There’s a man driving a little red car rigged with TV rabbit ears, mapping outCanada’s television signals. That man is Steven James May, a Torontonian on a mission to tell people about Canada’s transition from analog to digital TV broadcasting. On August 31–less than a month from today–analog TV broadcasting will shut down, to be replaced with digital transmitters. This means that older TVs with rabbit ears won’t be able to pick up signals without a digital-to-analog converter box. May’s followed the transition for more than a year, he’s dutifully chronicled Canada’s bumpy road from analog to digital TV signals in a series of blog posts written as open letters to heritage minister James Moore. Now he’s asking Canadians to help fund to his Indie GoGo project, Dude, Where’s My TV: The Movie. He hopes to raise $5,000 to drive across the country and talk to people about how the transition will affect them, turning the results into a movie. In his pitch video, May is a voice in the wilderness of eastern Ontario, talking about why he’s embarked on this project. “[You] should be able to stick up some rabbit ears into the air and plug into your community, your country and your planet, without having to spend all this money and time and giving up control of your access to television content to others.” The CRTC ordered broadcasters to switch to digital TV, but it hasn’t created any subsidy for the transition. The result is some people will lose access some free over-the-air TV signals. In some areas, the CBC will no longer be broadcasting its English- and French-language services over-the-air because it can’t pay for new transmitters. If you live in Toronto, you have to make sure your TV can received digital TV signals-if it can’t you need to buy an analog-to-digital converter or subscribe to a cable or satellite service. May’s blog is a great resource, but you can also check how you’ll be effected by the Digital TV Transition at the official government website, digitaltv.gc.ca
Lover of Rabbit Ears
Free, over-the-air TV faces new threats. One man wants your help to spread the word.