Ideas for DTV Sub-Channels in Canada?

[JamesK]

The good thing is when some people who's on cable or sat find out they cannot get those sub-channels may go OTA.

Who says BDU customers won't be able to receive them? If a cable company decides to carry a sub channel, it won't be much different from them providing regular channels.

[BOUVAL]

Who says BDU customers won't be able to receive them?

I SAY SO, but I never meant to generalize.

Here in Montreal we receive many sub-channels from the States that we will never see on cable or sat here in . . . Montreal.

Now who says that our local cable company will decide to carry those sub-channels ?

And my point was good about . . . going OTA.
.

[classicsat]

The American channels will need added to the list of US channels providers can carry, before a provider can carry them. And with that likely essentially as specialty channels.

[octopod]

But those two examples are still community initiatives, instead of say Bell deciding to add TSN to all of their CTV transmitters, or CBC adding CBC News NEtwork to all of their transmitters.
Hopefully though after a few years of people cutting the cord, we will get those options

[Wayne]

What are you smoking? TSN gets a ton of revenue from subscriber fees and Bell has a vested interest in making people keep their BDU subscription. TSN appears to get about $4 per month from each of their 9 million subscribers. How would they make up for their lost revenue if they started giving it away for free?

[bigoranget]

Now lest hope it actually happens. With the loss of the Local Programming Improvement Fund (LPIF), they may no longer be able to afford the upgrade.

I don't believe low power community channels are eligible for LPIF anyway. They are not-for-profit services.

[roger1818]

Originally Posted by dsspredator

WOW! TSN OTA would be amazing in Toronto.

Would never happen as a free service in Toronto. These societies were created in the 70s as an alternative to cable since it wasn't financially viable to provide cable to 100% of residents. DTH satellite did not exist and even if it did, it wouldn't work for many residents because of the mountainous terrain. The subscription fees for the cable channels are paid out of their taxes and both communities are in valleys so the mountains prevent the signal from bleeding into neighbouring communities.

The only way it TSN could be provided OTA in Toronto would be to encrypt the signal and charge a fee for a decoder. Not sure if there is a business case for such an operation or not.

[octopod]

Not smoking anything, illegal, and never said that TSN would be free I was just pointing out that those two stations multicasting were still small community stations, not ones owned by Bell, Rogers, Shaw or CBC.
Also if you clicked on the links one of them is broadcasting TSN as a sub-channel of CBC.

[roger1818]

octopod, they are community owned transmitters and not owned by CBC/CTV/Global/etc. TSN is not a sub-channel of CBC, but a multiplex that happens to share the same carrier as CBC. One station has to be the first in the multiplex, and in this case it happens to be CBC. It could just as easily have been TSN first with CBC as a "sub-channel."

This is no different than cable having CBC and TSN share the same carrier, only cable is able to hide that from the user by remapping all the channels to whole channel numbers.

[octopod]

I know I said community, I just stated that for Wayne that TSN was being broadcast there and only mention CBC to point out again that this was a community thing and nothing directly to do with Bell or CBC(which obviously doesn't have rights to TSN), just that technically TSN is out there on OTA.

How exactly they get the rights to re-broadcast TSN specifically kind of puzzles me unless there is no possible way to get sat or cable into the area that they are broadcasting to. Still can't see Bell giving up subscription fees unless they charge the station owner for every household that can received the signal

[roger1818]

From their website, here is the history of why there isn't cable in Fort St. James (I assume the story in Logan Lake is similar):

In 1972 the Village of Fort St. James and immediate area "C" of the Regional District of Bulkley Nechako were served solely by two repeaters on Murray Ridge. Because of the transmission site, access was poor and there were frequent power failures. At that time, there was a proposal by Omineca Cable to supply cable TV to Fort St. James.
Quite a few of the area residents protested, as it was felt that a commercial cable supplier would cable the denser downtown core only, and leave most of the surrounding area without access. A group of concerned citizens got together and formed the original Fort St. James Television Society. They were successful in gathering support, including a plebiscite to charge a surtax on property for continued operational funding. Satellite receivers and a broadcast tower were set up and all residents received six channels of TV via a low powered broadcast system.

As for satellite, it can be difficult if not impossible to receive in mountainous terrain, especially on a north facing slope. OTA is the only way to ensure everyone has access.

I would assume TSN (along with the other cable channels) is charging the Fort St. James TV Society a bulk rate to have its signal broadcast with the fees paid for in the surtax.