Analog Today, Digital Tomorrow.

A final reminder for Canadian visitors:  Today is the last day of analog over the air TV transmissions for most TV stations in Canada.  Tomorrow they will begin transmitting in digital format.  If you receive TV via an old fashioned TV antenna you will need a recent TV that contains the necssary circuitry or a coverter box to watch the new format.  Cable and satellite TV viewers are not effected.  It should also be noted that if you use a radio to receive TV audio for some reason it will not be usable to receive the audio from digital TV stations.  I haven't been looking for them, but I haven't seen  any sign digital capable TV audio portable radios are available in Canada.

In Saskatoon specifically CTV and Global's Saskatoon transmitters will go digital.  CBC's English and French TV stations will remain analog.  As noted before the transition has been a bit of a mess as far as which stations will and which won't switch over to digital tomorrow, so consult with the stations in your area if you have any doubts.

Digital TV Update.

Time to follow up my previous post on the transition to digital TV.  Today's Star Phoenix has an article about the switchover, including the fact that CBC may no longer be available over the air after August 31st in Saskatoon.  If you watch TV via cable or satellite this won't effect you, but if you do need a CBC signal via antenna reception you may be out of luck.  And as I previously mentioned if you do wish to watch Global and CTV in the Saskatoon area via antenna you need to go out and buy a digital capable TV or converter box before the deadline, or those stations will be lost to you as well. 

Switching Over...Or Not.

If you're a Canadian TV viewere you may have noticed ads about the upcoming changeover to digital TV transmission.  Canadian TV stations must switch their over the air TV transmissions over to the new digital transmission format by August 31, 2011.  Sounds simple.  But it isn't.  The Wikipedia article on the subject shows what a mess it's going to be.  Some transmitters will be changing over or already have done so.  Others wont.  For example the CBC English and French transmitters in Saskatoon aren't scheduled to switch over because they are retransmitters only, with the studios located in Regina.  Regina's CBC transmitters on the other hand will go digital.  Some transmitters may leave the air entirely.  This is on top of the confusion that is likely to result because many viewers won't understand they need to acquire equipment capable of receiving the new digital ATSC standard.  In the United States nearly 2 million people still didn't have digital TV receivers when analog signals ended in June of 2009.  So some viewers will suddenly find their local TV station gone from its old analog channel and not know why.

If you have cable or satellite you won't have to worry.  But if you need to receive signals with an antenna you'd better get cracking at getting the right gear.