As of June 12, 2009, Americans that were still relying on braodcast cable could no longer receive any television stations via their antenne or on television rabbit ears; however, they need not fear missing American Idol or the local news. Even though the over-the-air method of broadcasting free television was coming to an end, there was a new option available to those who still wished to receive broadcast TV. that solution was a digital cable converter box that could be obtained for a small fee or in some cases, there were coucher programs that you could receive a box for free.
In his blog article, "Small Cities say it's unfair to loser TV signals," Steve Anderson describes a similar situation for many small town Canadians. Like us, Canadians are being told that their rabbit ears and other over-the-air broadcast receiving devices will no longer work after 2011; however, unlike America, there is no alternative for small town and rural Cananadians that wish to still receive free basic channels. The only solution being offered this population is to simply pay for satiellite or digital cable. The households that currently utilize the free broadcast cable are only getting 3 free channels and many are unwilling to pay for cable that will give them 60 or more channels when they are only using 3.
It has been suggested to the government and cable companies that Canada could adopt a technology like that currently used by the US and Europe. This system, called multiplexing, would allow for citizen to purchase a converter box and use that to get up to 6 free channels. Currently, the word is mum on how the rabbit-ear users will fair because cable companies and legislators seem unwilling to discuss the issue as of now.
You can read the original article here: http://democraticmedia.ca/blog-entry/small-cities-say-its-unfair-lose-tv-signals
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