Nice article in that it brings OTA digital television to the public's attention.
Not-so-nice article in that there are a few inaccuracies/ambiguities/errors.
• Antenna work on Mount Royal hasn't been delayed because of some conspiracy but because of the recession. The work was to be done last year and we all remember what the economic climate of the world was at the time.
• I take exception with the author's characterization that CBMT-DT and CBFT-DT are not available in the vast majority of Montreal homes. I have not heard of any empirical evidence to back that claim. If the author does, I'd love to see it. Propagation models suggest the only part of Montreal without easy access to CBC/Radio-Canada's OTA DTV services is essentially the West Island and points beyond. That's about 250,000 people — less than 10% of the region's total population.
• I also take exception with the author's statement that V and Télé-Quebec have been widely available in the Montreal area. As far as I know, both those stations suffer from the same reception difficulties as CBC/Radio-Canada, although T-Q has the best reception footprint of the bunch (smallest shadow) and V has its Mount Royal shadow mostly projected toward Lac Saint-Louis.
• Related to the last two points … the article gives the impression rabbit ears are sufficient for good OTA DTV reception. Often they are not.
• The completion of Mount Royal renovations won't radically change the availability of OTA digital TV signals — at least not immediately. Especially true if Télé-Québec and V don't come back to the mountain (as they've said).
• CBC might be using 500-watt transmitters with antennas on their building, but that's not the ERP of their signals. For the record, CBMT-DT has a max ERP of some 5.5 kW, while CBFT-DT has a max ERP of 16.6 kW.
• While it's true that CTV and Global have not said they would broadcast before the Aug. 31, 2011, transition deadline, there is no obligation for them do to so. If those stations choose to wait until the last moment to make the switch, it is a legitimate choice — as much as we (viewers) might not like it.
• CTV began broadcasting OTA in HD to Vancouver in 2004 (not 2005) and to Calgary in 2009 (not 2006).
• So … Why are Montrealers waiting so long for decent access to DTV? I can't say, but that is a valid question any part of Canada outside metro Toronto. It's not as if Montreal is alone in being left out. Many of the mandatory markets for DTV conversion currently have *zero* OTA digital TV stations.
Not-so-nice article in that there are a few inaccuracies/ambiguities/errors.
• Antenna work on Mount Royal hasn't been delayed because of some conspiracy but because of the recession. The work was to be done last year and we all remember what the economic climate of the world was at the time.
• I take exception with the author's characterization that CBMT-DT and CBFT-DT are not available in the vast majority of Montreal homes. I have not heard of any empirical evidence to back that claim. If the author does, I'd love to see it. Propagation models suggest the only part of Montreal without easy access to CBC/Radio-Canada's OTA DTV services is essentially the West Island and points beyond. That's about 250,000 people — less than 10% of the region's total population.
• I also take exception with the author's statement that V and Télé-Quebec have been widely available in the Montreal area. As far as I know, both those stations suffer from the same reception difficulties as CBC/Radio-Canada, although T-Q has the best reception footprint of the bunch (smallest shadow) and V has its Mount Royal shadow mostly projected toward Lac Saint-Louis.
• Related to the last two points … the article gives the impression rabbit ears are sufficient for good OTA DTV reception. Often they are not.
• The completion of Mount Royal renovations won't radically change the availability of OTA digital TV signals — at least not immediately. Especially true if Télé-Québec and V don't come back to the mountain (as they've said).
• CBC might be using 500-watt transmitters with antennas on their building, but that's not the ERP of their signals. For the record, CBMT-DT has a max ERP of some 5.5 kW, while CBFT-DT has a max ERP of 16.6 kW.
• While it's true that CTV and Global have not said they would broadcast before the Aug. 31, 2011, transition deadline, there is no obligation for them do to so. If those stations choose to wait until the last moment to make the switch, it is a legitimate choice — as much as we (viewers) might not like it.
• CTV began broadcasting OTA in HD to Vancouver in 2004 (not 2005) and to Calgary in 2009 (not 2006).
• So … Why are Montrealers waiting so long for decent access to DTV? I can't say, but that is a valid question any part of Canada outside metro Toronto. It's not as if Montreal is alone in being left out. Many of the mandatory markets for DTV conversion currently have *zero* OTA digital TV stations.
