stations that aren't available there are CH, A-Channel, TVO, OMNI 1 & 2, SunTV and CTS. Most of the other target cities are in a similar situation (with the possible exception of Vancouver). Even Montreal doesn't receive very many english stations OTA.

Getting back on topic, I would love to see another station, especially if they were going to bring in a lot of foreign (non US) content. TVO gives those of us in Ontario us a little bit of foreign content and those who can get a PBS station can get a bit more, but more variety never hurt anyone (except maybe the pocketbook of the other broadcasters).

Any new news about this station?

why does winnipeg had no hd tv channels yet?
the crtc should consider licensening the winnipeg channels

I have read through the thread and it seems that everyone is talking about this network as if it will only be available OTA. Under CRTC rules, local Canadian stations are entitled to priority carriage on cable whether analog or digital. Unless the application specifically proposed that the stations would not be carried on cable, the CRTC priority carriage rules will apply. Anyone read the application?

spiddy, It isn't the CRTC's fault. The Winnipeg stations don't want to spend the money to upgrade their infrastructure.

GeorgeMx, I assumed it would be carried by the BDUs.

I did a quick search and can't find any evidence of an application (though I might have missed it) so either they haven't gotten that far (there is a lot of preparation to do before they file an application) or it was just a publicity stunt.

Does anyone have a link to the initial request? I can only find news articles which reference the application.

I can't find any information other than reports of the original press release on December 15, 2006, so I submitted the following question to the CRTC (Reference number: 341380):

On December 15, 2006 HDTV Networks Inc. (a subsidiary of CSR Investments Inc) announced that they had applied for a for a licence from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to offer a subscription-free, over-the-air broadcast service of high-definition programs.

According to the Ottawa Citizen, "The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission said it will review the proposal and may call for a public discussion. A decision could be 18 months away." and according to the Globe and Mail, "If things go smoothly, CRTC hearings could be held some time in mid-2007" yet I can't seem to find reference to the application, let alone a public hearing on the CRTC's website. What is the status of this application?

Thank you for your help.

I will post any results I hear.

Just before I went on vacation I received the following response from the CRTC. Unfortunately they found applications by "High Fidelity HDTV Inc." for "Category 2 digital specialty programming undertakings" and not by "HDTV Networks Inc." for "Digital Television (DTV) undertakings." I have replied asking for the status of the correct applications. I will post more information again when I get a response.

Thank you for taking the time to contact the CRTC.
I was able to find a CRTC Notice of Public Hearing 2006-10, which dealt with a number of applications from High Fidelity HDTV Inc. Please see Item #'s 5 through 11. The hearing was held 14 November 2006. Here is a link to that document:

http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Hearings/2006/n2006-10.htm

Decisions to licence these applications for Category 2 digital specialty services were rendered this year. 2007-46, 2007-49, 2007-50, 2007-51, 2007-52, 2007-53 and 2007-54. You may be able to contact the company in question with the information provided in the above Notice.

I hope this is helpful.

I got curious and went and did a bunch of searching on the CRTC site and found nothing related to an OTA application. All those cat 2 applications smell like blocker applications to me.

CRTC won't post the application on their website, until they schedule the hearing. Look through the 2003 application from TV Niagara for an OTA TV station. Nothing was posted on the CRTC website until 2005!

The CRTC found the application and sent me the following response and so it seems as though nfitz is correct.

Thank you for again taking the time to contact us and for providing the information we needed to finally track down the status of the HDTV Networks Inc application.
We do indeed have said application in-house. However, since it has not yet been made public there is very little I can tell you except in the most general of terms. In such cases, we would normally issue a call for competing applications in the very near future. Such a call would be made public and posted to our web site. The eventual timing of a public hearing to deal with this matter would largely Depend on whether or not we received or did not receive, competing applications. In other words, if competing applications are received it would likely take longer to set the public hearing in place.

Finally I would note that while the person or persons making the application are free to say what they will, we are legally prevented from providing any further information until the application is made public. I cannot predict when that might be.

I hope this is helpful. Thank you again for your most appreciated cooperation and patience.

Thanks roger1818. It brings up a couple of questions for me. Does the CRTC have to put together some kind of a working group before they can do a hearing? Are any other players involved? Eg Industry or Heritage Canada. If not who has to sign off first Industry Canada or the CRTC?

When A-Channel blew into town a couple of years ago CHUM decided they wanted to open shop in this town and a couple of other cities as well if I remember right. The CRTC turned down the application because they didn't want to dilute profits.

I wonder if this application is still born out side of TO due to the previous decision. Now you could say that this is digital and it would be unfair to keep us from have at least one digital station. But the CRTC OTA regs actually state that you
can not use the fact that some thing is digital or HD as a differentiator. So it could be that we wouldn't get a digital channel because we have to many NTSC channels.

Mind you I think the bigger question right now is if Bitove can scrape up the money for this. I am not sure if XM Canada is doing well. The US merger talks sure can't be helping.