Canada Stumbles Toward Aug. 31 DTV Transition Deadline

TORONTO -- Less than eight months before Canada’s DTV transition is to occur, it looks as if many Canadian homes may lose TV service because their local over-the-air stations will go dark, they won’t have digital sets or set-top boxes equipped to receive DTV signals, or they just won’t know what’s happening.

Like the FCC in 2009’s U.S. full-power broadcaster digital switch, Canada’s Radio-TV and Telecommunications Commission has taken a number of steps to coordinate and ease the Aug. 31 DTV transition. The CRTC has in recent months set deadlines, identified mandatory markets for conversion, spelled out alternatives to offering digital service in smaller markets and sought a government-funded and coordinated national public awareness campaign.

Some don’t think the CRTC agency has gone far enough, criticizing the government for relying mostly on a market-based approach and taking few actions to spur or support the transition process. Michael Janigan, executive director and general counsel of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, labeled the government’s approach “leadership by amnesia,” in a recent press interview.

Critics point out that, unlike in the U.S. DTV transition process, the Canadian government has not mandated that virtually all broadcast TV stations convert from analog to digital signals by the Aug. 31 deadline. The CRTC said only stations in the 32 largest and most vital markets --those with more than 300,000 people and provincial and territorial capitals -- must convert to digital. Broadcasters in Canada’s numerous smaller markets have the option of making the switch to digital, shifting their analog signals to other frequencies outside channels 52 to 69 or simply shutting down altogether.

Also unlike the U.S. and several other western nations that have already completed their DTV transitions, Canada has no plans to subsidize the purchase of digital converter boxes by consumers, critics note. Pointing to the American experience with subsidized converter boxes, Canadian officials have repeatedly ruled out any public equipment subsidy program, saying it’s not necessary and too expensive. In the most recent official statement, Heritage Minister James Moore firmly shut the door on the idea: “We need solutions that will encourage investment and new approaches, rather than asking Canadian taxpayers to subsidize existing business models."

Critics also say the Canadian government doesn’t intend to organize, coordinate and fund a nationwide consumer education and awareness program about the DTV transition, unlike the U.S. Despite pleas from the CRTC, broadcasters, public-interest groups, unions, media watchers, academics and opposition lawmakers, the government seems to have ruled out that option as well. In a speech on the subject, Moore said he expects to see “industry-led solutions that will ensure a smooth transition for consumers.” Moreover, unlike the U.S. government, the Canadian government has ruled out any DTV transition support for public broadcasters. Unlike PBS, CBC/Radio-Canada is reluctantly gearing up to carry out its digital conversion without additional government funding.

Without the extra public support, CBC’s DTV plans call for installing 27 digital transmitters in the markets where it produces original programming, with 15 of the transmitters to be operational by Aug. 31 and the other 12 to be ready up to a year later. In those markets where it doesn’t go digital by the mandatory deadline, CBC intends to keep offering analog service temporarily. “We believe that our plan is appropriate given our financial challenges, given our mandate, and given industry trends,” Steven Guiton, CBC chief regulatory officer, said in a written statement. “When all is said and done, our estimate is that less than one percent of Canadians will need to turn to a cable or satellite provider in order to continue receiving our signal.”

Despite such optimistic statements, industry observers fear that as many as 900,000 homes in the nation of 12 million TV households could lose all TV service on Sept. 1. That includes as many as 857,000 homes in the 32 mandatory markets and another 32,000 in smaller markets. The CRTC estimates that about 7.3 percent of all Canadian households now rely solely on terrestrial signals, and more than 1.2 million homes rely on them to at least some degree.

The government should start “a comprehensive and coordinated national education campaign,” said a coalition of more than 35 public-interest groups, unions, media watchers, academics, opposition lawmakers and others in a recent joint letter to the prime minister and others. “Over-the-air transmitters will gradually go dark in hundreds of other communities as existing analogue equipment serving those communities comes to the end of its useful life. That means thousands of Canadian households will suddenly lose their TV signals and may have to buy cable or satellite to watch any TV at all. They will lose the choice that Canadians in major cities will continue to have to watch TV for free over the air. This represents a particular hardship for low-income people.”

Seeking to soften the impact of the pending analog shutoff, the CRTC is proposing a series of new DTV transition regulations and guidelines. Most notably, the Commission is looking at authorizing cable operators and satellite-TV providers to distribute free packages of all local and regional broadcast signals in smaller markets. It also favors establishing two DTV test markets -- Winnipeg for English-language broadcasters and Quebec City for French stations -- before the Aug. 31 deadline.

In the private sector, broadcasters have promised to air public service announcements about the DTV transition. So have cable operators and satellite-TV providers. The CRTC is urging them to start the consumer awareness program by March 1 and has warned that it may adopt regulations to ensure the program happens.