Digital time fast approaching

Is there a date/time by which all television shows in Canada will be broadcast on HD?

The CRTC has also set a deadline of Aug. 31, 2011. By that date, all Canadian television channels must be broadcast in digital.

Of course, Canada tends to follow along with the U.S. in what they do around HD and digital television. The U.S. has legislation in place that requires all U.S. broadcasters to switch off their analog broadcasting capabilities on Feb 17, 2009 (2.5 years sooner than the Canadian deadline) and transmit an all-digital signal. These deadlines don’t mean that all broadcasts will be in high-definition. It does mean that there will be enough broadcast spectrum to send programming in HD and in standard definition (SD) at the same time. Still, expect availability of HD content to grow quickly after those dates. As market demand grows, the content creators will follow along quickly to meet the need.

If I have more than one HD TVs in my house, will I need more than one HD box?

Yes, you do need an HD set top box for each TV to display HD programming from broadcasters. That said, you could also buy a Blu-ray or HD DVD player (and compatible discs) to play HD-quality content on an HDTV that doesn’t have an HD cable box.