Excerpts from the May 20 meeting of the parliamentary committee reviewing the mandate of the CBC

Mr. Bernard Caron (Vice-President, Broadcast Technology Research Branch / Communications Research Centre Canada, Department of Industry) says:

"New over-the-air digital TV stations can be used to transmit a single HDTV program, but it's also possible to use the same station to transmit multiple programs. The picture quality will not be high definition in that case, but it will be comparable to the quality of a DVD that you watch at home. In addition, it will be possible to select many programs from one station--for example, a single CBC station could offer its viewers the option to watch CBC's regular programs, CBC Newsworld, Radio-Canada's regular programs, Radio-Canada's Réseau de l'information, or ArtTV. The total number of program choices that can be offered is in the order of four to six.

Digital TV also enables broadcasters to offer more than one soundtrack. Just as you can select a language option of English, French, or Spanish when you turn on a DVD, similarly a broadcaster could offer its viewers a choice of different languages.

As you can see, the flexibility of digital TV can be used to provide a range of options, such as multiple program choice or choice of language, and all from one TV transmitter.
 

Digital technologies can also be more efficient in covering large areas by using a number of low-power transmitters. The coverage is limited to the area where there is a population. This network will be more affordable to build and operate than the centrally located, high-power stations currently used by the analog broadcasting systems.