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Originally Posted by Jeffhs
I meant all cable systems in the US. Should have mentioned that in my post.
I am actually surprised that Canada's communications authority has decided to scramble nearly everything on the country's cable systems, including local channels 2-13. Why didn't they leave the local channels unscrambled, so people without cable or converter boxes can still see them?  Here in the US, we still have a basic level of cable service that currently provides unscrambled local channels; however, I recently read online (at elgato.com) that analog cable service in the US will be phased out soon, meaning that all cable systems in this country will be 100 percent digital -- no exceptions. I am not sure, however, what the actual cutoff date will be. The Canadian government must remember that there are people in Canada who cannot afford cable or even converter boxes, the same situation as we had here in the US before the DTV transition and immediately afterward. There are people in the US who gave up watching TV altogether, starting the day of the DTV transition; this could and probably will happen in Canada as well, if programming, including local channels, are all but completely scrambled. What kind of equipment will be required to watch cable TV in Canada once the DTV transition is underway there? Will flat panel TVs, with their digital ATSC tuners (as are replacing analog NTSC TVs in the US), work on Canadian cable systems without a cable box? |
The same TVs and standards are used in Canada and the US. Like the US, analog channels on cable are not scrambled, so they will still be usable by legacy sets for quite a while. But. as you say, eventually all analog signals will be removed to allow for more HD channels. All digital versions of basic analog channels are scrambled by many - though not all - providers. There is no proviso by the CRTC that C-Qam basic channels MUST be Clear, unlike FCC rules.
One thing different is that in Canada most repeaters and small stations can remain analog for the next several years, so analog stations will still be receivable from locations outside major cities - also by Americans near the border in many areas. But many stations with that choice are preferring to go ATSC anyway, since most programming is digital and HD. In Toronto's case, a few area services, such as TVOntario, are doing a "Hot Switch." going from analog to digital overnight on the same physical channel. August 31 and September 1 are being planned as "dark days" with no important programs or first runs airing those days, to allow for any technical delays or problems.