In Canada as of Winter 2009-2010 the digital television signals are weak. This isn't because of your equipment or the standard itself, it is a part of how the system operates. Currently some digital channels can be as much as ten times weaker than their analog counterparts.

This wouldn't be a problem ten years ago, but for Canadians living near the border it is impractical to swap back and forth between NTSC and ATSC. This should be even worse for Canadian stations that lose the reach they once had to American channels.

I understand that the options for Cable and Satellite services are plentiful north of the border - but we have a regulatory body tasked with optimizing the radio frequencies used by commercial television and radio vendors in order to benefit the public. The CRTC, which sets the limits and permits use of the VHF and UHF television bands that continue to be used by the digital channels, can and should work to reach transmission equity between NTSC and ATSC transmissions. Equal distance covered for each station.

It is easy to see why the CRTC would have to step in on this issue, as many of the current stations and networks are so closely mixed with Cable and Satellite vendors that new television stations and existing independent stations are having more difficulty providing their useful and valuable services to the public.

Part of this is the core issue behind what call and satellite vendors are calling the "TV Tax". The TV tax is actually useful to companies that both distribute cable/satellite services and own television stations (ie. Bell or Rogers) by harming competitors that have focused entirely on building better distribution networks, like Cogeco.

ATSC Television over the air is the best way to deregulate while holding stations and networks to tougher regulations. Big players can put all their best channels on the same band as their primary networks - meaning we could receive Space, Showcase, and Much Music on the same Channel as OMNI or CityTV. The stakes are higher for these networks when all of their channels could be off the air for committing a violation. It also means that smaller vendors can more easily enter the market by clearing large sections of the VHF and UHF band. All of it benefits the consumers and the advertisers - the driving forces behind the industry, rather than sending the bulk of the profits to communications vendors that could use their existing networks and bandwidth to boost and reduce the cost of Internet services.

I'm not a revolutionary, these are straightforward ideas with a lot of money that could be made by deserving companies. Unfortunately the status quo has become something sacred when other lobbyists are pushing Canadian telecommunications companies to build beyond their means - which really passes the cost on to the consumer through lackluster services or higher tax dividends being spent on private companies.

If you're still confused, just do this:

1) Email the CRTC and ask for ATSC channels to have higher transmission power caps.
2) Don't spend or send money to any company that works against your interest and if necessary cancel existing services.
3) Rediscover the freedom of public media and broadcasting with your ATSC Tuner/Television