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

Canadian Heritage committee  As far as I know, yes.

Canadian Heritage committee  The important message here is not to start too early, because after all, the main thing here is that this will not affect 93% of Canadians. That is clear.

Canadian Heritage committee  Industry Canada has the folks who are the specialists in that domain. We only deal with repurposing the broadcasting spectrum and reassigning it to the various broadcasters pursuant to their licences.

Canadian Heritage committee  That's what we're about to embark upon. That's the last phase of what we've been working on with industry.

Canadian Heritage committee  That's not for us at the CRTC to explain. We have learned from the U.S. experience that direct subsidy mechanisms are not necessary.

Canadian Heritage committee  As I indicated earlier in the questioning, we have been able to work within the confines of the current policy to come up with a mechanism that minimizes the impact of loss of service to Canadians, and we've found a way to ensure that those who will lose service will be provided with free digital satellite equipment, to be able to maintain service to them.

Canadian Heritage committee  In the U.S. at the time, the boxes were valued at about $75, and I believe they provided coupons to households for about $40, which brought the cost to them down to about $35. Here in Canada, being a couple of years behind and having learned from that experience, manufacturing, and technologies, and benefiting from the volume of the United States, they're selling for $30.

Canadian Heritage committee  Just to make it clear, spectrum in Canada is primarily regulated by the Department of Industry. Those are the people who slice and dice the spectrum, provide for its uses, and auction off what can be auctioned off for mobile uses. We at the CRTC only handle the broadcasting assignments within those original ones.

Canadian Heritage committee  We estimated the number of households that will no longer receive service at 31,500. This estimate was established a while ago. Today, we have the figures on hand, and reports from various broadcasters are coming in constantly. As I said earlier, in rural areas, broadcasters can opt to keep broadcasting in analog mode.

Canadian Heritage committee  That's what we're looking at.

Canadian Heritage committee  Essentially, in the mandatory markets, those for whom the television stations will be converting, we're looking at around the 900,000 number. So in their case, there are various options, but the boxes, thanks to us being a couple of years behind the U.S., manufacturing being what it is, and extra availability from the sets in the U.S., they seem to be as low as $30, whereas in the U.S. they're at $75.

Canadian Heritage committee  Yes. That's more or less where we are, but that is a very high number because we're being on the safe side in estimating both, those who will need to purchase equipment or potentially lose service.

Canadian Heritage committee  I think the commission has moved away from the third one. Having moved from being a few years behind the United States and boxes as low as $30, we think the latter one is no longer necessary. What is key right now for us is coordinating. That's what we're working on with the Department of Canadian Heritage and the Department of Industry, along with broadcasters.

Canadian Heritage committee  We have not had an onslaught yet of consumer requests or information. What we've been trying to do is, in the meantime, minimize the impact on loss of service. That's been our objective to date. We were concerned that Canadians, even if they are few in number, should be able to maintain some level of service, and through the variety of means we've put in place, we are ensuring that.