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Tales from Cogeco

Fagstein — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 06:45:38 +0000

Cogeco President Louis Audet

On Thursday, I got up early (meaning: before noon) and went to the annual shareholders' meeting of Cogeco, the cable company that is also a big player in the Quebec radio industry.

I covered the meeting for Cartt.ca, the online publication about the broadcasting and telecom industry run by Greg O'Brien. If you're a subscriber, you can read my report here. If not, it's not the end of the world. Much of it is industry stuff you probably don't care about that much.

The stuff you might care about is repeated below:

The finances

There is, of course, the financial side: The company released its quarterly results that morning, and depending on how you measure these things they're either really good or disappointing. The company is still very profitable, but its profit margin is lower, mainly because radio doesn't bring in the kind of money that cable television does.

You can read details of their quarterly results here (PDF).

The previous year has been a big one for Cogeco. There was, of course, the finalization of the purchase of Corus Quebec and its radio stations including CKOI, CHMP, CKAC, CFQR and others around Quebec. This acquisition had major effects in radio stations outside Montreal. One former Corus station in Saguenay wasn't bought by Cogeco and now has a new owner. Two stations in Quebec City were sold as required by the CRTC, and a station in Sherbrooke was shut down because Cogeco already owned too much in that market. Meanwhile, in Montreal, the company went ahead with a plan for all-traffic radio stations, converting CKAC into a French-language one when the CRTC process took too long and eventually failing to secure one of two clear channels for its English-language one. They're going to try again (more on that below).

There were also other purchases, like data services providers MTO Telecom and QuietTouch Inc., and transit advertising company Metromedia CMR Plus.

On the flip side, rumours abound about Cabovisao, the Portuguese cable provider that Cogeco owns (its only major asset outside the country). That company's poor performance has been a drag on Cogeco's bottom line, and analysts assume they'll sell it at the earliest opportunity.

The press conference

I was invited to a press conference just before the shareholders' meeting at a conference centre downtown. "Press conference" might be pushing it a bit. It was in a tiny room, at a table with about eight chairs. On one side, Cogeco President/CEO Louis Audet and his flak. On the other, me and three other journalists: One from Cogeco Nouvelles (of course), and a reporter and photographer from Presse Canadienne.

(I find it funny that 98.5's website ends up using the PC story)

It would be easy to condemn other media for not being present, but they didn't really have to be. The financial results were sent out, and reporters could listen in on a conference call with analysts (the Financial Post's Jamie Sturgeon got a whole story out of that about how cable providers are increasingly moving to a Videotron-style à la carte package system).

Still, it was interesting to attend, particularly for someone like me who doesn't get to play reporter at press conferences too often. The three journalists asked Audet questions about its decisions over the past year, about why it was getting into transit advertising, whether it would sell Cabovisao (they won't announce anything in advance, but he's not exactly defiant that they're never going to sell it), and whether he's worried about Radio X coming to Montreal and competing with CHMP. (He's not).

There were also the questions that I'm sure Cogeco is tired of hearing. Can it continue to survive as a mid-sized telecom as its competitors get bigger and bigger? Yes. Is it planning to set up or buy TV specialty services so it can have better leverage versus vertically-integrated companies like Bell, Shaw and Cogeco? No (the CRTC ensures they don't abuse their positions). Is Cogeco Cable going to come to Montreal? Absolutely not. Will Cogeco enter the wireless phone market? No.

We had about half an hour with Audet before the meeting came to an end so he could prepare for the shareholders' meeting. There weren't any pressing questions remaining, so the journalists packed it in without a fight.

Cogeco chairman Jan Peeters chairs the shareholders meetings of Cogeco and Cogeco Cable

The meeting

I'd never been to a shareholders' meeting like this before, so I decided to stick around for it. There were lots of people in suits, many of them of advanced age. The kind of people who have enough invested in a company (and enough free time) to want to go to such a meeting.

Journalistically, it was boring. When one person has 90% of the voting power (through proxies), there isn't about to be any big power struggle. The meeting had no questions, no one voted against any decision as far as who should be on the board of directors, who the auditors should be or any of the other standard annual general meeting stuff. The motions were moved and seconded largely by the company's directors (who are also shareholders), who read from notes that told them what they should say.

The more interesting part was afterward, when Audet gave a presentation about the company (one that included some promotional videos).

News from Cogeco Diffusion

At the shareholders' meeting, I spotted Richard Lachance, the Cogeco VP who's in charge of its radio operations. He was front and centre at the table when Cogeco made its presentation to the CRTC about its plan for an English-language all-traffic station. During that hearing he seemed frustrated, perhaps because Cogeco's competitors were attacking it, or because he knew he might not get the clear channel he was going for (even though those channels had been vacant for more than a year after the shutdown of CINW 940 and CINF 690). But he was quite friendly with me, answering my questions frankly and even giving me his card at the end.

Like Audet, Lachance isn't panicked about the possibility of another competitor in the francophone talk-radio market in Montreal. He pointed out that they already have one in Radio-Canada, and that they are also fighting music stations for audience. Lachance said content is king, and that is the main reason they would come out on top against Radio X or the new French news-talk station being prepared by Tietolman-Tétrault-Pancholy Media at 940 AM.

Lachance pointed out improvements made to 98.5, including bringing over sports shows and Canadiens games so it has more original content during the evenings, and adding more weekend programming, including a weekend overnight show that is also carried by FM93 in Quebec City and FM98 in Saguenay.

A two-transmitter traffic station?

Asked about Cogeco's new plan for an all-traffic station in Montreal, Lachance maintained what he said during the CRTC hearings, that the 690 and 940 clear channels were the only ones that could adequately cover anglophone areas of Montreal, and that other options like 600 or 990 were not sufficient.

But Lachance said their engineers have devised new plans that they can bring back to the CRTC. He wouldn't get too specific on the details (like what frequencies they'd be on), but he did say that at least one of those plans involves having more than one transmitter. So they could, for example, use their existing Kahnawake tower on an AM frequency, and supplement it with another transmitter in the West Island or Vaudreuil/St. Lazare area that covers holes in its coverage.

Lachance said plans will be presented to the Ministry of Transport next Friday (the station, like its French-language counterpart, would be dependent on $1.5 million a year in funding from the government), and if they can agree on one a new contract will be signed and Cogeco will re-apply to the CRTC.

Tietolman-Tétrault-Pancholy is also readying another application to the CRTC for an English-language AM station - a news-talk station to complement its French one and share some of its costs. Details on that, too, are not public yet but there's also speculation that they might try a multiple-transmitter approach to solve the problem of poor West Island coverage.

More from CFCF’s new studio

Fagstein — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 20:31:28 +0000

Todd and Mutsumi play with their gadgets between live parts of the newscast.

In September, I visited CFCF to write a story for a magazine about their new studio.

That story just came out in Broadcast Dialogue, a controlled-circulation trade magazine for the radio and television industry in Canada. Fortunately for us without TV and radio stations, it's posted online.

You can read the story, cryptically called "CTV Montreal's new studio", in PDF form. It's part of the December/January issue, which is available in its complete form here as a PDF or here as a Flash-based digital version.

It marks what is technically my first foray into trade magazines (or freelancing for any magazine, for that matter). And I must say it was a pleasure to work for the Christensens, who run a mom-and-pop operation and wanted to treat freelancers well, a rarity these days. I even got a personal cheque in the mail with my fee just to make sure I got it as soon as possible.

The same image appears on background screens as the rotated plasma

The story is illustrated with photos taken by me during September before, during and after the launch. It starts with a little anecdote about different screens using the same feed of an animated CTV News logo, as illustrated above. It wasn't a major problem, but required careful attention to camera movements to make sure the screens you see here with rotated graphics weren't visible in the opening pan shot.

I've published photos of the new studio taken before the launch, as well as for my behind-the-scenes look at the first newscasts.

You can find more photos of the new studio sets below:

The plan

Plan for the new studio, with markings of camera angles. Note the four structural pillars that had to be designed around.

Designers of the studio had to work around a few constraints, mostly due to the fact that they were converting former office space. The ceilings were lower, requiring more lights (a lot more). There are four structural pillars in the middle of the set that needed to be dressed up and worked around in camera shots.

Artist's conception of the new studio - pretty close to the final product

When I first saw the artist's conception for the new studio, I thought it looked really spacious. It turns out those drawings are a bit of a distorted perspective, but not by much. Even though the new studio is smaller than the old one, because the camera control centre and the Antichambre set each took up about a quarter of the old studio, they have more space to work with here. And because it can be shot from almost 360 degrees, and some parts of the set are movable, there are even more options.

The anchor desk

The anchor desk, when empty

The anchor desk you're familiar with by now. Chairs are removed from the desk when not in use (which results in a lot of moving around as the weather presenter and sports anchor come on and off the anchor desk during a newscast).

The anchor's view (though during a newscast you'll see the cameras up close)

Aside from the problem of glare (more on that in a bit), the anchor's view also looks out onto René-Lévesque Blvd., which means people or vehicles who go by could attract their attention.

View of the anchor desk from the anchor's perspective

You can't see it well above, but there are two computer screens at full brightness underneath the desk. The bright lights embedded in the desk, designed to light the anchors from beneath, create an enormous amount of glare.

Overexposed shot shows working computer screens. Sadly human eyes can't be as easily adjusted

Heavily overexposed, you can see the working monitor on the far side. Both of them sit on blocks of rigid foam. They're used by the anchors to make last-minute changes to scripts.

Behind the anchor desk, a printer for paper copies of scripts.

Nothing particularly special behind the desk, except for a printer, a recycling bin, some steps and a bunch of cables. The platform has a raised edge to prevent the anchors from accidentally rolling off (this shot was taken before they had wheels on the chairs).

The backdrop behind the anchors is on a roller

The skyline behind the anchors is obviously fake. There are two versions, one for daytime and one for night. There was also a bit of photo editing done, to remove corporate logos from buildings and to make Place Ville-Marie taller so it seems more prominent.

Anchor desk with CTV News backdrop

A third backdrop with the CTV News logo is used mainly for promo shots, and perhaps also for special occasions like election nights.

The rest of the set

Lori Graham in front of the green screen

The green chroma-key wall used for weather can be stored behind the set when not in use. Here we see Lori doing a weather segment. Notice she has the battery pack for her wireless mic strapped to her ankle. She says she used to have it at waist-level, but people would ask her if she was pregnant. Her left hand has the clicker she uses to cycle between weather graphics.

Neutral-density light filters on the windows

One of the biggest changes in the new studio is that it has windows. But because the sun can be a lot brighter than any studio could hope to be, it sometimes needs to be blocked out. Three neutral-density (read: colourless) filters of different degrees of shade can be lowered electronically into place to get the desired brightness.

The cozy corner had two problems: unsightly camera cables and a lot of green

The "cozy corner" set used for sit-down interviews with one to three guests. Two problems emerged on the first day of its use. First, that camera cables were visible in wide shots (the other two cameras are on the other side of the pillar to have close and wide shots of the guest). The second was that the green chroma wall is visible through the translucent window in the set. This can be solved by simply storing the green wall behind the set, but sometimes this is forgotten.

A new backdrop is added to the cozy corner set

The second problem was solved by adding a backdrop to that translucent wall. Now it doesn't matter whether the green screen is stored, it won't be visible from this part of the set.

Interview desk dubbed the "anti-cozy"

The "anti-cozy" is also a new feature of the new set, conceived for more formal interviews. It has a large screen at the back (concealing another one of those structural pillars) that can be used to show video during the two-shot. The camera on the right is right up against another pillar, which has another large screen. It's so close that, two weeks in, it had already scratched that screen.

The pillows on the chairs aren't just for comfort. They found that people were too low compared to the desk when they sat here, so pillows were added to make the anchor and guest higher.

The camera control centre in the corner of the newsroom

While most of the action happens in the control room upstairs, the three studio cameras are controlled from here, as is the prompter.

Literally behind the scenes

The back of the green screen is blue.

The 103-inch plasma screen used for show openings

One of the surprises when the set was constructed is that this 103-inch plasma screen (which was used during the Vancouver Olympics coverage) runs on 220V. That required some unforeseen electrical work.

The weather desk from another angle. The Quebec part of the map is kind of hidden.

Some people have noted that the map of Canada behind the weather desk tends to show the west coast more than the east. So here's what the Quebec part of the map looks like.

Arrays of TV sets showing the same image means lots of wires behind.

Here we see the back of those TVs between the anchor desk backdrop and the weather desk. It actually looks pretty neat considering the large number of electrical and signal wires involved.

The old newsroom set

The former anchor desk in the temporary set has been converted into a reporter debrief set

During the period from the beginning of July to the beginning of September when the old set was being torn down and the new one was being built, CTV News had to be done from a temporary set in the newsroom. To say it was cramped is putting it mildly. The anchor desk had room for only one chair behind it, so segments that required two people (like the handoff to sports) required one of those two to be standing.

The two cameras and temporary anchor desk are against a wall in the newsroom

Since the inauguration of the new studio, the desk has been slimmed down and has only one camera in front of it.

The temporary anchor desk close up. Not much room for anything.

Green screen for weather in the temporary newsroom set

The situation wasn't much better for weather. You can see the anchor set at the far left of this photo, and note that the weather presenter and anchor couldn't see each other directly. The same was the case for noon-hour interviews, in which the interviewee was across the newsroom from the anchor, in front of another camera.

Behind the scenes with Tasso and Patrick at Mike FM

Fagstein — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 20:59:28 +0000

Patrick Henry Charles (left) and Paul Zakaib (aka Tasso Patsikakis)

Stop me if you've heard this one before: Big local radio personality decides he's had enough of how faceless corporations have micromanaged what happens on air, taking all the fun out of it. So instead, he's moving to a low-power station few of his fans have ever heard of, becoming a big fish in a smaller pond, sacrificing a big paycheque for more creative freedom. The small station, not licensed in a way that would normally make it a competitor to the big commercial stations, decides it's going to go after a bigger mainstream crowd to attract more advertising revenue.

It's easy to see the parallels with Ted Bird here. Give me another example of this happening and I can write a trend story about it.

I went by Mike FM (CKDG) last week to sit in on a broadcast of the Tasso and Patrick show, which debuted on Oct. 24. It stars Paul Zakaib, who has been better known as Tasso since the 80s and has been mostly off the air since he was sacked from the CFQR morning show he shared with long-time partner Aaron Rand in 2009. With him is Patrick Henry Charles, who worked on the Aaron and Tasso show from 2001 until he got a better offer from competitor Astral to be part of CJFM's morning team, but about a year later was moved into a position that gave him less airtime and far less exposure.

I talk about Mike FM and Tasso and Patrick in an article that appeared in The Gazette on Tuesday. It reveals, among other things, that there were talks about bringing an Aaron and Tasso show to the station, but they fell through the cracks when Rand was hired to do an afternoon show at CJAD.

So Zakaib called up his old pal Charles, who had recently left Astral because he felt his talents were being wasted there. They met with CKDG GM Marie Griffiths, and before long the Tasso and Patrick show was born.

Every radio station needs an SUV with its logo on it. (Photo: Patrick Charles)

Marketing push

Griffiths is taking advantage of the big names coming on board to promote the station, which includes things like a branded SUV, a Page A3 ad in The Gazette, and hiring a PR company to send out a press release and organize a VIP meet-and-greet (celebrating the announcement as well as the first anniversary of sister station CKIN-FM).

That PR part complicated matters for me somewhat. I had arranged with Charles directly to sit in on their program during its first week, but was turned away when I showed up, asked to arrange it with the PR agency instead. I understand the logic, not wanting to see that PR money go to waste, but it still resulted in me losing an afternoon. Shortly thereafter, I sold The Gazette on the story, and after a few emails back and forth I was scheduled to visit the station again.

Though it was implied that there were other journalists wanting to get a piece of Tasso and Patrick, it probably won't surprise you to learn that I'm the only one to publish anything about them since their debut, aside from the usual press release republishers.

Paul Zakaib takes notes of break times

Inside the studio

Perhaps the thing that struck me most about sitting in on this show was the sight of Zakaib with a binder and a stopwatch. I asked him what he was doing, and he said he was timing how long they were talking. They're still tinkering with the show, and he wants a log that he can reference while planning.

For someone who comes across on the air as an improvisational slacker, Zakaib is taking this job surprisingly seriously, at least from the perspective of someone who doesn't work in the industry.

They can't put an exact time on it, because much work is done at home at odd hours, and because they don't really consider it work when they do things like read articles they might want to discuss on air, but Zakaib and Charles say they spend a few hours preparing each show. That means coming up with a script, but in most cases that's something as vague as a subject or news story they've agreed to discuss.

Patrick Charles at the mic

Charles, of course, does music parodies, which are posted to the show's Facebook wall. The day of the visit from me and Gazette photographer Allen McInnis, Mike FM had taken an ad out in that morning's paper. (The timing was a coincidence - I wasn't aware of the ad until I saw it in the paper.) Charles celebrated by writing a song about it, to the tune of Elton John's Bennie and the Jets.

A week later, when the article came out, Charles took the same song and rewrote it slightly (the chorus, "we're in today's Gazette", works for both).

The format

The show itself is about what you'd expect for an FM music station. Lots of hits (the focus is on hits from the 70s to 90s, so you can hear everything from Britney Spears to AC/DC), and funny banter and bits between (many of which involve Tasso going to his car and phoning in using a funny voice).

What you won't hear much is the extras that drive-time shows are filled with. There's no newscast, just the two hosts chatting about interesting stories in the news. Weather is done occasionally by reading off Charles's iPad. And traffic is rare, and half of that is fake, funny traffic from special correspondent Elaine Closure (get it?). I wrote in the piece that Charles finds traffic reports annoying, but he clarified on air that it's more the frequency of them that he can't stand.

To give you an idea of what they sound like, I've compiled clips from their first show on Oct. 24 (MP3). There's also some nuggets of information in there.

Producer Felix (Shotgun) Sullivan

Tasso and Patrick are joined, mostly behind the scenes, by Felix (Shotgun) Sullivan, who handles the board and music. On the left, you'll see a small whiteboard he writes the names of songs on (in the photo, it's Van Halen's Panama), to remind the announcers when they forget (which is often). He might look like a pot smoker off the street, but Sullivan actually studied at the London School of Economics and was hired for his financial skills, until his passion for music resulted in him being moved into an in-studio job.

No ratings

Zakaib admitted that this is all a big gamble, for both sides. He and Charles are gambling that they can make a decent (though not necessarily lavish) living at a small-budget station. Griffiths and Mike FM are gambling that the money they're spending on this talent will repay itself in the form of increased audience and ad revenue.

Because it's not willing to pay the $40,000 a year it costs to be part of the Bureau of Broadcast Measurement ratings system, CKDG doesn't get the kind of numbers that the big stations do. Instead, they're grouped in with every other small station from CKUT to CKRK in that 6% block of "other" when the ratings come out.

Griffiths doesn't object just to the cost, but the fact that BBM separates the audience into French and English, which she says introduces a bias against multicultural stations (CKDG broadcasts in other languages, particularly Greek, outside of the morning and afternoon drive shows and her own mid-morning call-in show MG Live).

So instead, Griffiths relies on contests to keep a measure of audience, and uses testimonials to attract new advertisers.

Power boost, maybe

Owner Canadian Hellenic Cable Radio Ltd. (the name comes from the fact that CKDG used to be a cable-only station) has an application in front of the CRTC for a year and a half now asking for a change in frequency from 105.1 to 106.7 MHz, with a boost in power from 141 to 407 watts. Even with that boost, which will increase its coverage area and make it easier to pick them up from inside buildings, it still compares very poorly to the 40,000-watt commercial music stations.

(The application also points out the marketing advantage of having CKDG and sister station CKIN-FM 106.3 closer together on the dial, and being able to sell them as "the 106es" - I'm not a radio marketing expert, but I don't know how significant that is.)

The application paints a dire picture if CKDG isn't awarded the frequency, but Griffiths downplayed the application, saying "there's no urgency" for the change, though she would have liked to have had it done before the big marketing push this fall.

The delay is curious, with the most logical explanation being that the CRTC had to deal with a pirate radio station in Kahnawake operating on 106.7. That station, Kahnawake Keeps It Country, got CRTC approval for low-power broadcast and launched as CKKI-FM on 89.9 MHz on Nov. 1.

Good start

Listening to the Tasso and Patrick show, it's clear that Charles and Zakaib have chemistry, which is natural from them having worked together for so many years. Even Astral VP Martin Spalding, who admitted that the company couldn't find somewhere to use Charles's talents properly, said he liked what his former employee was putting on the air.

As for the suggestion that this show puts Aaron against Tasso, both parties reject that. Yes, they're both on weekday afternoons, but Rand is doing news-talk (Spalding said Rand had impressively reinvented himself to fit in with his new role at CJAD), while Zakaib is doing music and comedy.

I don't know how many fans there are out there who want to listen to both, but I guess they're just going to have to live with it and pick one.

The Tasso and Patrick show airs weekdays from 3 to 6pm on CKDG-FM 105.1. You can listen live from MikeFM.ca

UPDATE (Jan. 14): Richard Burnett talks to Zakaib (along with returning radio star Terry DiMonte) for his Gazette blog. Zakaib had some not-so-nice things to say about Montreal's radio ownership oligopoly.

CRTC hears applications for 690 and 940 AM

Fagstein — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 19:33:45 +0000

In what is believe it or not considered an expedited process, the CRTC begins hearings Monday on five applications for the vacant frequencies of 690 and 940 kHz for commercial radio stations.

This story, in The Gazette on Saturday, gives the skinny on what the CRTC will be deciding. (Bonus points if you correctly point out that the file photo attached to the story is of the Mount Royal tower, which has no AM transmitters. Now get a life.)

Quick history lesson: These frequencies belonged to Radio-Canada (690) and CBC radio (940) for more than half a century, until both stations moved to FM (95.1 and 88.5, respectively) in 1998. A year later, what was then Metromedia launched Info 690 and 940 News on those frequencies. Both stations struggled, 940 in particular, for the next decade. Two format changes (news-talk with "940 Montreal" and then automated music with "940 Hits") later, then-owner Corus put both out of their misery, shutting them down. They've been silent ever since.

Fast-forward a year and a half, and Cogeco, which bought Corus Quebec - including the unused transmitters - announces a deal with the Quebec government to run all-traffic stations in French and English, to the tune of $1.5 million per station per year. The deal requires the stations to be running by Oct. 31.

The CRTC application was supposed to be a simple thing, with approval easily acquired by the deadline. The frequencies had been unused for a year and a half, and it had been a year since the licenses for CINW and CINF were revoked, but there were no applications to use them. While the FM band is saturated in Montreal, there are plenty of AM frequencies that sit silent (600 and 850 are two other examples) because nobody wants them.

But the CRTC got quite a few interventions demanding an open call for applications. The CRTC agreed, and set a hearing date for Oct. 17.

Judging that far too late, Cogeco shut down CKAC Sports and replaced it with their French all-traffic station on Sept. 6. They subsequently withdrew their application for 690 AM, figuring they're unlikely to be awarded a fifth French-language radio station in Montreal.

That leaves five applications for the two frequencies. You can download and read the applications from the CRTC's website. Here they are in brief:

For 690 kHz:

Radio Fierté, a French-language music and talk station targeted at Montreal's gay community, owned by Dufferin Communications/Evanov Communications, which runs PROUD FM in Toronto.
TSN Radio, currently at 990 kHz. The Bell Media all-sports station wants to change frequency to improve its coverage, particularly at night, when it has to modify its signal to avoid interference with other stations on that frequency. Bell says the former Team 990 has never been profitable, and probably won't unless it gets better coverage.
7954689 Canada inc., a company formed by businessmen Paul Tietolman, Nicolas Tétrault and Rajiv Pancholy, which wants to start a French-language news-talk station. Tietolman (the son of CKVL/CKOI founder Jack Tietolman) and Tétrault (former city councillor and PQ/BQ candidate) unsuccessfully tried to present a counter-offer to Cogeco's $80-million purchase of Corus Quebec, and part of their offer would have been to revive 690 and 940.

For 940 kHz:

7954689 Canada inc., a corresponding English-language news-talk station with what is so far a nearly identical format.
Cogeco's English all-traffic station, which it says would be operational by "mid-winter" if approved.

The agenda for the meeting has presentations from all these applicants on Monday, and support/opposition debates on Tuesday.

Scheduled to appear are, among others:

For Bell Media (TSN Radio), General Manager Wayne Bews, host Denis Casavant, ~~Ringside Report host Dave Simon~~ Bell Media Radio Engineering Director Dave Simon* as well as Bell Media Radio president Chris Gordon and Bell Media regulatory affairs bosses Mirko Bibic and Lenore Gibson
For Tietolman/Tétrault/Pancholy, the three owners, representatives of Léger Marketing as well as former CJAD program director Steve Kowch and morning host Jim Connell
For Dufferin Communications (Radio Fierté), Proud FM operations manager Bruce Campbell, sales manager John Kenyon, Evanov sales VP Ky Joseph, Proud FM announcer Bob Willette, Dufferin VP marketing Carmela Laurignano, Evanov VP finance Michael Kilbride, and lawyers Chad Skinner and Andrée Wylie
For Cogeco (Metromedia CMR), Richard Lachance, VPs Yves Mayrand, Daniel Dubois, and Mélanie Bégnoche, 98.5/CKAC assistant GM Michel Lorrain, The Beat 92.5 GM Mark Dickie and consultants Serge Bellerose and Maurice Beauséjour

On Tuesday, the presentations will get responses, mostly from the other applicants. (Astral Media, which owns CJAD and four music stations in the city, is certainly following this, but isn't appearing at the hearing.) Radio Fierté and TSN Radio each have four supporters offering testimony to the hearing.

You can read all 226 interventions (many are repetitive, thanks to campaigns by TSN Radio, Cogeco and Dufferin to have people write to the CRTC, in many cases using form letters). All are on the record even if the writers aren't appearing at the hearing.

The only intervenor appearing independently is Sheldon Harvey, the moderator of the Radio in Montreal group. Harvey submitted multiple interventions, supporting the applications by Tietolman-Tétrault-Pancholy and opposing those of Cogeco and Dufferin (he didn't submit an intervention regarding TSN Radio). Harvey deemed the 50,000 watt clear channels "overkill" for an all-traffic station, and proposed Cogeco operate CKAC 730 bilingually instead. He also said a clear channel was "overkill" for Radio Fierté, and recommended they use another vacant frequency.

The deadline for interventions passed weeks ago, so the CRTC won't be hearing any new opinions on these applications, but

The hearing takes place Monday and Tuesday, starting at 9am, at Delta Centre-Ville, 777 University St., room Régence AB. Audio from the hearing can be streamed online via the CRTC website. You can listen to the direct floor audio here or an English translation here.

*CORRECTION: Dave Simon of Ringside Report emails me to say it's not him who's appearing at the hearing. It's actually another Dave Simon who works at Bell Media Radio. That is, unless there's a third Dave Simon associated with TSN Radio. Only Cogeco provided titles for the people appearing with them (Tietolman/Tétrault/Pancholy has what companies they work for), hence the possibility of confusion in case there are other cases of people with the same name.

Even more details about Montreal’s digital TV transition

Fagstein — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 11:01:51 +0000

Mount Royal tower is about to go digital

I wrote a feature that appeared in Saturday's Gazette (Page E3, for those clipping) about the transition from analog television to digital, whose deadline is Aug. 31.

The main story focuses mainly on how local broadcasters are coping with the transition. It's a big endeavour, and with less than 10% of Canadian households still using antennas to get their television service, it's difficult to justify the cost (in the neighbourhood of $1 million per transmitter, but varying widely) of replacing the analog with digital.

That's to say nothing about the consumers, many of whom are on the lower end of the income scale, who must now spend money on new equipment.

The sidebar focuses on consumers, and tries to explain how people can prepare. If you haven't already heard 1,000 times, cable and satellite subscribers are unaffected. If you get your service by antenna, you either need a TV with a digital ATSC tuner (most new HDTVs have one) or a digital converter box.

My editor was very generous with the assigned length (in all it clocks in at a bit under 2,000 words), but even then there's a lot of information I had to leave out, including a few conversations I had with actual TV viewers. I'll try to include most of that information here.

The digital transition in Montreal

First, here's how the digital transition is going for the nine television stations broadcasting in Montreal (updated 9am Sept. 1):

Five (CFCF/CTV, CFTM/TVA, CIVM/Télé-Québec, CFJP/V and CJNT/Metro 14) have completed the transition, switching off their analog transmitters and replacing them with digital ones that are now transmitting. They should all be at full power from their permanent antennas.
Three (CBMT/CBC, CBFT/Radio-Canada,CKMI-1/Global) have shut down their analog transmitters and have digital ones operating on their permanent assigned channels, but are not yet operating from what will be their permanent antenna on top of the Mount Royal tower. (CBMT and CBFT are also running at reduced power.) Those who don't get these signals now may see that improve over the coming weeks.
One (CFTU/Canal Savoir) has been given a two-month extension to make the transition. It is still broadcasting in analog until the digital transmitter begins running.

Here's more detail, by station. A few explanations first:

Power: Digital transmitter power for most of these stations is considerably less than analog power. That doesn't necessarily mean the digital signal will be weaker. Because digital transmitters are far more efficient than analog ones (about 10 times in the case of UHF transmitters), the same range can be achieved with much less power. Most stations expect their coverage area will remain about the same. I use "authorized power" here to denote the average effective radiated power authorized by Industry Canada. The actual transmitters could be operating at less power than this.
Virtual channels: It's kind of complicated, but the ATSC digital standard allows stations on one channel to pretend they're on another. This is used so that stations that must change channels as part of the digital transition can show up on TVs under their former analog channels. So CBMT (CBC Montreal), for example, will actually be transmitting on Channel 21, but will appear on TV sets as Channel 6.1. The ".1" denotes the digital subchannel, because digital transmitters allow more than one channel to be transmitted. So far no Canadian broadcaster is taking advantage of this.
CRTC cost estimate: The CRTC commissioned a study by engineers to determine a rough idea of the cost of changing transmitters to digital. This cost depends on a number of factors, including the pre- and post-transition channels. It should be taken with a truckload of salt, because it doesn't take into account any particular characteristics of individual transmitters.
PSIP: The Program and System Information Protocol is a system that allows digital transmitters to send information to TV receivers. Among them, content ratings and program descriptions, like you'd find in a digital cable or satellite menu. Its use by broadcasters in Canada is mixed, because it's not seen as a necessity.

CBMT

Status: Transmitting in digital on permanent channel but temporary antenna.

Brand: CBC Montreal
Analog transmitter:

Channel: 6
Authorized power: 100,000W
Location: Mount Royal tower
Status: shut down 12am Sept. 1

Transitional digital transmitter:

Channel: 20
Authorized power: 57,410W
Location: Mount Royal tower
Status: switched to post-transitional channel on or before Aug. 27

Post-transitional digital transmitter:

Channel: 21
Authorized power: 436,340W
Location: Mount Royal tower (same as analog)
Status: will become active when new antenna is installed by November

Virtual digital channel: 6.1
Broadcasting program information via PSIP: Not properly. Shows are given names like "CBMT Montreal English HD, Event 470" without descriptions
Available in HD on: Videotron illico (606), Bell TV (896/1030), Bell Fibe (1206)
Digital transmitter location: Mount Royal tower
CRTC cost estimate: $3,191,581
Retransmitters: Dozens of analog stations throughout Quebec (CBC Montreal is the only CBC station in Quebec with original programming). Digital transition postponed until Aug. 31, 2012 in the following mandatory markets: Quebec City, Sherbrooke, Trois-Rivières, Saguenay
Digital transition website: http://www.cbc.radio-canada.ca/dtv/Montreal_CBC.shtml

CBMT has had its digital transmitter up since 2005, but it's waiting until Aug. 31 to shut down the analog one. While the transition in Montreal is expected to happen on schedule, CBC decided it didn't have the money to make the switch for retransmitters (including Quebec City and Sherbrooke). The CRTC said it would allow a one-year extension so the analog to keep the analog transmitters running so they wouldn't have to be shut down, but the CBC's Steven Guiton told me they will probably just ask for another extension when that one comes up.

I asked José Breton, the guy who protested outside CBC in Quebec City demanding they not shut down the transmitter there because he wanted to watch Hockey Night in Canada, about the extension. I thought he would be happy, but turns out he's not. "It's a false compromise," he said. Instead, the CRTC should have forced CBC/Radio-Canada to setup digital transmitters in mandatory markets before the deadline instead of saving money for "some white-collars' salaries". He also suggested the CRTC was being influenced by cable and satellite lobbyists.

CBMT's digital transmitter has already switched to its permanent channel (which means digital tuners must rescan for channels to find it).

CBC Montreal's newscast has been 16:9 since 2009, though the quality of the video during newscasts is poor even by standard definition standards.

As noted in the guide in The Gazette, because CBMT transmits in analog on Channel 6, which is just below the FM radio band, its audio channel can be heard at 87.75MHz. Most FM radios allow you to tune that low, even though the band ends at 88 MHz. The only perceivable difference between the audio channel of an analog TV transmission and an FM broadcast radio transmission is that the former has a lower volume. So people can do things like listen to Hockey Night in Canada on the radio. This will, unfortunately, end on Sept. 1 when the analog transmitter goes down.

CFCF

Status: Transmitting digital-only as of Aug. 31.

Brand: CTV Montreal
Analog transmitter:

Channel: 12
Authorized power: 325,000W
Location: Mount Royal tower
Status: shut down 12:05am Aug. 31 (this was pushed up a day, was originally to be Sept. 1)

Transitional digital transmitter:

Channel: 51
Authorized power: 2,700W
Location: Bell-Nexacor tower on Remembrance Rd.
Status: reduced power significantly around Aug. 27, shut down just after midnight Aug. 31

Post-transitional digital transmitter:

Channel: 12 (same as analog)
Authorized power: 10,600W
Location: Mount Royal tower (same as analog)
Status: active as of 12:50am Aug. 31

Virtual digital channel: 12.1
Broadcasting program information via PSIP: Unknown
Available in HD on: Videotron illico (607), Bell Fibe (1205)
Digital transmitter location: Mount Royal tower
CRTC cost estimate: $440,619
Retransmitters: None
Digital transition website: http://www.ctv.ca/digitalswitch/

CFCF setup a temporary digital transmitter in January specifically so it could get it on air before the Super Bowl to take advantage of simultaneous substitution in HD. In a letter dated Jan. 4, 2011, CTV VP Kevin Goldstein specifically cited the Super Bowl as reason to expedite the application:

CTV respectfully requests that the Commission consider this application in an expedited manner as we hope to have Commission approval on or before January 28th, 2011 in advance of the broadcast of the Super Bowl on February 6th, 2011. CTV holds the Canadian broadcast rights to one of the most high profile sporting and broadcasting events of the year and approval of this application will rectify some concerns we have with respect to the requirements of certain BDU's to carry out simultaneous substitution during this broadcast.

CRTC gave approval on Jan. 21. The digital transmitter went live on Jan. 28. It's on a small tower on Remembrance Rd. near Beaver Lake, about 400 metres from the main Mount Royal tower and with an antenna about 100 metres below where their analog one is.

CTV Montreal General Manager Don Bastien said everything is ready to go. The digital transmitter has been tested twice and all that's left is to wait until the cutoff date. The analog transmitter is set to shut down at 12:05am on Sept. 1 - just after the end of the late newscast - and the permanent digital transmitter (using the same antenna and same channel) should be up 45 minutes later, he said.

Technical changes - including replacing the antenna, which had been in use since 1961 - happened last summer. Television transmitters on the Mount Royal tower were shut down overnight throughout the summer months as the tower was altered to prepare for the digital transition.

Bastien said the coverage area of the digital transmitter should be about the same as the analog one was (exact comparisons are difficult because of how reception of analog and digital signals differs).

CKMI-1

Status: Transmitting digital-only using temporary antenna as of Aug. 17.

Brand: Global Montreal
Analog transmitter:

Channel: 46
Authorized power: 33,000W
Location: Mount Royal tower
Status: shut down Aug. 13

Transitional/post-transitional digital transmitter:

Channel: 15 (was assigned 51, but got approval to use 15 instead)
Authorized power: 8,000W
Location: Mount Royal tower (running on temporary antenna at base of tower)
Status: active since Aug. 17

Virtual digital channel: 15.1 (Global is the only Montreal station to choose a virtual channel different from its analog one)
Broadcasting program information via PSIP: No (except ratings)
Available in HD on: Videotron illico (608, replaced Global Toronto HD on Aug. 23)
Power (average ERP): 8,000W
Digital transmitter location: Mount Royal tower
CRTC cost estimate: $280,544/$380,994
Retransmitters:

Quebec City (CKMI), Channel 20, digital as of Aug. 13
Sherbrooke (CKMI-2), Channel 11, digital as of Aug. 10

Digital transition website: http://www.shaw.ca/dtv/

Global Montreal used to be based in Quebec City (which is why Quebec City's station is CKMI and Montreal's is CKMI-1). Canwest bought the station and setup transmitters in Montreal and Sherbrooke to create the regionally-licensed Global Quebec network. It then asked the CRTC to be re-licensed as a Montreal station so it could be allowed to seek local advertising.

CKMI-1 was the first of the nine Montreal stations to shut down its analog transmitter. It went dark on Aug. 13, and the digital transmitter started transmitting on Aug. 17. Global has been announcing that it's now on Channel 15, and its virtual digital channel is 15.1. Its satellites in Quebec City and Sherbrooke had already made the transition earlier in the month. Both remain on the same channel.

Videotron has been carrying Global HD from Toronto, which has been kind of a strange situation where Montreal viewers have been seeing Toronto local newscasts unless they switch to the standard-definition version of the channel. Videotron replaced Global Toronto HD with Global Montreal HD on Aug. 23. (Global was so happy it sent out a press release on the subject.)

Global Montreal's newscast is technically in high definition. The opening graphics are HD, as is the weather report (which is done out of Toronto). Master control is in Edmonton (I made a mistake in the original article, saying it was Vancouver - it switched to Edmonton in May 2009), which has HD facilities. Even the studio cameras are HD (the newscasts are anchored in Montreal, in a green room), but the data connection between Montreal and Edmonton isn't fast enough to deliver an HD signal.

Thankfully, Global is owned by Shaw, which has experience in telecommunications. A fat pipe is being setup, edit suites in Montreal will be upgraded and HD field cameras will be issued. "We are optimistic that our newscast will be produced in HD by the end of the year," said Shaw Media's Dervla Kelly. Once that happens, CFCF will be the only station in Montreal that produces a newscast that's not in HD.

"We've increased our over-the-air coverage area in all three markets," Kelly said of Global's Quebec stations. "More viewers will have access to our digital signal than had access to our analog signals."

CJNT

Status: Transmitting digital-only as of Aug. 27.

Brand: Metro 14
Analog transmitter:

Channel: 62
Authorized power: 11,000W
Location: roof of building next to Mount Royal tower
Status: shut down morning of Aug. 27

Transitional digital transmitter:

Channel: 69
Status: never used

Post-transitional digital transmitter:

Channel: 49
Authorized power: 4,000W
Location: roof of CTV building next to Mount Royal tower (same as analog)
Status: began operation on evening of Aug. 27

Virtual digital channel: 62.1
Broadcasting program information via PSIP: No
Available in HD on: Videotron illico (expecting 614 on Aug. 30)
Power (average ERP):
Digital transmitter location: Roof of CTV transmitter building next to Mount Royal tower
CRTC cost estimate: $273,881
Retransmitters: None
Digital transition website: http://www.metro14.ca/

You know CJNT, right? The multicultural station? It was scooped up by Canwest after failing to make money for many years, and it continued to not make money. Canwest threatened to shut it down along with the rest of its secondary E! network, but a company called Channel Zero bought it and sister station CHCH Hamilton for a grand total of $12. Since then, the station has produced no original programming, and has been embarrassingly repeating local shows from 2009 to fulfill its CRTC requirements. It has promised new programming for this fall, though, and some of it has already begun.

Metro 14 (the number is reference to its Videotron digital cable channel) went pretty well as scheduled for its digital transition. According to its schedule, the analog transmitter was to be shut off at 7am on Aug. 27 and the digital one was to be operational by 6pm. The delay was necessary to retune the antenna from Channel 62 to Channel 49. CHCH Broadcast Operations Manager Wayne Rabishaw, who is handling the CJNT transition along with four transmitters of CHCH, said the coverage area would actually greatly improve with the change, almost doubling, because the antenna they're using (which the station originally got used) was actually better for Channel 49 than Channel 62.

CHCH itself made the switch on Aug. 15, and Rabishaw said they had already gotten hundreds of phone calls from viewers. London and Muskoka were scheduled for this week, and Ottawa is set for Aug. 31. Their four remaining retransmitters (Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie, North Bay and Timmins) will stay analog for now.

Rabishaw couldn't put a price on the CJNT transition, but said switching all five transmitters will cost Channel Zero "several million dollars".

CJNT is transmitting in HD, but so far I haven't spotted any actual HD programming on it. (Lots of programming in SD with black bars around it, though.) Rabishaw said programming will be in HD.

Metro 14's note says Videotron will add the station's HD feed on Channel 614 on Aug. 30. Cogeco will also begin carrying the station in standard and high-definition, but the satellite companies (Bell and Shaw) are only taking it in standard definition for now.

Once Videotron adds the HD feed, viewers can expect simultaneous substitution to begin in HD for American programming carried on CJNT. This includes 20/20, Nightline and Jimmy Kimmel Live.

CBFT

Status: Transmitting digital-only, on temporary antenna.

Brand: Radio-Canada Montréal
Analog transmitter:

Channel: 2
Authorized power: 100,000W
Location: Mount Royal tower
Status: shut down at 12am Sept. 1 (the last thing that aired was a beer ad)

Transitional digital transmitter:

Channel: 19
Authorized power: 54,970W
Location: Mount Royal tower (temporary antenna at base of tower)
Status: active

Post-transitional digital channel:

Channel: 19 (same as transitional)
Authorized power: 447,820W
Location: Mount Royal tower
Status: will be active once new antenna is installed

Virtual digital channel: 2.1
Broadcasting program information via PSIP: No
Available in HD on: Videotron illico (602), Bell TV (1802/860), Bell Fibe (1112), Shaw Direct (244/380)
Digital transmitter location: Mount Royal tower
CRTC cost estimate: $4,266,294 (highest in Montreal)
Retransmitters: 28, none in mandatory markets or above Channel 16
Digital transition website: http://www.cbc.radio-canada.ca/tvn/montreal_radio-canada.shtml

Like CBC, Radio-Canada has had a digital transmitter in Montreal since 2005. Since the transitional and post-transitional channels are the same, it is effectively operating in post-transitional mode, though I'm guessing from my signal meter that it's not operating at the post-transitional power level yet. At nearly 450,000W, it will be the most powerful digital television transmitter in Quebec.

Just about all of Radio-Canada's local and national programming has been in HD for some time.

Radio-Canada, like the CBC, will keep analog transmitters running in mandatory markets where it doesn't originate programming. This mostly affects the Prairies, southern Ontario and Atlantic Canada. All mandatory markets in Quebec will transition.

Radio-Canada also has two full-power transmitters that are on channels in the 52-69 range: Sainte-Famille and Lac-Etchemin, both retransmitters of CBVT (Quebec City) and both on Channel 55. The Lac Etchemin transmitter will become low-power, staying on the same channel, while the Sainte-Famille transmitter will be shut down.

CFTM

Status: Transmitting digital-only as of Sept. 1.

Brand: TVA Montréal
Analog transmitter:

Channel: 10
Authorized power: 325,000W
Location: Mount Royal tower
Status: shut down 12:01am Sept. 1

Transitional digital transmitter:

Channel: 59
Authorized power: 6,140W
Location: TVA building (1600 de Maisonneuve Blvd. E.)
Status: never used

Post-transitional digital transmitter:

Channel: 10 (same as analog)
Authorized power: 11,000W
Location: Mount Royal tower (same as analog)
Status: active as of 12:35am Sept. 1

Virtual digital channel: 10.1
Broadcasting program information via PSIP: Unknown
Available in HD on: Videotron illico (604), Bell TV (1804/861), Bell Fibe (1115), Shaw Direct (245/381)
Digital transmitter location: Mount Royal tower
CRTC cost estimate: $440,619
Retransmitters: None (but this is the flagship station of the TVA network)
Digital transition website: http://tva.canoe.ca/emissions/transitiontelenumerique/

TVA has, strangely, not been broadcasting in digital yet (or if it has, it's such low power that nobody has seen it). The plan is to make the switch directly on the night of Aug. 31 to Sept. 1. TVA has to coordinate its switch with CTV, since both use the same antenna.

TVA's local and national newscasts and other programming have been in HD for quite a while. Because it doesn't simulcast American programming, it doesn't need to setup a digital transmitter to take advantage of simultaneous substitution.

Across Quebec, TVA owns six stations, five of which will switch to digital (Montreal, Quebec, Sherbrooke, Saguenay, Trois-Rivières) and one will not (Rimouski). The transmitter in Saguenay (CJPM) will run at first on a temporary digital transmitter, and then a full transmitter by Oct. 31, TVA's Serge Sasseville said. You can get channel information in this PDF file.

There are also four TVA affiliates not owned by Groupe TVA. Two stations in western Quebec are owned by RNC Media and are in mandatory markets (Gatineau and Rouyn-Noranda).

Two others in eastern Quebec are owned by Télé Inter-Rives:

CIMT in Rivière du Loup (a mandatory market), which has eight retransmitters, including one that fills a hole in coverage in the city of Rivière du Loup, and one in Edmunston, NB.
CHAU in Carleton-sur-Mer (which is not), which has 11 retransmitters around the Gaspé peninsula and northern New Brunswick.

Even though the CRTC's requirements would only force Télé Inter-Rives to switch its transmitters in Rivière du Loup to digital and move its retransmitter in Les Escoumins off of Channel 57, it has applied to switch all of its transmitters to digital. The transition for CHAU and its retransmitters has been delayed until mid-November due to delays in getting equipment. But since these are all transmitters that could stay analog if they wanted to, there's no deadline for making the change. CIMT and its retransmitters are still set for a Sept. 1 transition.

CFJP

Status: Transmitting digital-only as of Aug. 31.

Brand: V
Analog transmitter:

Channel: 35
Authorized power: 697,000W
Location: Mount Royal tower
Status: shut down 11:31pm Aug. 30

Transitional digital transmitter:

Channel: 42
Authorized power: 13,900W
Location: Sherbrooke St. E. (corner of Amherst St.)
Status: shut down Aug. 30

Post-transitional digital transmitter:

Channel: 35 (same as analog)
Authorized power: 13,750W (note this is actually slightly less than transitional transmitter)
Location: Sherbrooke St. E. (same as transitional)
Status: active as of 11:35pm Aug. 30

Virtual digital channel: 35.1
Broadcasting program information via PSIP: Unknown
Available in HD on: Videotron illico (605), Bell TV (1803/862), Bell Fibe (1114), Shaw Direct (248/388)
Digital transmitter location: Sherbrooke and Berri Sts. (analog transmitter is on Mount Royal tower, but digital one will stay downtown for "strategic reasons", the network says)
CRTC cost estimate: $280,713/$463,894
Retransmitters: None

V was kind of hard to get a hold of for this article. Emails and phone calls went unanswered until I finally heard from spokesperson Tim Ringuette, who blamed the network's fall launch for keeping him busy. Ringuette said the station has moved its digital transmitter off the Mount Royal tower site. "Décision stratégique," he wrote in a brief email. This most likely translates to "money" and V's reluctance to spend a lot of it renting expensive space on the Mount Royal tower (not to mention all the engineering work that goes into setting up a transmitter next to a bunch of other high-powered transmitters).

Ringuette said the coverage area should be almost identical to the analog signal now. I'm very skeptical that a transmitter on a downtown building (more than 200 metres lower in elevation) at a tiny fraction of the power can have the same coverage, particularly because I don't receive the digital transmitter at all right now.

CIVM

Status: Transmitting digital-only as of Sept. 1

Brand: Télé-Québec
Analog transmitter:

Channel: 17
Authorized power: 889,500W
Location: Mount Royal tower
Status: shut down for good at 1:30am Sept. 1

Transitional digital transmitter:

Channel: 27
Authorized power: 8,956W
Location: Olympic Stadium
Status: shut down just after midnight Sept. 1

Post-transitional digital transmitter:

Channel: 26
Authorized power: 160,600W
Location: Olympic Stadium (same as transitional)
Status: active as of 2:45am Sept. 1

Virtual digital channel: 17.1
Broadcasting program information via PSIP: Yes (detailed)
Available in HD on: Videotron illico (603), Bell TV (1839/799), Bell Fibe (1138)
Digital transmitter location: Olympic Stadium (analog transmitter is on Mount Royal tower, transitional digital one has been broadcasting from Olympic Stadium and will stay there post-transition)
CRTC cost estimate: $522,438/$676,519
Retransmitters: 11 (All Télé-Québec stations are effectively retransmitters of CIVM, and Télé-Québec plans to switch all of them to digital, regardless of market size)
Digital transition website: http://transitionnumerique.telequebec.tv/

Télé-Québec is the only one of the four French Quebec networks that has committed to transitioning all its transmitters to digital, regardless of market size. "La transition au numérique est notre priorité," said spokesperson Catherine Leboeuf. "Il s’agit du plus important changement technologique à court terme."

Digital transmitters are running in Montreal and Quebec City, the rest are scheduled to transition by Sept. 1.

Two exceptions are CIVB Rimouski and CIVB-1 Grand Fonds (which serves Rivière du Loup but is not considered a mandatory market station). They will be switching Sept. 7 and Sept. 15, respectively, and will maintain analog signal until their transition. Their website has a breakdown by transmitter.

The Montreal transmitter was setup on Olympic Stadium instead of Mount Royal and will remain there. The signal is very strong on the eastern side of the city, but those on the western side of the mountain are reporting trouble receiving it.

CFTU

Status: Transmitting in analog only. Transition deadline delayed until Oct. 31.

Brand: Canal Savoir
Analog transmitter:

Channel: 29
Authorized power: 10,000W
Location: Université de Montréal tower
Status: active, to be shut down by Oct. 31

Transitional digital transmitter:

Channel: 54
Status: never used

Post-transitional digital transmitter:

Channel: 29 (same as analog)
Authorized power: 387W
Location: Université de Montréal tower
Status: to be activated by Oct. 31

Virtual digital channel: 29.1
Broadcasting program information via PSIP: Unknown
Not available in HD on cable/satellite
Digital transmitter location: Université de Montréal
CRTC cost estimate: $210,606
Retransmitters: None
Digital transition website: http://www.canal.qc.ca/passage_au_numerique.php

Canal Savoir had the most interesting transition story, so much so that I made it the lead of my article. General Manager Sylvie Godbout explained to me that, you see, they wanted to make the transition deadline, but haven't been able to access their transmitter because (1) the university is removing asbestos in the tower, and (2) a quartet of young peregrine falcons was just born there and couldn't be disturbed by construction work. (They're not technically endangered, but they're considered at risk, depending on the region and subspecies.)

The asbestos work makes sense. The university decided to do it in August when there weren't that many students around. The birds are just funny. In researching the article, I discovered that there's even a blog dedicated to them. They're named Tawodi, Rick, Éole and Altius, they're all boys and were hatched in early May. You can see videos of their development if you go back a few pages on the blog.

So the CRTC has "graciously" given them an extension until Oct. 31. Godbout said the plan is to get it done before the end of September. Until then, the analog signal will keep running.

A station run mostly by volunteers with an annual budget of $1.2 million, Canal Savoir would seem the least likely to want to spend a lot of money on a new transmitter. Godbout didn't pretend as though the money wouldn't have been better spent on programming, but she said they've known about this coming for three years and have been setting money aside for it. She wouldn't say how much it's going to cost (mostly because she doesn't know exactly), but it wasn't anywhere near the $1 million a transmitter figure that has been cited by the major broadcasters.

Canal Savoir is saving money, Godbout said, thanks in large part to assistance from Télé-Québec (Godbout used the term "graciously" more than once). Their analog transmitter - running for 25 years - was a used one from the provincial public broadcaster, and their technical help has also come from them. Though the station will have to buy a new digital transmitter, it will get help installing it.

Among the work that needs to be done is to reinforce the base of the antenna. Not easily done without disturbing the nest of some peregrine falcons that sits on the same tower.

Godbout also looked on the bright side: the old transmitter is the size of a fridge, and the new one will be smaller and generate much less heat, while serving the same population.

Though, Godbout said, she's going to have to buy herself a digital converter box. Not because she doesn't have cable service, but just so she can check on her station's transmitter from home.

Stores: What DTV transition?

I stopped by a few electronics stores to see how they were promoting the converter boxes people would need to get their TV signals after the transition. I was puzzled to see not one of them was actually promoting this, just a week before the end of analog TV.

The Source, which is owned by Bell (and plugged by name in its DTV transition ads, which is kind of pushing an ethical boundary there), had plenty of information and displays about Bell TV service, but I found only a single DTV converter box, and a few tearsheets about the transition.

At Future Shop downtown, lots of shiny HDTVs, but no big signs explaining the DTV transition. I found the converters on a shelf next to cable and satellite boxes. There were about 20 of the cheap Access HD box, which is about the size of a portable CD player and costs $50, but has a reputation online of getting very hot and forgetting its digital channel programming every time it's turned off. There were also some Coby boxes for sale for $60.

The flyers that came out this weekend for Future Shop and Best Buy also aren't really plugging the DTV transition. Both have the Access HD box, but Future Shop has it on page 28 and Best Buy has it on the back page.

A media spokesperson for Future Shop nationally said sales of converter boxes are "exceeding expectations". I'm guessing those expectations were fairly low.

When I went to Future Shop, I saw some people eyeing the converter boxes, spending quite a while trying to figure them out. I also overheard conversations between customers and staff looking at HDTVs that made it clear they had heard about the transition.

At Centre Hi-Fi, I stopped by, couldn't find the converters, and when I asked a staff member where they were he said they were all sold out. A few days later they had more Access HD boxes in the store.

("Access HD" is kind of a misnomer, implying that ... well, it's HD. It converts HD signals into analog, which is definitely not HD.)

My experience suggests you shouldn't have too much of a problem finding converter boxes unless there's a sudden rush for them (which could happen Sept. 1). Just stay away from The Source.

Digital subchannels: no thanks

One thing that kind of bugged me in the wake of the CBC transition delay was why Canadian stations weren't using digital subchannels. The American networks are taking advantage of this technology, with a main channel carrying HD programming and multiple standard-definition channels with things like 24-hour weather, repeated newscasts or alternative network programming. But Canadian broadcasters aren't using it.

I, and others, thought this would be a fine solution to CBC's problem. In most of the markets affected, the CBC is setting up a digital transmitter for its other network. Quebec City has a Radio-Canada digital transmitter, Fredericton has a CBC digital transmitter, etc. Couldn't they add a standard-definition subchannel with the other network on it? Quebec City's Radio-Canada station would be in HD on 12.1, and CBC could be in SD on 12.2.

Martin Marcotte, CBC's director of transmission (yeah, they have one of those), explained thusly:

CBC has looked at multiplexing of signals on a single transmitter.

First, that approach is not consistent with our general policy of building DTV transmitters only where we have originating stations.

Second, CBC-SRC wishes to transmit at the highest quality possible.

Third, it is correct that the subchannel would need to be SD so there would be a quality difference between the main channel and the subchannel.

Fourth, we are investigating mobile TV applications. Because a digital channel has a fixed bandwidth, any additions whether subchannels or mobile TV take away capacity from the main channel. That means a drop in quality. If you have a or more subchannels and mobile TV, the main channel essentially becomes SD or worse.

It sounds like a lot of different reasons, but it basically boils down to CBC not wanting to degrade the quality of its HD signal to fit in a secondary SD signal. While they would technically have to do that, I don't think compressing an HD signal from 19 to 15 megabits per second results in such a dramatic decrease in quality that it can't be done.

As far as the CRTC is concerned, there's no rule against using digital subchannels (or "multiplexing", as it calls the technology). But the subchannels would have to be licensed. So if, say, CTV wants to put its new CTV Two network as a subchannel to CFCF, it would probably have to get the okay from the CRTC before doing that.

Some people have suggested having specialty channels as digital subchannels (RDI on Radio-Canada's subchannel, Bold on CBC's, CTV News Channel on CFCF's, etc.). That probably wouldn't work out too well because of complaints from cable and satellite companies. They took RDI to task for having a livestream of the channel on its website, arguing that specialty channels shouldn't be distributed freely if they expect cable and satellite companies to pay for them. A similar issue would arise if the channels would be broadcast freely. Or, alternatively, the cable and satellite companies could then decide or even be forced to treat the specialty channels as over-the-air broadcasters and carry them free of charge to subscribers. The broadcasters probably wouldn't want that.

Is this even necessary?

In 2009, when the United States was set to do its digital transition, I argued that it seemed unnecessary. I understood the need to vacate part of the TV broadcast spectrum to sell off for better uses, but it seemed entirely possible to do this by simply reassigning channels 52 and above lower vacant channels in all but the biggest markets. How many markets do we have with more than 50 television channels, even if you include neighbouring markets?

It's not like digital television takes less space. Each channel still gets the same 6 MHz allocation. The only difference is that more information can be packed into that space now, allowing for HD or subchannels.

I asked the CRTC about this. They sent me to the Heritage department. Chaouki Dakdouki, the director of distribution and access policy (and possibly the most punctual person in the world - he said he'd call me at 10:30am, and my phone rang at exactly 10:30am), mentioned that digital signals will reduce interference between signals that are on adjacent channels. This would allow channels on adjacent channels in the same market instead of being spaced two apart. If this is true, then it makes sense. But even then, there aren't that many markets with more than a handful of stations - and few markets even have anything transmitting in the channels they want to get rid of.

It's too late to change anything now, but I still think some stations are being forced to switch unnecessarily. Thankfully the CRTC came to its senses and isn't forcing small towns to switch yet. The CBC has made it pretty clear most of those small transmitters will never be replaced with digital ones.

No coupon program

Those who were following the U.S. DTV transition might remember there was a coupon program that gave households discounts on converter boxes. It caused some ruckus because the government ran out of coupons (or, more accurately, ran out of money in the coupon program). This contributed to the decision to delay the transition a few months.

In Canada, there is no coupon program. No assistance for poor Canadians (or small broadcasters) to help them make the switch. It "wasn't deemed necessary," Dakdouki said, because of how few Canadians this would affect.

It's a curious position. The proportion of Canadians using antenna TV is lower than the U.S., but not by that much. And the U.S. drastically underestimated how many people would need converters for the digital transition. Judging from what I heard from Future Shop, I think the same might be happening here.

Dakdouki also pointed to the fact that, of the 7% or 8% of Canadian television viewers who don't have cable or satellite TV, about 35% of them watch programming online or through other means, which knocks this number down even further. I don't know how this compares to the United States, but it's interesting to note how fast other forms of television distribution are growing.

Antennas: Rabbit ears aren't dead

This transition is being called the death of "rabbit ears", but that's not exactly true. There's no difference between a digital and analog antenna, because the antenna is just a piece of wire cut to match a certain frequency. There's no reason analog antennas, including rabbit ears, can't be used for digital.

Antennas marketed as DTV-ready are different in two major ways: They have higher gain (which gives you a stronger signal whether in analog or digital), and they're better tuned to UHF frequencies (channels 14+) than VHF ones (2-13). This takes into account the fact that many VHF analog stations are switching to UHF channels for their digital transmitters. Most rabbit-ear antennas have long telescoping rods for VHF and a small loop for UHF. It's tempting to play with the length or position of the VHF antennas when watching a UHF station.

In Montreal, two stations are moving from VHF to UHF: CBMT (CBC) and CBFT (Radio-Canada). Two stations are staying on the (high) VHF band: CFCF (CTV) and CFTM (TVA). And the rest are staying on UHF.

The difference between Channel 2 (55 MHz) and Channel 10 (193 MHz) - the lowest post-transition channel in the city - is very significant, so there's definitely a shift upward in terms of frequency range (which means a shift downward for antenna length). But rabbit ears that pick up a wide range of frequencies should be able to pick up most strong stations.

Since most stations won't be at full power until after the Sept. 1 transition, I would recommend waiting until after that (maybe even give it a week or two in case things need to be fine-tuned) until deciding that your existing antenna is insufficient for the task.

Thoughts from viewers

I asked for input from antenna TV watchers while researching the article. I got plenty of responses, though most were people who either already had digital TVs or tuners or were planning to get them by the deadline. I had a vision of the perfect source for the story, a poor family with a dozen kids and an old TV, too poor to buy a converter but who sat by the old box and watched the broadcast networks for hours a day.

The closest I got to the perfect source was a man who wrote in to the paper in early August. The handwritten letter was left on my desk one night with a note from my editor saying that sometimes it just falls in your lap. I called him up, but while he was fine sharing his story, he didn't want his name publicized. He didn't want people to know he was on social assistance. Understandable, but frustrating. He said he'd probably buy a converter, and half-joked that he'd go around collecting refundable cans and bottles to raise the money.

For the record, here are some stories I've heard from the rest of you. Hardly a random sample, but interesting anecdotally:

Micah Galizia: "I watch OTA with an antenna and am very happy the DTV conversion is finally here. ... My TV is about five years old."
Regis Glorieux: "Cut the cord when I moved from Montreal to St-Eustache over 15 years ago. Been on antenna ever since. ... Our TVs are old school analog tube, I bought a couple ATSC digital tuners a couple of years ago when the US stations were switching over to digital."
Richard Archambault: "2 TVs (one is digital ready, small bedroom TV isn't) - both with DVD players; 2 young children at home who watch TeleQuebec on TV ... My wife and I usually watch the news, DVDs (including TV series), docs and movies on TeleQuebec and occasionally whatever other stuff may be on, but otherwise turn it off if there's nothing. I used to not be able to afford cable (rather pay for Internet access), but I recently got a promotion and thus I could afford it now if I really wanted to, but.. I find that when I visit my mother's house, sometimes I'll spend 20 minutes flipping through channels and not really finding anything worthwhile. Ideally, if I could pick only the channels I wanted (NatGeo, Discovery, maybe a sports channel for the occasional Habs game midweek when CBC doesn't play them usually, Spanish-language channels for my wife), and if I wasn't limited by the amount of Canadian channels I am required to have (I invariably have too many non-Canadian channels when I test-run my channel selections on Bell or Videotron's websites, for "pick your own" packages), then, and only then, would it be worth paying cable. So yeah, I figure I'll get a new antenna eventually, sometime in September likely."
Sarah Szefer: "Yes, I'm still using rabbit ears to access digital TV on my HDTV. Although I do get tons of interference from the Montreal Port (which means no US stations come in at all), I still can get flawless signals from Rad-Can, CBC, V, and Télé-Québec."
Rose-Line Beaupre (Regina): "I own 2 television sets. I have bought a converter box for one TV only. It was about $90. It's a very old TV and in a year or when the TV dies, I will buy a digital TV and put the converter to the other TV. The other TV is mostly used to watch movies when I'm working in my sewing room. I don't watch a lot of TV and this is the first reason I don't have cable. It's not worth the money. I'm a Francophone native living in the Prairies. I essentially bought the converter box to be able to watch Radio-Canada - Regina and watch the national news from Montréal. The news are also available on the net but I don't want to be limited to the computer in order to stay connected."
Jack Nathanson: "I am still on analog. I get the impression that the digital broadcasts won't actually begin until after September 1, so I won't get a digital box until after the analog signals have stopped." (I called Nathanson, and gave him some information about the transition. He lives on the fourth floor of a building in the Snowdon area, which should have pretty good reception. He says he used to watch a lot of TV, but does less so now. Still, he'll probably get a converter box.)

Thanks for everyone who shared their experiences. Feel free to add your own below, or ask any questions you might have.

No conspiracies

In talking to people and reading comments about the digital transition, a lot of the ones familiar enough with media ownership believe broadcasters are manipulating the switch in some way as to force people to aligned cable and satellite services. (CTV is owned by Bell, Global is owned by Shaw, and TVA is owned by Quebecor, which also owns Videotron.) Strained logic has even been contradictory - some claiming that an early switch is pushing people to pay for TV because they no longer get analog signals, others claiming a late switch is pushing people to pay because they think they can't get HD over the air.

The evidence indicates that, if anything, the opposite is true: broadcasters affiliated with cable companies are more likely to provide a better signal after the transition. Of the broadcasters on the Mount Royal tower that are not CBC/Radio-Canada (which runs the tower), it's the two that aren't affiliated with cable companies (CIVM/Télé-Québec and CFJP/V) that have decided to move off the tower, sacrificing coverage in order to save on rent. TVA, CTV and Global are staying on the tower, and are either replicating their coverage area or improving it slightly. (CJNT/Metro14 is not on the tower itself, but at its base, but its coverage has improved significantly.)

That's not to say there isn't some silliness going on. CTV's transition information points people to buy Bell TV or converter boxes at The Source, which is also owned by Bell. Shaw is plugging their free satellite program (but not very much - they're doing this as part of a promise to the CRTC, but the fewer satellites they give away, the less it costs them), but otherwise not pushing people to get Shaw service. (Global's story about the DTV transition even points to competitors' programs.) And TVA's transition page makes no mention of the word "Videotron".

But what really matters - and where the costs really lie - is the transmitters. The CRTC is forcing the switch, broadcasters have waited until the last month if not the last minute so their analog viewers have service as long as possible, and the digital transmitters for the most part try to replicate coverage area. In short, I don't see much of a conspiracy here.

Podcast Plan B: Montreal radio personalities try going solo

Fagstein — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 10:14:39 +0000

It's been a while since my byline was in the paper (as my mom keeps reminding me). My day ... err, night job as a copy editor keeps me busy enough, so I haven't had any need or much time to indulge in freelance writing. But I knew at some point a story would cross my desk RSS reader that was too interesting not to write.

It started with Peter Anthony Holder, who was fired from his job as overnight host at CJAD in August, a job he had for 20 years. A month later, partly at the suggestion of local marketing guru Mitch Joel, Holder began a weekly podcast talking about the same stuff as he did on his radio show.

Then, in October, other podcasts came on the local radar. Mitch Melnick (CKGM The Team 990) began Melnick Underground. Kelly Alexander (CJFM Virgin Radio 96) started up The Kelly Alexander Show, and David Tyler (formerly of CFQR the Q 92.5) began David Tyler Unleashed. All this in a month.

The formats were different, lengths were different, and circumstances were different (two were by fired radio personalities, but two are still on the air). One thing they all had in common was that they're being independently produced. Astral Media, Corus Entertainment, CTVglobemedia, they have nothing to do with the financing or production of these shows. And the hosts are happy with that, because it offers them something they can't get on local commercial radio: full editorial independence.

In Monday's Your Business section today, I write a short piece (well, it's long by newspaper article standards, but way shorter than I had material to write for) about three of these entrepreneurs and their podcasts, none of which is at the point where it's making any serious money yet. It's illustrated with a Dave Sidaway photo of Kelly Alexander in her home studio. (It was also posted to VancouverSun.com)

Because I had so much material (I spent an hour each on the phone with Holder and Tyler, an hour in person with Melnick, and had an email exchange with Alexander), I'm complementing the article with a series on this blog, one a day for the next four days.

In this series:

Can you feel the love, t.o.night?

Fagstein — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 07:45:21 +0000

t.o.night, the new free Toronto evening newspaper, launched on Tuesday.

Reaction has been mixed:

blogTO, which is a content partner with t.o.night (the paper has a page devoted to content from the blog), has a blog post with pictures of Day 1.
Torontoist, which is blogTO's main competitor in the Toronto alt-blog scene, has a much more critical post which picks out all of t.o.night's flaws (making the blog look a bit like sour grapes in the process).
Eye Weekly is also highly critical of t.o.night, predicting it won't last because of its many flaws (like misspelling a word on the front page).

CBC and the Doon Valley Journal have previews of the new paper.

The Bluffer's Guide this week in The Gazette looks at t.o.night and evening newspapers in general. It also debunks one of the arguments used by t.o.night's backers that this concept worked in London (England) by pointing out that the free evening daily there probably won't last another month.

Montreal Geography Trivia No. 49

Fagstein — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 16:00:33 +0000

(Updated with more hints)

This historical figure has his name everywhere. A major thoroughfare and small street in the city (with a park by the same name nearby), a street in Pointe Claire and another in Ste. Geneviève, plus dozens of streets across Quebec. His name also used to be on something that's been in the news lately.

Who is he?

UPDATE: Dave gets it close enough below, though St. John and St. John the Baptist are two different people. It's the latter, St. Jean Baptiste, who is the subject of this quiz. It's the name of a boulevard in the east end (which turns into a short street near the shore), a park, and tiny streets in Ste. Geneviève and Pointe-Claire.

It's also, according to the Commission de toponymie du Québec, the former name of Amherst St., which a city councillor has proposed be changed because Jeffery Amherst had this thing about being OK with genocide through biological warfare. Amherst and the street names are the subjects of this week's bluffer's guide, which points out some of the silliness of the current debate: Amherst never actually used smallpox to kill Indians, and the Jeunes Patriotes are in favour of renaming Amherst but steadfast against renaming the anti-semitic Lionel Groulx.

One factoid that was left out of the article: there are also 14 other geographic entities in Quebec that carry Amherst's name.

Chris DeWolf also has some thoughts on this subject, and Josianne Massé points to some other reaction in the blogosphere.

This Week in Me: The New New Democratic Party

Fagstein — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 18:48:51 +0000

Democratic Party / Parti démocratique

Page A2 of today's Gazette was all me again this week (it's going to be the case for the next few Mondays as well). Below the usual Monday Calendar is a Bluffer's Guide to the NDP's proposed name change (they want to remove the word "New" and become just the "Democratic Party of Canada"), wherein you learn that the previous name for the NDP was, in fact, the New Party.

The NDP is meeting in Halifax this weekend and will debate the name change there.

A1

Fagstein — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 18:29:43 +0000

Page A1 for Monday, August 3, 2009

It will probably stand as the last of my firsts for at least a little while. After four years (off and on) of doing just about every other editing job at the paper, last night I sat at the desk reserved for the Page 1 editor. For the next seven hours, I would be writing the headlines that first hit peoples' eyes the next day, the ones that they would glance at on the newsstand as they make their decision whether or not to buy it. It's a very important job, and I'm happy to say I don't think I screwed it up too much.

As the size of newspapers and their staffs shrink, the prestige of various jobs has diminished somewhat with it. Where a few years ago you had a staff of three working under you, now it's the size of the entire desk working on the A section on the weekend. And their workload has increased as well. The Page 1 editor used to spend the whole shift concentrated on a single page (and not even all of it). Now they work on A2, A3 and A4.

In my case, it wasn't so much work. A4 turned into a city news page, A3 had been mostly done in advance, and A2 had the Monday Calendar and Bluffer's Guide, both of which were written by me (and therefore neither needed any editing, right?).

The other thing to keep in mind about this job is that there's no real layout involved. Page 1 isn't laid out, it's designed by a professional page designer, who tweaks tracking and leading to make sure everything looks perfect. After a few hours, the Page 1 editor gets a page with photos and a bunch of dummy type to be filled out.

Since this was a Sunday, news was kind of light, even with the deaths of two Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan and the deportation of Karlheinz Schreiber. It was quite late in the evening before the subject of the main photo was decided on (the calls for what go on Page 1 are the responsibility of the Assistant Managing Editor and the Night Editor, both of whom are usually managers). Other candidates included the Highland Games in the West Island, flooded basements in N.D.G., Schreiber being deported, or something sports-related. My passing thought about taking a picture from the water gun battle on the Plains of Abraham was nixed mainly due to the fact that we had dead soldiers on the page (juxtaposition is everything). Besides, it was a Reuters photo and we had plenty of stuff from our staff photographers. So an Osheaga photo (the second time in two days that Osheaga has been the main art on the front page), but with a playful weather element, became the centrepiece, and the inspiration for my pick of quote of the day.

So yeah, Mom, go ahead and save that page. The rest of you, go read the Bluffer's Guide, which is on the subject of the vicious lies being told about our health care system south of the border.

National Post amused by our wacky cop cars

Fagstein — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 07:31:06 +0000

My post about Montreal's stealth police cars prompted an article in the National Post in Wednesday's paper (an article written by a former colleague of mine at the hippie university paper).

I mention this in its separate post not just because of the fact that the article quotes me and the Post used one of my photos on Page 3, but ... uhh ... [insert better reason here later].

They used this photo (though heavily cropped on the sides - I'd be outraged, but I've done it enough times as an editor):

Of course, I took this photo not thinking that a national newspaper would want to use it. I spent little effort composing the shot, took it at a low resolution (the lowest my camera goes is 1728 x 1152, fortunately that was enough to make it printable) and didn't bother getting names or other information.

On the flip side, it's something that happened randomly as I was out shopping. If it wasn't for the fact that I almost always have my camera with me, I'd have never gotten the shot. Instead, I stopped, pulled the camera out of my backpack, and took a few shots before continuing on my way.

Let that be a lesson to you freelance photographers and bloggers out there: always have your camera ready, and don't assume you know how a photo might be used later.

40 years ago today

Fagstein — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 02:56:15 +0000

Oh, and I should add a link to the Bluffer's Guide in Monday's Gazette, courtesy of yours truly: The moon landings: fake or fact?. Choosing a news-relevant topic was enough to get my name above the fold on Page 1 (all part of my master plan).

UPDATE: This story surfaced just after I filed that one, showing that there are indeed pictures of the moon landing sites. But, of course, those are all fakes. (Thanks Ha!)

But I want interstellar diplomacy to be debated in endless detail

New Monday Gazette (with TWIMy goodness)

Fagstein — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 18:42:06 +0000

New Monday Gazette front (Sept. 8, 2008)

The four of you who still read paper newspapers will notice a dramatic shift in Monday's Gazette. It's gotten smaller.

The most dramatic change is the consolidation of the news, Your Business and Arts & Life sections into the A section, similar to what happens in the Sunday paper. The Sports section is unchanged (in fact, it's a larger-than-normal 10 pages this week), as is the ad-generating Driving section. The length of the paper reduces overall by about six pages.

Editor-in-Chief Andrew Phillips is honest in his note to readers today about why this is happening:

The main reason for the change is that the cost of newsprint is rising dramatically. In the past year, it has gone up by about 24 per cent, and it is adding more than $2 million to our annual expenses. Fuel costs, as everyone knows, have also gone up sharply.

The fact is we can't keep printing the same size newspaper at a time when the competition for advertising revenue (which makes up about three-quarters of our income) is much tougher. The time is long past when newspapers like The Gazette could just absorb extra costs and pass all of them on to advertisers.

Of course, no doubt some readers won't agree (especially when it's combined with a slight increase in subscription rates), so Andrew and the rest of the staff are fully ready for an onslaught of complaints. He has a blog post explaining the situation, and readers are encouraged to comment there, or by email to his address or the new monday@thegazette.canwest.com.

As if in answer to management's prayers to give them some cover fire, the New York Times also announced that it would be consolidating sections to save on newsprint. One of my colleagues got the idea to run a story about that in the Your Business section today, and Andrew points that out to readers.

(UPDATE Sept. 11: Andrew has a summary of the reaction, which is negative, but not as bad as he feared)

Here's what's changed

The new layout of A1 (as seen above) emphasizes the newspaper's slew of Monday columnists (because, try as they might, little news happens on Sundays), with quotes along the side from marquee names.

Content-wise, the changes are modest:

Your Business takes the biggest hit, dropping to only three pages (1.5 if you discount the ads). This essentially means there will be one entrepreneurial feature story instead of two. Don Macdonald's and Paul Delean's columns are still there. It will also no longer be able to take advantage of the occasional extra page that pops up at the last minute when obituaries are light.
Editorial and Opinion pages are, for the first time, combined into a single page, with an opinion piece along the bottom, a single editorial and fewer letters. Monday opinion pages tend to be a bit stale sometimes because they're created on the Friday before (along with Saturday and Sunday pages).
Arts & Life is reduced in size (and fewer pages are in colour), but no regular features are cut (the HealthWatch column moves to Tuesdays). Green Life, Showbiz Chez Nous, Dating Girl, Susan Schwartz (though she's off this week), Hugh Anderson's Seniors column, Applause, This Week's Child, Fine Tuning (with the TV grid) are all still there.
Squeaky Wheels moves off of A2 to make way for the Bluffer's Guide and the new Monday calendar.

It's not all bad

On the plus side (and so people can get excited about something), two new features are being introduced on Mondays. A2 features a weekly look-ahead calendar, with information on events to look forward to. There's also a Monday Closeup, which features an interview with someone who will be relevant to something happening that week. (The first week features an author talking about winning book awards, as the Man Booker shortlist is being announced)

But let's get back to talking about me

Now here's where I fit in: I'm the one putting together that look-ahead calendar. So if you know of any interesting newsworthy events coming up, let me know and I'll see if I can get it in. Take a look at what's already in the calendar to see what kind of stuff I'm talking about.

Note that the following are not things that will make it into the calendar:

Your birthday party
Your awesome rock/blues/polka band playing at Sala Rossa.
Your garage/bake/charity sale
Your book reading
Your support group meetup
Your $500 basket-weaving training course
Your company's new advertising campaign launch
Any of the above replacing "your" with "your friend's"

I mean, unless it's really exceptional. Like you're pulling a plane or something.

TWIM: Scientology, the NFL and other threats to our existence

Fagstein — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 14:55:05 +0000

A double dose from yours truly today:

This week's Justify Your Existence is an interview with a member of Anonymous, the anti-Scientology group. Though she's unnamed, you'll recognize her as the same young woman I made fun of talked about earlier when a video was posted on YouTube in which she said Scientology conspired to get her fired from her job. Though I suggested she was weird, to her credit, she was willing to sit down with me and explain herself. Reaction on their forums is starting to build here.

There's also a protest today at 11 near Lafontaine Park, for anyone interested.

UPDATE: For those of you who are reading this article because it was posted on the Anonymous forums and have never read it before, Justify Your Existence by its very nature takes a tough stand against its interview subjects -- part of the reason it's tough getting interviews sometimes.

Also, from the Enterbulation forums:

NO WAY!!!!
His name is Steve Fagay?????

Actually, no it's not. But I'm touched by the maturity.

Finally, I've already got hate mail. Sweet.

NFL vs. CFL

This week's Bluffer's Guide is about the Buffalo Bills game in Toronto this week, and what the NFL testing the waters in Canada could mean for our national football game. There's suggestion that the Bills might move to Toronto after its current owner dies and the franchise is sold off. Such a move, worryers say, would spell the end to the Toronto Argonauts, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and probably even the CFL itself.

It comes the same day as this piece from The Gazette's Herb Zurkowsky, quoting league officials worried about the NFL threat. He also has some interesting history in his notes that I wish I'd stolen from is useful for context.

UPDATE (Aug. 21): A reader points out that other NFL games have taken place on Canadian soil. This will be the first time that regular-season games take place in Canada, however.

TWIM: Blogging for dollars

Fagstein — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 18:44:24 +0000

This week, I talk about a local blogger, Stephen David Wark, who is participating in a Blogathon today (9am Saturday to 9am Sunday) to raise money for the Autism Clinic at the Montreal Children's Hospital. He's already started blogging, and will continue to post every half hour until 9am tomorrow. (And you better bet he blogged about the article). So show him (and the children) some love.

UPDATE: The article has apparently gotten people interested and donating, and he's already raised more money than last year. I'll go ahead and take credit for that.

TWIM: Can Flashpoint become Due South 2?

Fagstein — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 19:14:16 +0000

This week, the Bluffer's Guide is on the new CTV series Flashpoint, the cop drama "proudly set in Toronto" (but not mentioning its name) which was picked up by CBS and is being aired on both networks at the bound-for-cancellation hour of 10pm Fridays. The decision to pick up the show was made in desperation because the U.S. was facing a writer's strike, and considering how U.S. critics panned the show, CBS isn't exactly promoting the heck out of it.

But then a funny thing happened: The show's ratings weren't horrible. It got more than 8 million viewers in its premiere, and 7 million last night, winning the night against such fierce competition as repeats of America's Funniest Home Videos and more repeats of Most Outrageous Moments. Now CBS is talking about potentially renewing the show beyond its 13-episode order.

Then again, that Just for Laughs ABC show also had adequate ratings in the face of critical failure, and it didn't last long. The plug on that show was finally pulled in May.

UPDATE (July 22): The plot thickens. CBS has rewarded Flashpoint with a switch to Thursdays at 10 (Swingtown does the reverse). The Gazette has a piece on the show, with a dig about how the franco press aren't covering it.

NHL free agency explained (I hope)

Fagstein — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 05:35:38 +0000

The Bluffer's Guide this week, courtesy once again of yours truly, is about NHL free agency, which began on July 1 as it does every year. Our beloved Canadiens got its star power-play quarterback snatched away, but have acquired a thug enforcer to toughen the team up.

Because NHL contracts are complicated, I figured some training might be useful for us less-than-insane fans and well-wishers. In order to do that, of course, I had to read the collective agreement that was signed in 2005 after the lockout.

Unfortunately, I failed to realize that the agreement is over 450 pages long (PDF).

Didn't get a lot of sleep that night. And I'm sure I still got a bunch of things wrong.

Not that I'm worried. If I fail at journalism here, I can always sign in Russia, right?

TWIM: Dion’s carbon tax idea

Fagstein — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 08:20:33 +0000

Somehow, despite working 42 hours this week, I managed to put together another bluffer's guide, for the Liberal carbon tax plan. Liberal leader Stéphane Dion calls it Green Shift, which I guess is not to be confused with this Green Shift. From the video, it seems to have something to do with stock photos of plants and animals, combined with people in suits clapping awkwardly in a white room.

The 48-page plan (PDF), which ironically wastes quite a bit of space by having blank pages and one-word all-green title pages, explains far more details than non-Liberal politicians would have liked, because now they can't attack Dion for being unclear.

That doesn't mean they won't attack the Liberals though. The Tories have already setup a they-think-it's-funny website mocking Dion and his plan, saying everyone but the tooth fairy and leprechauns will have to pay more taxes as a result of it.

Basically all you need to know about the plan is this:

It would tax polluting fossil fuels and cut income taxes to balance the money difference
It exempts gasoline, because politicians are too scared to admit that high gas prices help the environment when suburban soccer moms are griping about how much money it takes to fill up their SUVs. This makes the plan useless for its intended purpose.
It's a Liberal plan, and the Liberals have to become the government and get support from a majority of MPs before they can implement it.

Sorry for the genocide

Fagstein — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 08:18:35 +0000

This week's bluffer's guide courtesy of yours truly is about the Canadian residential school system, which the Canadian government formally apologized for this week. In addition to the apology, the government is handing out money by the bucketsful to people who lived in these schools, and has agreed to setup a Truth and Reconciliation commission to study the matter.

The latter is certainly a good idea because despite the huge amount of information out there, a lot of it is contradictory and it would be nice to get some more accuracy about a very shameful part of Canada's history. I had a lot of trouble with conflicting information about when the schools started, when they closed, where they were located and how many there were and what their ages were (in other words, about half the information in this Reuters factbox). We're still not entirely sure how many people are involved, but it could easily be over 100,000.

That said, for further reading I would recommend the Indian Residential School Survivor Society and the residential school settlement website.

Also, be sure to check out this classic 1950s CBC educational video about the school system. It's so cliché it hurts.

TWIM: GM/CAW FYI

Fagstein — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 08:43:39 +0000

I filled in once again for Master Bluffer Peter Cooney in this week's Bluffer's Guide as he was having a busy week. I wrote about GM's closing of a plant in Oshawa, Ont., and what the Canadian Auto Workers union is doing about it.

Naturally, because I'm drunk with power, I included a near-non-sequitur about Stephen Colbert:

But what about Stephen Colbert? True, the city did name March 20, 2007 "Stephen Colbert Day" after the mayor lost a bet with the TV satirist over a game between the Oshawa Generals and Colbert's favourite Saginaw (Mich.) Spirit, who named their mascot after Colbert. This came after Colbert encouraged Spirit fans to throw copies of GM's earnings reports onto the ice during a game, a gesture that would perhaps seem not so tongue-in-cheek now.

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