Though there were worries that remote and Northern regions of Canada, including Northern Manitoba, could be forced to rely on cable or satellite technology if they wanted to continue watching television, antenna users have been given a break by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC).

The CRTC had mandated that all television stations in the country switch from analogue broadcasting, which is the format they have used since television broadcasting began in Canada, to digital, by Aug. 31, 2011.

Broadcasters, faced with financial difficulty even before the economic slowdown, informed the CRTC that they would simply not be able to convert every transmitter to digital technology by 2011, and that there was a very real risk of some stations closing for good – as happened in Brandon, where CKX shut its doors last October.

Additionally, broadcasters told the CRTC that in markets outside major population centres, they had no intention of converting any transmitters to a digital system. For many rural and remote parts of Canada, including Northern Manitoba, free, over-the-air television looked like it would become a thing of the past. Over-the-air viewers in more populated areas would be able to access the digital over-the-air signals with the purchase of a digital box, but those in remote areas would not even have that option.

Although over-the-air television is widely seen as a relic of the past, having been made irrelevant by the advent of cable and satellite technologies, it remains useful for isolated communities where those technologies are not always available or affordable, as well as for urban dwellers who want certain aspects of television, but do not want to pay for even the cheapest cable package (which, in most parts of the country, contains dozens of channels).

According to a Canadian Media Research Inc. survey prepared for the CRTC in 2006, 7 per cent of Manitoba households rely solely on over-the-air reception – the national number is even higher, at nearly 10 per cent, though both numbers shrunk considerably between 2000 and 2006 as more and more Canadians signed up for cable and satellite services. By 2009, the 10 per cent national number had shrunk to 7.3 per cent – or 857,500 Canadian households which rely on antennas for their television reception.

In response to the broadcasters’ comments, the CRTC provided a list of 31 markets across the country where digital transition remained necessary for the original date. This list included every provincial and territorial capital, every market with a population of over 300,000, and every city where there are at least two stations broadcasting original programming (that is, programming that was produced in the city). The sole Manitoba market to make this list was Winnipeg.

This list was announced July 16, along with a change in CRTC policy – in the interest of serving Canadians who would have been left out by the digital transition, the CRTC permitted broadcasters in markets not on that list of 31 to continue to broadcast in analogue. For Northern Manitoba, this meant that rather than no over-the-air television at all, every transmitter could instead continue to offer its current level of service – provided that the broadcasters, which in Northern Manitoba means CBC/Radio-Canada and CTV, were interested.

In Northern Manitoba, CBC’s Winnipeg station, CBWT, has transmitters in Flin Flon, Pukatawagan, Grand Rapids, Easterville, The Pas, Moose Lake, Cumberland House, Snow Lake, Gillam, Wabowden, Cross Lake, Norway House, Nelson House, Leaf Rapids, South Indian Lake, Lynn Lake, Thompson, McCusker Lake, Oxford House, Waasagomach, Gods Lake Narrows, and Churchill. Additionally, Brochet and Shamattawa have transmitters which receive programming from CBMT, CBC’s Montreal station. On the French side, CBWFT, Radio-Canada’s Winnipeg station, has transmitters in The Pas, Flin Flon, and Thompson. “CBC/Radio-Canada does plan to continue to broadcast in analogue in all of those communities,” said CBC senior advisor Angus McKinnon.

CTV also plans to keep its analogue transmitters operational, according to communications director Andrea Goldstein – their Winnipeg station, CKY, is rebroadcast through Northern transmitters in Flin Flon, The Pas, Snow Lake, and Thompson.

However, there is still one caveat – the analogue transmitters will not be operational forever. “We plan on keeping our analogue service going as long as we can,” said McKinnon. “However, given that the U.S. and most of Europe have already made the transition to digital, the availability of analogue transmitter spare parts, modules and power tubes, is quickly evaporating. The cost is steeply on the rise. It will eventually be impossible for CBC/Radio-Canada to maintain its analogue transmission infrastructure even if it wanted to.”

In their July 16 release, the CRTC claimed that “the transition to digital television will provide significant benefits to Canadians … [by] providing television viewers with better picture and sound, including high definition programming.”

The CRTC also suggested that cable and satellite companies could make available a free package comprised solely of local channels – ones that would be able to be picked up with an antenna – as an alternative for consumers who only wish to receive those stations. MTS had suggested to the CRTC that this option be available to distributors, which combined with the Aug. 6 announcement by MTS that a new fibre optic system will be fully deployed in Thompson by 2015, with the ability to carry TV signals, suggests that there is a chance Thompsonites will have access to such a package.

Estimates released by the CRTC suggest that it would cost $218,964 per transmitter to convert all three transmitters in The Pas, CBC’s transmitters in Thompson and Grand Rapids, and CTV’s transmitter in Flin Flon from analogue to digital service. CBC transmitters in Flin Flon and Leaf Rapids, as well as CTV’s transmitter in Thompson, would cost $237,214 each. The cost for converting CBC’s transmitters in Waasagomach and Gods Lake Narrows would be $338,464 apiece. Radio-Canada’s transmitters would be in the same cost range - $322,720 in Flin Flon and $487,888 in Thompson.

Eventually, the power will go off, and Northerners will only be able to access television through cable, satellite, or future technologies – but for now, it remains business as usual.