DTH Policy Review: Commission questions DTH commitment to local stations

By Perry Hoffman

GATINEAU - Bell TV and Shaw Direct used the rebuttal phase of the CRTC’s Direct-to-Home (DTH) policy hearing to make new proposals in hopes of showing good faith to the Commission and Canadian broadcasters that they are willing to do more to carry local over-the-air (OTA) signals. On Thursday, Shaw proposed to add six virtual channels in MPEG4 by August 31, 2011. To do this, the company will upgrade a transponder to MPEG4, which requires it to drop eight full-time channels. The addition of virtual channels would require Commission approval.Jean Brazeau, Shaw Communications’ senior VP of regulatory affairs, noted that...