Canadian Heritage Committee on March 7th, 2011

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Blais, unfortunately, despite all the explanations we got from the CRTC, there are still many unknowns, in my opinion. For instance, when it comes to how many Canadians and Quebeckers will be affected, I have seen various figures in various documents. I have seen 7% for the proportion of Canadians who will be affected, but we know that figure will be higher in Quebec. I have seen 9% for Canadians, in 2006, and 14% for Quebeckers. True, those figures go back a few years, but the fact remains that more people will be affected in Quebec than anywhere else. So the situation is more critical there.

I still do not understand the makeup of these groups. What are the solutions? We heard it will be 900,000 Canadians, but if there are more Quebeckers, what do we do about the digital transition? What should each person expect, based on the type of TV they have and their geographic location? How many people will be affected? Let's say that of those 900,000 Canadians we heard about last week, 200,000 are Quebeckers. Is that 200,000 individuals or 200,000 homes? How many are in Montreal? Do people in Montreal have to buy a converter? Is there a solution for them? I do not understand where everything stands, things are still foggy.

[Jean-Pierre Blais]

You are right. Our figures are closer to 850,000, as opposed to 900,000. You said that more people watched off-air television in Quebec than anywhere else in the country. And you are right, but that includes the Montreal area, where that rate is higher. In the Saguenay region, 1% of people use off-air television. In Rouyn-Noranda, it is 4%. In Quebec's more French-speaking communities, people seem to make greater use of cable or satellite television service. That is to be expected, they are farther away from the border.

In many parts of Montreal, the cable and satellite penetration rate is lower because people can access many signals for free, including American ones. That has been the case for the past 30 or 40 years.

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

Let's look for some solutions. What will happen on August 31 or September 1? I hope your 1-800 number will still be in service after August 31, because my feeling is you will be getting quite a few calls.

[Jean-Pierre Blais]

We are talking about homes, not individual people.

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

Okay, so we are talking about 850,000 homes.

[Jean-Pierre Blais]

It is about that, yes. Let's stick with 850,000.

Some people get their TV satellite service through what is known as the grey or black market, in other words, the underground market. We do not know who they are, they are really outside our knowledge. I do not know how many there are, but the number may be higher in some neighbourhoods than others.

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

The fact remains you cannot base your ad campaign telling people about the August 31 deadline on the fact that some people—

[Jean-Pierre Blais]

I was trying to tell you, Ms. Lavallée, people who are basically.... Some of those people do have service, but through unknown systems. Some people in that 7% do not watch TV. Some people have recently purchased a television, so it is already equipped for digital signals. These TVs have been for sale for a number of years now.

The next category is especially significant in the Montreal area, English speakers. Certain parts of Montreal have large anglophone communities. Since the American conversion has already happened, if people in those communities wanted to keep their free off-air TV service, they had to buy a converter to receive the signals, so they already have one.

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

American TV signals.

[Jean-Pierre Blais]

The signals for American television, which converted to digital a few years ago. Those who have not already bought one, because they are French-speakers, for example, can buy the box for $30 to $45.

Others will choose to watch TOU.TV more and more, or other such sites—you are very familiar with the TOU.TV model. They do not even watch television anymore.

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

Yes, but it is very expensive.

[Jean-Pierre Blais]

You may find it expensive, but it provides another option to someone who chooses to have only Internet service, and not TV service.

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

It is very expensive. I know everyone is talking about it. I know that it is possible, that it is feasible, but first you have to pay for the monthly Internet access, which is somewhere between $40 and $45. In addition, as soon as you exceed the terms of your service, you have to pay more.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Thank you, Ms. Lavallée.

Mr. Blais.

[Jean-Pierre Blais]

I just want to finish.

The other choice is obviously to subscribe to a cable or satellite provider for service. As I said earlier, a package of approximately $15 million is available, a tangible benefit of a transaction recently approved by the CRTC.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Thank you.

Mr. Angus.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

When is the ad going to roll out and what is it going to say?

[Jean-Pierre Blais]

I'm not in a position today to tell you exactly. Those decisions are still being finalized.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Have you seen the ad?

[Jean-Pierre Blais]

I have seen certain mock-ups of the advertising products and some of the PSAs being provided by the broadcasters themselves.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

And what is the website again?

[Jean-Pierre Blais]

It's www.digitaltelevision.info.gc.ca.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

My concern is that I hear from the broadcasters that “Of course, it's in our interests to make sure that our people follow us, yes”, but if CTV tells you they have a box and CBC says you can still go on the rabbit ears, it's not in their interests to tell you, “Well, the other guy's saying to use rabbit ears and we're telling you to use a box.” Who's going to tell the overall public what's available in certain regions?

To go to a “.gc.ca” site, to me, that's like expecting that people are already paying attention to government websites. For a hundred bucks you could get “digitaltv.ca”. People could just type in “digital TV” and it would take you.... I don't understand why you would go through this complex website without having something that's really easy and accessible, because people who use over-the-air signals tend to be people who are probably less likely to be using Internet and other means.

[Jean-Pierre Blais]

We agree that the Internet is not the only solution, because in fact there's probably a large percentage of the population that is not already covered by the 93%, that would not necessarily be connected to the Internet. That's why the proposed campaign, which I can't give you any details on right now because it's not fully approved, will be a multi-platform approach to reach Canadians, keeping in mind that the PSAs required by the CRTC are probably the most efficient use.

In terms of consistent messages across, that is what we are coordinating, to make sure that we all have the same messages, that we're all pointing to the same 1-800 number, and that we're all saying the same thing in terms of choices that Canadians will have.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

What came up the other day from one of the community groups was this dog's breakfast of options out there. Sure, in every area there might be an option or three options or four options, but there is not necessarily going to be a coherent option. People aren't going to be able to phone their broadcaster to find out why they're suddenly not getting CTV.

How are they going to get a coherent message?