free over-the-air tv

Stop the shut-down of Free TV for 11 million Canadians

Free TV is what you can watch using an aerial antenna or rabbit ears, over the air. You don’t have to pay for cable or satellite. For you to get free TV, broadcasters must have a transmitter in your area.

Free TV (sometimes known as OTA - for "over-the-air") has a growing number of fans, especially since US channels, and Canadian channels in big cities, now have digital transmitters. People living within range can get beautiful quality digital TV (including high-definition) for free using a newer TV set (bought in the last year or two) with a built-in digital tuner or a converter box for an analogue (older) TV.

Want to know more about free TV? Check our FAQ.

If you live in a smaller town or rural area, you could soon lose Free TV
The CRTC - Canada's broadcast regulator - announced in July 2009, that broadcasters are only required to put up digital transmitters in these 29 Canadian cities:

British Columbia: Vancouver, Victoria
Alberta: Calgary, Edmonton, Lethbridge
Saskatchewan: Regina, Saskatoon
Manitoba: Winnipeg
Ontario: Toronto, Barrie, Hamilton, London, Windsor, Kitchener, Ottawa
Quebec: Montreal, Quebec, Trois-Rivières, Sherbrooke, Rivière-du-Loup, Saguenay
New Brunswick: Saint John, Moncton, Fredericton
Nova Scotia: Halifax
PEI: Charlottetown
Newfoundland and Labrador: St. John's
Yukon: Whitehorse
Northwest Territories: Yellowknife
Nunavut: Iqaluit

If the broadcasters don't go further, people in the rest of the country - around one-third of the population! - will no longer have the option of watching TV for free, over the air, after broadcasters shut down their analogue transmitters in August 2011. People in smaller communities will not have the opportunity to enjoy high-quality, free digital TV like people living in major cities.

Now is the time to speak up!

Tell Ottawa not to cut off small-town Canada.

The CRTC held two hearings on this issue in late 2009 and is expected to issue a new decision in the winter of 2010. Please send a message to Heritage Minister James Moore and broadcast executives that it is unacceptable to simply unplug their transmitters and force Canadian TV viewers to pay for cable or satellite. If you are slated to be cut off - in other words, if you don't happen to live in one of the communities listed above - make sure you say so. Please send a copy of your comments to your Member of Parliament.

See the ad that ran in the Sudbury Star on Saturday October 31 (pdf)
A similar ad appeared in Kamloops, Kelowna, St. John's, Sydney, Kingston, Peterborough, Sault Ste. Marie, Regina, Saskatoon, Fort McMurray.

Recent articles about free TV

Saving TV in spite of itself, G-Force, December 2009

84% say it's unfair to lose free TV signals in smaller cities, CMG, July 29, 2009

Canadian industry stalling as free TV makes a comeback, G-Force, June 2009

Canadian over-the-air TV following U.S. down digital path, cbc.ca, June 12, 2009

Canadians are dropping out and tuning in, Kamloops Daily News, June 9, 2009

One-third of Canadians to lose free TV signals under broadcaster plan, CMG, May 7, 2009

Pulling the plug on free TV outside the big cities, G-Force, September 2008

Guild submissions to the CRTC on free TV

Final submissions in December 2009 (pdf)

Oral remarks to CRTC on December 9, 2009 (pdf)

Oral remarks to CRTC on November 20, 2009 (pdf)

Don't cut off 11 million Canadians from access to Free TV (pdf) November 2009

"Free" satellite service is no alternative to free OTA (pdf) September 2009

Avoiding a two-tier approach to TV service in Canada (pdf) July 2009

Comparing the CMG's multiplexing model with Bell TV's Freesat (pdf) May 2009

Toward a future for Canadian conventional TV (pdf) March 2009

Links

I watch TV with rabbit ears (Facebook Group)

Online forum on digital OTA TV

Save our CBC Kamloops

Support the CBC in Central Newfoundland