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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
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