Jump to content

CBC analog transmitters shut down - NO DTV replacement


ED2

Recommended Posts

As of this morning, 607 CBC and Radio-Canada analog TV transmitters have been shut down by the public broadcaster. There are no plans to replace those analog signals with digital ones. The transmitter network, for the most part, covered vast and remote regions of Canada. The CBC has cited the prohibitive cost of conversion compared to the number of antenna TV viewers in the country as their reason for the shutdown.

 

Viewers outside of broadcaster's DTV footprint of 27 owned and operated stations (plus a handful of private affiliates) will need to subscribe to a cable or satellite service to continue receiving CBC or Radio-Canada programming.

 

The most controversial part about this shutdown is that it also affects some fairly large markets that were part of the mandatory digital switchover list. Specifically, viewers in Calgary, Saskatoon, London (Ontario), Saint John, and others have lost either over the air CBC TV, Radio-Canada TV, or both as of tonight.

 

Some CBC affiliates who have not switched to DTV broadcasting have not been affected by this decision.

 

http://cbc.radio-canada.ca/en/explore/strategies/analoguetv/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Really? I knew this was going to happen, but I didn't know that markets on the mandatory digital swithover list would be given the finger by Canada's public broadcaster.

 

To be fair though, the CBC does did have an enormous transmitter network (for example, before today, there were over 80 repeaters/rebroadcasters of CBUT in Vancouver,) because, while the provinces are vast, the large cities are near the Canada-US border.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

CBC essentially followed the whole major market analog switchoff rules to the T (either switch to digital or sign off), so they decided only markets with an originating CBC/SRC station gets a DTV signal, while TS for everyone else.

 

It's shocking that in cities such as Saskatoon (pop. 260,000) and London (pop. 470,000) have lost both CBC TV and Radio-Canada TV signals, while smaller markets like Fredericton (50,000) have DTV from CBC simply because there is an originating station there.

 

Global BC has a larger network of translators in British Columbia. I believe they have over 100 compared to CBC British Columbia, and this doesn't include Global Okanagan's translators.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. By using TVNewsTalk you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.