The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) gave the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) permission to continue broadcasting analog over-the-air television signals in 22 markets until August 31, 2012. This decision gives the CBC an additional year to find solutions for viewers who may lose access to its over-the-air signals after the transition to digital television.
In 2007, the CRTC set August 31, 2011 as the deadline for broadcasters to complete the transition from analog to digital television. The transition
is mandatory in 28 Canadian markets, including provincial and national capitals, metropolitan areas with populations greater than 300,000, and markets served by more than one local television station.
The CBC operates 25 local stations in mandatory markets whose over-the-air transmitters will be converted to digital in time for the deadline. The CBC also operates 22 analog transmitters that rebroadcast its stations’ signals into other communities that are also considered mandatory markets, but does not intend to replace them with digital transmitters. For example, under the CBC’s current transition plans, the signal of its English-language television station in Montreal would not have been available in Quebec City after the transition.
As the national public broadcaster, the CBC has a unique mandate to serve the entire Canadian population. A one-year extension is necessary to guarantee over-the-air viewers in some mandatory markets do not lose access to the signals of CBC television stations and have sufficient time to find alternate means of accessing them.
The CRTC will examine the CBC’s long-term plans for its analog over-the-air transmitters during the June 2012 public hearing to renew its radio and television licences.
Following the transition to digital television, the government has reserved channels 52 to 69 for public safety and advanced wireless services. The CBC must vacate these channels by the August 31, 2011 deadline by either moving its signal to a lower channel on the dial or switching to a low-power transmitter.
Viewers who watch local television stations using rabbit ears or an outdoor antenna may experience some change in the way they receive television signals. For more information, please see Canada’s Transition to Digital Television. http://digitaltv.gc.ca/eng/1282825334983/1282825604404
