Thompson residents who want to watch CBC TV for free can still do so but it'll take a little effort on their part.
Local viewers who use an antenna to pick up over-the-air television signals have an easier time deciding what to watch since CBC/Radio-Canada shut down all of its analogue transmitters across the country on July 31, reducing the number of over-the-air signals in Thompson from three to one as the public broadcaster's English and French channels faded to black.
The only over-the-air signal still available in Thompson comes from CTV, which has said it doesn't have any plans to shut down its analogue transmitters.
There are other options for those who wish to receive CBC broadcasts, as Volker Beckmann found out when he phoned CBC to complain after several days of having no signal.
"I thought it may be temporary transmitter problems," he told the Thompson Citizen. But when he called CBC, he heard a message explaining about accelerated decommissioning. "Then I spoke to a PR person who sympathized with me and talked about how much money CBC would save that could be devoted to "new Canadian programming." Unbelievable! I was told small rural and northern communities are the most affected. And what lobbying clout do they have. As one person who is not interested in the crap that's on Cable TV and not willing to pay for useless channels, so much for my public broadcasting service."
Beckmann is among the estimated 1.7 per cent of Canadians, according to the CBC, who still receive their television signals using analogue over-the-air technology. In Manitoba, the CBC's only digital transmitter is located in Winnipeg and provides coverage to a small portion of the province where getting the national broadcaster's programming over the air with a digital receiver is possible. Beyond that range, Manitobans can no longer get CBC television without cable or satellite. But it doesn't mean they have to pay for it.
People who haven't been cable or satellite subscribers in the past 90 days may be eligible to receive a satellite dish from Shaw Direct through the Local Television Satellite Solution. Under this plan, the company will provide people who previously got TV signals over the air with a satellite dish, which will enable them to get three channels - CBC, CTV and Global - for free, as well as any additional channels that they wish to pay for.
Prior to the signal being lost, Beckmann said the last he had heard was that this wouldn't be an issue so soon.
"Last year the information that I got was that it would be several years before rural and northern communities would be affected," Beckmann wrote in an e-mail to the Citizen. "Which is why they are now calling this an 'accelerated decommissioning' as they cut off service on July 31st."
Beckmann contacted Shaw about the free satellite dish program and they faxed him a form to apply for someone to install the dish. After two weeks with no news, he complained to CBC via Facebook.
"They call me and a polite lady gives me all the details," he said, and soon after he got a satellite dish and receiver via courier. When he called Shaw Direct, he was told they didn't know if they would be able to install it for him but that he could do it himself or receive up to $150 towards the cost of getting the work performed by a third party. Currently, he is waiting for the self-install kit that Shaw Direct is sending him.
"Is everyone in rural and northern communities going to deal with this?" Beckmann asks. "I guess so as only 1.5 per cent of Canadian are so affected!"
CBC's rationale for shutting down its 620 analogue transmitters was primarily financial, announced on April 4 in response to the federal government's decision to reduce CBC/Radio-Canada's appropriation by $115 million over three years, part of the Harper government's plan to reduce the federal budget deficit.
"We had to take a hard look at those services that technology has for the most part rendered obsolete, and that not many Canadians are using," said Hubert T. Lacroix, the president and CEO of CBC/Radio-Canada said in a press release at the time. "Broadcasters around the world are moving away from analogue. In Canada, only 1.7 per cent of the population still receives our television signals via an analogue, over-the-air transmitter. Given these circumstances, we've decided to accelerate our exit from this technology."
The estimated savings for the corporation through the shutdown will amount to almost $10 million by 2013-14.
The transition from analogue to digital was brought about by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) ordering that all television stations switch to digital transmission by Aug. 31, 2011. Broadcasters said they would not be able to convert every transmitter to digital technology by that time and that they had no intention of converting any transmitters outside of major population centres. The CRTC then provided a list of 31 markets where the digital transition had to take place by the original date, which included every provincial and territorial capital, every market with a population over 300,000 and every city where there were at least two stations broadcasting original programming produced in that city. Winnipeg was the sole Manitoba market in that group and Brandon lost its television station, CKX, in October 2009 when the station closed after a deal to sell it fell through.
The CRTC also changed its policy in July 2010 to allow broadcasters not included in that list of 31 markets to continue to broadcast in analogue as long as they wished.
As the Nickel Belt News reported in August 2010, the CRTC estimated that it would cost $218,964 per transmitter to convert three transmitters in The Pas, CBC's transmitters in Thompson and Grand Rapids, and CTV's transmitter in Flin Flon from analogue to digital. CBC transmitters in Flin Flon and Leaf Rapids, as well as CTV's transmitter in Thompson would cost $237,214 apiece to convert. The conversion cost for CBC's transmitters in Waasagomach and Gods Lake Narrows was estimated at $338,464 each. Radio-Canada's transmitter in Flin Flon would have cost an estimated $322,720 to convert, while the one in Thompson would have had a price tag of $487,888.
Even at that time, the CBC warned that analogue transmitters would not remain operational indefinitely.
"We plan on keeping our analogue service going as long as we can," CBC senior adviser Angus McKinnon told the Nickel Belt News in 2010. "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."
Other Thompsonites affected by the analogue transmitter shutdown say that not having access to Canada's public broadcaster is an issue, but not a crisis.
"I am not opposed to technology changes, but feel it's a real loss that the CBC isn't available anymore," said former Thompson city councillor Harold Smith. "We will want to get access to CBC TV again, either online or through the Shaw offer. There doesn't seem to be a lot of information out there about this offer."
Bruce Krentz said the effect on him and his family was slight, but may become more noticeable down the line.
"We did notice that CBC is gone and I feel like it is a loss," he said, though not a major one at the moment. "Because we didn't watch much T.V. before it silently slipped beneath the waves, it was more a ripple than a tsunami in our lives."
Over the fall, winter and spring is when it's more likely to leave a hole.
"It will hurt a lot more if and when the NHL gets up and running because Hockey Night in Canada is a staple," Krentz admits."Beyond that CTV seems to be filling any needs we have. The reality in our house is with the availability of information and programming online, our need for entertainment and news is met. We may not have cable television but we are very connected in other aspects."
Krentz said he was aware of the Shaw Direct offer and had plans to look into it.
"The information and the process is slow getting out," said Krentz, who also sees the irony of approaching a private cable and satellite TV provider in order to continue watching a public broadcasting corporation without paying for cable or satellite TV. "There is something funny and a little awkward about now going to the people I deliberately avoided for 14 years."
