Speculation: Cost of migrations for consumers $200M - Canadian TV, Computing and Home Theatre Forums

jvillain · 2007-08-18, 08:35 AM

The Calgary Herald has a story up from Canwest news service pegging the cost to consumers of the HD migration at $200 Million. This is one of those times when you hate all the consolidation in media. But the up side is some one is actually talking about the move to digital OTA.

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/...4-f19c5f36cbcf

ralph_sinclair · 2007-08-18, 12:40 PM

Wow, Canwest Global is complaining about the cost of DTV hardware. Imagine that! I am OTA only and will gladly pay $50/tv for "DVD-quality" picture compared with the snowy analog reception I get now. Hopefully some of the stations are able to keep broadcasting on the same channels they are currently assigned. That would save broadcasters and receivers a lot of cash in hardware.

The last sentence in the article is:
"Analog television owners who subscribe to cable have no guarantee their televisions will still function without a set-top box."

I don't see how this is relevant to the mandated NTSC->ATSC OTA transition. This sort of misinformation helps no one. It will just give the cableco's someone to blame for their desire to get everyone on digital STB's.

omneon · 2007-08-18, 07:39 PM

Where in the news clip did CWG complain of the high cost of DTV, I read it as a cost to viewers, changing to DTV receivers, did I miss something??

roger1818 · 2007-08-19, 08:37 PM

Quote:

Saying goodbye to rabbit-ear television antennas could cost Canadians as much as $200 million. ... The converters incorporate an antenna that can receive the new signals.

This is incorrect! Consumers will not be saying goodbye to their existing antennas and digital converter boxes do not "incorporate an antenna." Consumers will be using their existing antennas to receive the digital broadcasts.

I hate it when the media spreads information that is just plain wrong! There is enough confusion out there without the media making things worse.

99gecko · 2007-08-24, 02:47 PM

Quote:

Meantime, brochures from Industry Canada outlining the changes are expected to be available at TV retailers by next month.

Vassilios Mimis, the department's director of broadcast technology policy and planning, said the brochures will warn consumers about buying analog televisions because of the 2011 switch. The brochures will also help clarify industry terms such as "high definition."

Has anyone seen anything that confirms this brochure is going out to retailers? This is the first I've heard of it, and a search of IC and CRTC came up with nothing.

jvillain · 2007-08-25, 10:13 AM

Quote:

Where in the news clip did CWG complain of the high cost of DTV, I read it as a cost to viewers, changing to DTV receivers, did I miss something??

They didn't in this story but my guess is the intent of this story is to try and drum up opposition to the migration. Global has been stomping their feet and wetting their pants in front of the CRTC for as long as I can remember about having to spend money to go digital.

Quote:

Has anyone seen anything that confirms this brochure is going out to retailers? This is the first I've heard of it, and a search of IC and CRTC came up with nothing.

Nothing yet. If it appears on the IC site I would expect to see it here.
http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/epic/site/..._sf01731e.html

or on the whats new page

http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/epic/site/.../sf01751e.html

If it shows up on the CRTC it will show up as an announcement and I scan those every day. If I see some thing there I will be sure to post it.

omneon · 2007-08-27, 10:02 PM

Quote:

They didn't in this story but my guess is the intent of this story is to try and drum up opposition to the migration. Global has been stomping their feet and wetting their pants in front of the CRTC for as long as I can remember about having to spend money to go digital.

From what I have heard, all 16 of the Global feeds out of the MC are digitial and at least 6 are HD. All that is left is to install the transmitters.
Can anybody confirm this??

roger1818 · 2007-08-30, 08:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by omneon

From what I have heard, all 16 of the Global feeds out of the MC are digitial and at least 6 are HD.

Hmm. Global has 10 unique feeds plus 5 CH feeds (CFJC - Kamloops is affiliated with CH, but is owned by Jim Pattison Group so I doubt if it comes out of MC). It wouldn't surprise me if all the feeds are digital, but I think only 1 of them is in HD.

omneon · 2007-08-30, 10:41 PM

I talked with a MC op last week he, here is a list of the Global HD feeds, Ciii, CHCH, CKND, CITV, CICT,BCTV.
At this point, all except Ciii are downconverted, but he hinted that this may change soon.

roger1818 · 2007-08-31, 12:25 AM

Interesting omneon. I forgot about CHCH. I think it goes out to BDUs in HD also. If what you are saying is true about the other four, it will move Global from being a trailer to a leader. Lets hope they actually start broadcasting digitally in Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver and won't just provide HD streams to the BDUs.

99gecko · 2007-08-31, 12:40 AM

What kind of timeline would they looking at I wonder.....

2007-08-18, 08:35 AM	#1
jvillain ______________ Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 1,460	Speculation: Cost of migrations for consumers $200M The Calgary Herald has a story up from Canwest news service pegging the cost to consumers of the HD migration at $200 Million. This is one of those times when you hate all the consolidation in media. But the up side is some one is actually talking about the move to digital OTA. http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/...4-f19c5f36cbcf

2007-08-18, 12:40 PM	#2
ralph_sinclair Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 420	quel surprise Wow, Canwest Global is complaining about the cost of DTV hardware. Imagine that! I am OTA only and will gladly pay $50/tv for "DVD-quality" picture compared with the snowy analog reception I get now. Hopefully some of the stations are able to keep broadcasting on the same channels they are currently assigned. That would save broadcasters and receivers a lot of cash in hardware. The last sentence in the article is: "Analog television owners who subscribe to cable have no guarantee their televisions will still function without a set-top box." I don't see how this is relevant to the mandated NTSC->ATSC OTA transition. This sort of misinformation helps no one. It will just give the cableco's someone to blame for their desire to get everyone on digital STB's.

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2007-08-18, 07:39 PM	#3
omneon Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 61	Where in the news clip did CWG complain of the high cost of DTV, I read it as a cost to viewers, changing to DTV receivers, did I miss something??

2007-08-30, 10:41 PM	#9
omneon Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 61	I talked with a MC op last week he, here is a list of the Global HD feeds, Ciii, CHCH, CKND, CITV, CICT,BCTV. At this point, all except Ciii are downconverted, but he hinted that this may change soon.

2007-08-31, 12:25 AM	#10
roger1818 Veteran Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Ottawa (Stittsville), ON, OTA (Radio Shack Omnidirectional Antenna and 5Y6S in Attic), MythTV HTPC Posts: 5,626	Interesting omneon. I forgot about CHCH. I think it goes out to BDUs in HD also. If what you are saying is true about the other four, it will move Global from being a trailer to a leader. Lets hope they actually start broadcasting digitally in Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver and won't just provide HD streams to the BDUs.

2007-08-31, 12:40 AM	#11
99gecko Veteran Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Markham, ON Posts: 2,526	What kind of timeline would they looking at I wonder.....