Canadian Heritage Committee on Feb. 28th, 2011

[Scott Hutton]

The 900,000 households are located in areas where conversion will take place. These are households that do not subscribe to cable or satellite services. As you know, if someone subscribes to cable or satellite, they have nothing to worry about; nothing will change for them. The 900,000 remaining households include—

[Carole Lavallée, Bloc, Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC]

There is also no problem for those who have a modern television receiver.

[Scott Hutton]

That's correct.

[Carole Lavallée, Bloc, Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC]

As the chair has pointed out.

[Scott Hutton]

Exactly. As the chair has indicated—to confirm his statement—this number includes people who do not have a television receiver. The commission has considered this figure in a general sense in order to pinpoint the source of the problem. Therefore, this figure includes people who do not watch television or who have a television receiver like the one in this room. It need not be huge. It can be a very small modern television receiver that is already compatible with digital signals. As for the remainder of the population, the commission has not quite worked out the cross-section. However, those who have not done so will have to upgrade their television receiver or get an analog converter, which costs $30. This is the amount the commission is talking about.

[Carole Lavallée, Bloc, Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC]

You talked about 31,500 households. After all the calculations you have done, you've come up with a figure of 31,500 households across Canada. Do you have the figures for each province?

[Scott Hutton]

Yes, we do have them, but not on hand. We can provide them for you.

[Carole Lavallée, Bloc, Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Could you send them to us?

[Scott Hutton]

Yes, we could.

[Carole Lavallée, Bloc, Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC]

This is an official request. Please, send these documents to the committee chair.

There are, after all, 31,500 households remaining, which is not totally insignificant. If you cut that into half, there are some 15,000 households remaining. That would account for a little more than two persons per household.

According to the demographic studies conducted by the Canadian Media Research Consortium that I quoted earlier, the homes lacking a television receivers are six-person households. Therefore, there are many people that would no longer have access to television.

You have done a few studies over the years. In 2009, you asked a group consisting of Bell TV, Quebecor, Shaw, Rogers, and so on, to provide you with a report on digital television. Those broadcasters recommended a way to assist the 31,500 people who do not have television receivers. You—the CRTC—published another report in October 2009 in which you provided solutions for helping those people. All of a sudden, you no longer wish to help them; you are placing the burden on the broadcasters by telling them to deal with it. What has happened to the CRTC?

[Scott Hutton]

We have found a solution to the problem. As we stated in our conversation with Mr. Del Mastro, Shaw has proposed, as part of the transaction in which it acquired Canwest Television, to set aside $15 million for providing satellite service to all 31,500 households and not only to 15,000 households. This service would replace the lost signals. So, we have solved the problem.

[Carole Lavallée, Bloc, Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Free of charge?

[Scott Hutton]

Free of charge.

[Carole Lavallée, Bloc, Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Okay. This means that, on September 1, everybody will be receiving a television signal, correct?

[Scott Hutton]

Correct.

[Carole Lavallée, Bloc, Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Guaranteed?

[Scott Hutton]

Our first objective was to ensure that no one would lose service. That's the purpose behind all the measures we have implemented.

[Carole Lavallée, Bloc, Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC]

You said that this is what you have tried to do. However, I am wondering whether all Canadians and Quebeckers will really be able to receive a television signal at home as of September 1?

[Scott Hutton]

As far as I know, yes.

[Carole Lavallée, Bloc, Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC]

As far as you know, yes.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Thank you, Mrs. Lavallée. Thank you, Mr. Hutton.

Mr. Armstrong, you are the last MP to have the floor today.

[Scott Armstrong, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, NS]

Thank you.

Thank you for your submission. I've enjoyed listening to your answers to the various questions you've had.

Maybe you can just elaborate on some things you've mentioned before and, in particular, talk about the regional aspects of this transition. Being from Atlantic Canada as I am, for example, my riding's very rural. I estimate that there are probably about 2,000 households that may be affected by this. Many of these are cottages or secondary houses. They still have an old television that they've had for 20 years. They bring in CBC to watch golf on Sunday afternoon when they are at their cottages. We're not talking about something that's a drastic change in their lifestyles.

But for those people, can you explain to me, if they're not sure what's going to happen to them and they start seeing these ads on TV, where can they call? Who can they contact? What central government agency can they contact to try to determine what's going to happen directly to them if they're confused?

[Scott Hutton]

One thing to remember is that for the companies we're dealing with, their main objective is to keep people watching them, so they have a self-interest in making sure that all the people continue to watch them. As for what we will be putting in place in our public service announcements, we are ensuring that the companies tell Canadians what they have to watch for, what they have to think of, and what the new channels will be, and that they have both a website and a 1-800 number for those people to contact.

[Scott Armstrong, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, NS]

Will that website and the 1-800 number be specific to the company that's involved? Or is there some sort of government agency, say, the CRTC, that will have some information available directly for consumers who are challenged by this changeover?

[Scott Hutton]

I believe you will see both.

You will see both. Right now the Department of Canadian Heritage does run a website. They are working on it to improve it. We will be requiring that each of the broadcasters actually has the specific information related to the specific channel they're broadcasting on, what's happening, and the information with respect to their local market.