OTTAWA – While the massively confused usage-based billing issue gets all the attention these days, another media issue that will affect tens of thousands more Canadians than UBB is still receiving scant notice: the transition from analog over-the-air TV to digital.
Granted, most Canadians won’t notice a thing come September 1 of this year as most of us are plugged into a cable, satellite or telco TV subscription. When the analog TV transmitters are turned off in the mandatory markets, it will be a non-issue as our carriers will continue carrying and distributing as before.
But for the 900,000 estimated households without a TV subscription (to say nothing about the likely millions of analog off-air sets in the nation’s bedrooms, kitchens, garages and so on) most of the folks in those homes have no idea they are about to lose their free TV.
TV broadcasters have been ordered off the 700 MHz spectrum as of August 31st, 2011, which they currently use for analog broadcasting. It will be turned back over to the federal government to auction off to wireless companies who prize it for its multimedia, distance and building penetration capabilities.
However, there has not been one bit of advertising or a single PSA aired. Not a newspaper flyer or national web site to inform people what is happening, why it’s happening, when it’s happening or what they must do if they want to keep getting their TV off-air.
And there’s just 183 days left.
As most in the industry know, consumers who like OTA TV only will have to invest in a digital receiver and converter to keep their old TVs working, buy a new TV with a digital off-air receiver – or buy a subscription to a TV carrier.
The trouble is, few realize the change is coming. (Full disclosure: Someone close to me lives alone in a three-room apartment in a converted older home with four other units in it. He’s in a large city. He doesn’t have the funds to pay for TV and watches what he can off-air on a lousy old TV. He has no idea he’s going to lose the few channels he gets and I wonder if the 900,000 household count includes him and others like him. BTW – I’ll be getting him a receiver/converter soon.)
CRTC executive director, broadcasting, Scott Hutton, told the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage on Monday that he believes the industry is nearly ready to roll on an education campaign. He said he has viewed some PSAs and that the broadcasters will soon begin telling viewers about the transition – and also the Commission will soon be backing that up with an order to begin the education campaign.
“(A)ffected Canadians must not be caught by surprise on the morning of September 1st,” he said.
“Broadcasters have a vested interest in ensuring that consumers understand the impending changes to their television services, such as the date and time a station will stop broadcasting in analog. They also need to know where they can obtain converter boxes and satellite dishes, as well as the existence of free local packages.
“Although many broadcasters are currently developing public service announcements, we will soon issue new rules making this a formal requirement. The new rules will also include our final determination on the information broadcasters should make available on their web sites,” said Hutton.
“Public service announcements should start airing as soon as possible.”
There is clearly a ton to do.
The MPs on the committee were all over the road in their questions, though. For example, they asked Hutton and Namir Anani (the CRTC’s ED of policy development and research), what kind of money they thought the auction of the 700 MHz spectrum might bring in (er, that’s Industry Canada, not Heritage…) and deflecting questions about why in Canada we don’t have a DTV conversion coupon program like the United States had. There, 34-million consumers who couldn’t afford a new TV or a converter were given coupons to take to stores to help buy the needed gear when the U.S. went digital in 2009.
It seemed utterly lost on the politicians that such a program would have to be approved by them and funded by government (not the CRTC) and the feds have gone on record years ago saying that was just not on.
But the most incomprehensible moment came when MP Dean Del Mastro wondered what all the fuss was about because “I’m really not hearing anything from my constituents on this,” he said.
One wonders if he was paying attention to anything at all given that problem is precisely the issue here and the whole reason for the CRTC representatives’ appearance at the meeting!
Of course no one is saying anything to Del Mastro about it because Canadians don’t know analog OTA TV is coming to an end for most of them – and it’s high time they found out.
