Canada Won't Meet DTV Deadline

By Doug Lung
published


Canada is struggling with its DTV transition.

A CBC News article CBC won't meet digital TV deadline summarizes the problems and notes, "U.S. President Barack Obama was forced to delay his country's transition to digital from February to June 2009 when it became clear that industry and consumers were not ready for it."

In Canada, only certain markets were designated "mandatory" for the conversion, with stations in these markets having to switch to digital or cease broadcasting. The CBC said it needs 27 transmitters to make the switch in 20 of the 30 mandatory markets, but only 15 of them will be on the air by the Aug. 11, 2011 deadline for the DTV transition in major markets.

The CBC noted that once the 27 transmitters are operational, "only one per cent of Canadians will have to turn to cable or satellite to continue receiving CBC/Radio-Canada television."

The article notes that CBC/Radio-Canada has more than 600 analog transmitters across the country and a "handful" of DTV transmitters in major cities.

Doug Lung
Doug Lung

Doug Lung is one of America's foremost authorities on broadcast RF technology. As vice president of Broadcast Technology for NBCUniversal Local, H. Douglas Lung leads NBC and Telemundo-owned stations’ RF and transmission affairs, including microwave, radars, satellite uplinks, and FCC technical filings. Beginning his career in 1976 at KSCI in Los Angeles, Lung has nearly 50 years of experience in broadcast television engineering. Beginning in 1985, he led the engineering department for what was to become the Telemundo network and station group, assisting in the design, construction and installation of the company’s broadcast and cable facilities. Other projects include work on the launch of Hawaii’s first UHF TV station, the rollout and testing of the ATSC mobile-handheld standard, and software development related to the incentive auction TV spectrum repack. A longtime columnist for TV Technology, Doug is also a regular contributor to IEEE Broadcast Technology. He is the recipient of the 2023 NAB Television Engineering Award. He also received a Tech Leadership Award from TV Tech publisher Future plc in 2021 and is a member of the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society and the Society of Broadcast Engineers.