Even if CBC had the money, it couldn’t meet digital deadline: CBC

OTTAWA--Even with additional financial resources, CBC/Radio-Canada could not meet the CRTC’s digital transition deadline, Steven Guiton, CBC vice-president and chief regulatory officer, told The Wire Report. Guiton attributed the public broadcaster’s inability to reach the commission-imposed deadline of Aug. 31, 2011, to several factors, including costs, the number of transmitters to be converted, and a lack of engineering resources. “It’s a combination of a bunch of things. It’s demanding from an engineering point of view, it’s demanding from a financial point of view, and all of those things put together have meant we’re going to have to roll it out over a number of years, rather than trying to get it done in a shorter period of time,” he said. But Guiton said meeting the transition deadline is not only a budget-related problem. He said that even with a larger capital budget, the CBC would need additional engineering resources to convert all the necessary transmitters. “It does get backed up. Everybody is trying to do the same thing, we’re all ordering up equipment. We’re all ordering up the teams that are necessary to help us plan this and design the transmitter roll out. So there is a lot of work behind the money.” On Aug. 6, the CBC released its digital broadcasting transition plan, which will install digital transmitters in all markets where it produces original programming, for a total of 27 transmitters, but not by the deadline. The public broadcaster said it could install only 15 of the 27 transmitters as required by the commission’s conversion guidelines. The CBC said the remaining 12 would be operational by the following year in August 2012. The markets that will not be reached by deadline for the CBC are Yellowknife, Regina, Winnipeg, Windsor, Saint-John/Fredericton, Charlottetown, Halifax and St. John, and for Radio-Canada, Vancouver, Edmonton, Regina and Winnipeg. Guiton said in an interview that the remaining 12 transmitters will be converted throughout the year, with several becoming operational during the first six months after the 2011 deadline. “We’re not just going to wait until the end of the year and then the 12 are going to go up. They’re going to go up as the year progresses, so we have all 27 done by the end,” Guiton said. “Perhaps you’d say we should have started earlier, and perhaps we should have in some sense. But we have been planning for this over a number of years, trying to figure out what would be the best way to go at this. We knew we couldn’t replicate all 650 of our transmitters, so there has been a period of time to actually plan the thing out.” The CRTC first announced its transition deadline in 2007. Guiton said the CBC has a relatively small capital budget for the size of the corporation. “To get something like this done, which is quite capital-intensive, it means we have to stage it out over a couple of years. We can’t do it in one year. We can’t borrow from one year’s capital budget to the next.” In a policy statement on March 22, the CRTC said that, despite broadcasters’ concerns over the transition’s timetable, the Aug. 31, 2011 deadline will be maintained. The commission could potentially revoke broadcasting licences from the CBC in mandatory markets where it does not meet the deadline. The CRTC defines a mandatory market as one having a population of over 300,000, or one that has more than one local television station. “The Commission does not intend to renew authorizations for full-power analog transmitters operating in the mandatory markets or on channels 52 to 69 outside the mandatory markets beyond 31 August 2011,” the CRTC said in its policy statement. But the CBC has filed a request with the commission asking for a temporary extension. “We’re hopeful they are going to be able to permit us to extend this. We haven’t heard anything yet from the commission,” Guiton said. “It would be worrying to us if we weren’t allowed an extension for those 12 transmitters, because it would mean we’d have to potentially go black in those areas, and then worry about our licensing as well.” The CRTC is reviewing the CBC’s application. Michael Janigan, executive director of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC), said in an interview that the CBC’s inability to meet the deadline is indicative of a lack of government oversight for the transition. “I think we’re sleepwalking towards chaos in some respects and I really question whether anyone is fully in control of this process,” he said. “It certainly is a gamble that things are going to work out alright ... They have been probably as attuned as anyone in this industry to this issue, and the fact that they haven’t been able to prepare for it is not a good omen.” So far, it seems other broadcasters will be able to meet the deadline. Jan Innes, a spokeswoman for Rogers Communications Inc., said in an interview that Rogers is set to meet the deadline for its Citytv and Omni stations. “We have already converted some of our transmitters to digital and we’re on track to meet the deadline,” she said. Shaw Communications Inc. also indicated in a July 12 letter to the CRTC it will convert 20 transmitters in mandatory markets by the transition deadline as part of its purchase of Canwest Global Communications Corp.’s television assets. Shaw also proposed converting its remaining 35 transmitters in non-mandatory markets after the deadline. CTVglobemedia told The Wire Report on July 23 that the broadcaster can meet the transition deadline under two conditions: that the CRTC’s proposed value-for-signal regime is implemented, and that the commission approves a request for regulatory relief for its A-Channel stations. The broadcaster said it will revisit its transition plan if the conditions are not met. CTVglobemedia is faced with changing 22 analog transmitters serving its CTV and A-Channel stations in mandatory markets. The company estimates the mandatory upgrade will cost it $30 million. kfournier@thewirereport.ca

Even if CBC had the money, it couldn’t meet digital deadline: CBC

Broadcast | August 10, 2010

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