OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CBC has received permission from the CRTC to continue broadcasting its analog over-the-air television signals in 22 markets for another full year.
The Commission said Tuesday that the national broadcaster now has until August 31, 2012 to “find solutions” for viewers who may lose access to its over-the-air signals after the transition to digital television.
The CBC operates 25 local stations in mandatory markets whose over-the-air transmitters will be converted to digital in time to meet this year’s August 31st deadline. It 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.
These transmitters are:
English-language television
CBRT- 6 Lethbridge, Alberta
CBAT-TV Saint John, New Brunswick
CBAT-TV- 2 Moncton, New Brunswick
CBLN-TV London, Ontario
CBLN-TV- 1 Paris, Ontario (serving Kitchener-Waterloo)
CBMT- 3 Sherbrooke, Quebec
CBJET Chicoutimi, Quebec
CBVE-TV Québec, Quebec
CBMT- 1 Trois-Rivières, Quebec
CBKST Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
French-language television
CBRFT Calgary, Alberta
CBXFT- 3 Lethbridge, Alberta
CBAFT- 1 Saint John, New Brunswick
CBAFT- 10 Fredericton, New Brunswick
CBHFT Halifax, Nova Scotia
CBAFT- 5 Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island
CBFJ-TV St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador
CBLFT- 9 London, Ontario
CBLFT- 8 Kitchener, Ontario
CBLFT- 18 Thunder Bay, Ontario
CBEFT Windsor, Ontario
CBKFT-1 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
“As the national public broadcaster, the CBC has a unique mandate to serve the entire Canadian population”, the CRTC said in a statement. “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 Commission pledged to examine the CBC’s long-term plans for its analog OTA transmitters during its public hearing to renew its radio and television licences which is scheduled for June, 2012.
The pending digital 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.
Following the transition to digital television, the government has reserved channels 52 to 69 for public safety and advanced wireless services. The CBC has been intsructed that it 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.
