Digital television in Canada

Digital terrestrial television in Canada (or digital over-the-air television (OTA) in Canada) is transmitted using the ATSC standard. Because Canada and the U.S. use the same standard and frequencies for channels, people near the Canada–United States border can watch digital television programming from television stations in either country where available. The ATSC standards are also used in Mexico, parts of Central America, and South Korea.

Jurisdiction over over-the-air broadcasting in Canada is primarily regulated by Industry Canada and the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). Industry Canada has jurisdiction over the allotment of over-the-air spectrum and the CRTC has jurisdiction over the allotment of broadcast licences.

The CRTC imposed in 28 mandatory markets a digital transition deadline for full power transmitters of August 31, 2011, with the exception of some CBC transmitters. Two weeks before the deadline, the CBC transmitters were given a temporary one-year extension to remain in analog. No digital transition deadline has been set for low-power analogue transmitters and analog transmitters outside of the 28 mandatory markets.

In January 2007, Industry Canada stopped issuing licences within Canada for new television transmitters broadcasting in analogue.

The digital television transition in Canada and the United States will result in spectrum on channels 52 to 69 being re-allocated for other purposes. The United States government already auctioned most of this spectrum and Canada is planning on doing the same. The United States government, using some proceeds of the spectrum auction, funded an education campaign in advance of the transition, provided subsidies to many broadcasters in support of transitioning to digital, and provided subsidies to consumers for digital to analogue converter boxes. In contrast, the Canadian government did not provide any similar funding in support of the digital television transition. The Canadian government's most visible efforts to support the public in the transition to digital over-the-air television has been in the form of a website entitled Canada's Transition to Digital Television (DTV) along with some newspaper, radio, and television advertisements in the month leading up to the transition deadline.

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