News from 2008
News from 2007
News from 2009
The report from the parliamentary committee on the future of the CBC reports that the loss of the CBC TV in Kamloops could be an indication of things to come. While the new digital technology presents problems, it also offers opportunities to restore free over-the-air TV to Kamloops. The city could be the site of a pilot for digital multiplexing.
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Kamloopsians are aware that digital technology offers high definition TV with wide screens and ear popping sound but few are aware that it could also restore over-the-air CBC TV and much more.
View column by David Charbonneau
The U.S. will switch to digital TV transmitters on February 17, 2009. Viewers with old analog TV sets will need to buy a converter box to receive over-the-air signals after that. Some of the questions answered in this article are
- Which TVs will be affected?
- How much does a converter box cost?
- How do I get a coupon?
- What will it take for an analog set to get free digital TV?
- Do I need a special antenna for digital TV?
- What if I don't want an antenna and converter box?
High-def TV service (page 1) More Channels, more competition
What's the best way to get HDTV?
- Cable
- Satellite
- Phone company
- Over-the-air
High-def TV service (page 2) More Channels, more competition
- When HD isn't really high-def. Buyer beware, not everything calling itself High definition is equal.
- The Canadian Media Guild confirms funding for feasibility study on digital multiplexing for Kamloops in which 6 stations are carried on one channel.
- Rick Arnish, manager of CFJC and board member of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, says that they are preparing to assume a leadership role in digital TV
View article
Kamloops could serve as a national test case for
free, over-the-air (OTA) TV amid Canada's all-out
conversion to digital TV by 2011. The pilot project is financially feasible
and could even be profitable if a private broadcaster is willing to take the
lead, according to a new study prepared for the Canadian Media Guild. A
digital technology called multiplexing, in which up to six TV signals can be
broadcast through a single medium, is considered a viable alternative to
paid services delivering 60 channels or more.
View article by Mike Youds
Yesterday, the little city of Wilmington, North Carolina, led the United States into the digital revolution. The rest of the nation will wait five months. Wilmington has roughly the same population as Kamloops. The fraction of viewers who receive TV over-the-air with rabbit ear antennas is the same. But unlike Wilmington, Kamloops' viewers will be left in the dark when the digital switchover happens in Canada in 2011 unless something is done.
View article By David Charbonneau
“A lot of people really object to going into the cable universe.
It's amazing when you're not in it all the time what a cesspool it is, what
a waste of time it is,” says Pam Astbury. The Canadian Media
Guild recently commissioned a report that recommended multiplexing, where up
to six different signals could broadcast from the same transmitter. Astbury
has latched onto this idea and is hoping Kamloops station, CFJC, will play
ball (there was no response from CFJC to The Globe's inquiries).
View article by Masha Lederman
October 4 Globe and Mail The coming of the digital revolution.
Canadians are not ready for digital TV and broadcasters are to blame. "I do not want to get any nasty surprises in2011," Konrad von Finckenstein, chair of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), told the industry in a tough speech he made in June, warning broadcasters the clock was ticking. "My great concern is that the industry will not be ready. There will be requests for delays, and we will have a crisis on our hands. This must not be allowed to happen."
View article by Kate Taylor