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BTHE WORLD OF DOMESTIC BROADCASTING
ROADCAST BANDSCAN
Doug
Smith, W9WI
dougsmith@monitoringtimes.com
http://americanbandscan.blogspot.com
Over-the-air TV in Canada: Going, going, gone?
If you DX TV, here’s hoping you logged
plenty of Canadian stations this summer – as
many of the biggest signals are now gone...
The deadline for the shutdown of analog TV
in Canada was last July. Transmitters in Canada’s
largest cities were to be converted to digital or
else closed. Transmitters in rural areas don’t face
a digital conversion mandate; they’re allowed to
continue in analog indefinitely. The Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation – CBC – obtained a
one-year extension for some of its analog transmitters.
That extension ran out at the end of last
month. The CBC has told the government its
remaining analog transmitters would be shut
down at that time. This includes all CBC analog
TV transmitters, not just the ones in markets
mandated to convert to digital. The transmitters
which have already been converted to digital, in
the largest cities, will continue to operate.
CBC’s TV licences are currently up for renewal.
The transmitter closure plan was released
as part of the renewal application, as answers to
several questions the government asked about
the CBC’s over-the-air plans. A few of the points
raised:
- Based on the ratings, the CBC believes 98% of
Canadians either subscribe to cable/satellite
(“BDUs”) or live within the coverage area of
one of the transmitters which have already been
converted to digital.
- The CBC believes the closure of their analog
transmitters will have no effect on advertising
revenue.
- It would cost $10,700,000 per year to maintain
these transmitters.
- It would cost at least $56,000,000 to replace the
obsolete equipment.
- Most of the affected transmitters are at least
25 years old. Satellite gear used to deliver
programming to these transmitters has been
discontinued.
- One of the satellite providers has offered free
local-channel service to viewers who will lose
over-the-air CBC signals.
More than two dozen powerful VHF transmitters
on channels 2-6 are affected; you’ll notice
this during next summer’s skip season. Hundreds
of smaller transmitters are also involved.
❖ And in the U.S....
The FCC has been taking steps to clear
out TV stations, in anticipation of converting
more spectrum from television to land mobile
(i.e., “smartphones”). There have been several
developments in the last few months:
Channel 51 is being cleared. Low-power
Bruce, KA3UIH received this Illinois station on
his car radio near Washington. (Doug Smith)
TV stations have been urged to leave the channel;
many have. In May, a number of applications
appeared in the FCC TV database for stations
with the mysterious callsign “WTB”. WTB is
not, in fact, a callsign, but is the abbreviation
for the FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications
Bureau – the agency that regulates land-mobile
radio. Each of the “WTB” applications precisely
matches the technical parameters of an existing
channel 51 full-power or Class A TV station.
However, each of these applications specified a
different channel. It certainly appears the FCC
intends to order existing TV stations to leave
channel 51 in favor of lower channels.
The Commission has also announced plans
for a “reverse auction” of TV spectrum. Stations
will be asked how much the FCC would need to
pay in order for the station to surrender its channel
and go off the air. The Commission would
buy out the least expensive channels, sell their
spectrum to land-mobile operators, and use some
of the proceeds to pay the bids. (Some of the rest
would go to compensate other stations for the
cost of channel moves; the rest would go to the
U.S. Treasury.)
Of course, any station that sells the FCC its
channel is volunteering to go out of business!
The Commission figures many stations will be
reluctant to do so, so they’re offering another
alternative: channel-sharing. The station that
volunteers to sell its channel doesn’t go off the
air – it agrees to share a channel with another
station. For example, WJKL-TV offers to sell
channel 44 to the government, and then share
channel 38 with WMNO-TV. In return, WMNO-
TV gets half the money the FCC paid for channel
44.
The technology has existed for years. Any of
you who watch over-the-air TV has noticed “subchannels,”
where one broadcaster transmits two
or more programs simultaneously on the same
channel. Here in Nashville, WKRN transmits
ABC programs on channel 2.1, and a continuous
weather channel on 2.2. There is nothing in the
technology that requires both subchannels to be
programmed by the same company. WMNO-TV
could broadcast its existing religious programming
on channel 39.1, while carrying WJKL-
TV’s programming on channel 66.1 on the same
transmitter.
And while all of this proceeds, commentators
are asking whether this removal of TV
spectrum is even necessary. See the URLs in the
sidebar...
❖ New Kinda-DX
publication
Over the years, I’ve learned that many DXers
didn’t just decide one day they were going
to listen for distant radio stations. Many of us
wanted to hear programming that just wasn’t
available from our local stations. In my case, I
was searching FM for
the rapidly-disappearing
(in the 1970s) progressive
rock stations. For
many a DXer, it was the
search for sports that led
to a new hobby.
MT’s own Ken Reitz
has a new e-book out
that will make sports
DXing easier. The 2012
Baseball Listener’s
Guide lists the stations
across North America
which broadcast professional
baseball. The 30
major-league teams are
covered – and so are
the 100+ minor-league
Ken Reitz’s new e-
book: both a way
to enjoy baseball,
and a way to identify
more DX. (Ken
Reitz)
teams. Obviously, baseball fans wishing to keep
track of their favorite team’s competition will be
interested in this publication.
Really, even if you aren’t a baseball fan, you
should take a look. You’re hearing the Minnesota
Twins on AM 1060, but the only 1060 station in
the state says they don’t carry the games? The
Guide will show which station in a rare state is
carrying this game.
54 MONITORING TIMES August 2012