DTV Info Ratings
In the days leading to the August 31st Canadian Digital TV Transition, media outlets presented various news pieces on how the television audience can prepare themselves for the upcoming transition from analog to digital television. Unfortunately, many of these news pieces did a better job of misinforming the television audience on the upcoming digital transition, creating mass confusion, and potentially resulting in unnecessary expenses.
This section will feature ratings of the various news reports presented during the days leading to the August 31st Canadian Digital TV Transition. The scores will be based on a demerit points system similar to the demerit points applied to automobile drivers for traffic violations. The higher the score, the worse the news item. The lower the score, the better the chance the report did its job of informing the public.
The Demerit Points
| Code |
Description |
Points |
| PRICE |
Each pricing mistake. |
5 points per $50 |
| TECH |
Each minor technical mistake. |
10 points |
| NO DIG TUNER |
Not mentioning the existence of digital tuners in today’s TV sets |
25 points |
| NO FREE TV |
Claiming it’s the end of “Free TV.” |
30 points |
| DIG ANT |
Recommending a “digital” antenna. |
40 points |
| OBSOLETE ANT |
Claiming old television antennas are obsolete. |
50 points |
| CABLE SAT |
Actively promoting or aggressively pushing cable or satellite services. |
100 points |
| BY NAME |
Promoting cable or satellite services by name. |
200 points |
- 0 points: pretty much dead-on. However, this ratings system doesn’t take into account the overall quality of the presentation.
- Less than 25 points: the mistakes are minor. The news piece is fairly accurate.
- Between 25 and 50 points: at least one major mistake has been made and needs to be corrected.
- Between 51 and 200 points: the news item is no longer credible and should be ignored.
- More than 200 points: A complete disaster.
Ratings By Media Outlet
| Media outlet |
Number of news items |
Total points |
Average points per news item |
| CBC/Radio Canada |
3 |
505 |
168.3 |
| CTV |
3 |
185 |
61.3 |
| Global |
1 |
260 |
260 |
| TVA |
1 |
25 |
25 |
| V |
1 |
0 |
0 |
| Print media |
2 |
260 |
130 |
Individual Ratings
| Published on |
August 31st, 2011 |
| By reporter |
CTVNews.ca Staff |
| Working for |
CTV |
| Source |
http://news.sympatico.ctv.ca |
| TECH |
10 points |
| DIG ANT |
80 points |
| TOTAL |
90 points |
| Comments |
The 10 points for the TECH was due to a quote from the CRTC’s own Web site stating that digital signals use up less airwave space than analog signals. In reality, digital channels occupy the same frequencies and airwave space as their analog counterparts. Only the content of the signal has changed. |
| Published on |
August 31st, 2011 |
| By reporter |
Paul Karwatsky |
| Working for |
CTV Montreal |
| Source |
http://watch.ctv.ca |
| PRICE |
5 points |
| DIG ANT |
40 points |
| OBSOLETE ANT |
50 points |
| TOTAL |
95 points |
| Comments |
The mention of a digital antenna was implied by the recommendation of a flat, wall mounted antenna. These antennas are often marketed as “digital” antennas, and the flat ones can be difficult to adjust. |
| Published on |
Week of August 31st, 2011 |
| By reporter |
Pat Foran |
| Working for |
CTV Toronto (Consumer Watch) |
| Source |
http://toronto.ctv.ca |
| TOTAL |
0 points |
| Comments |
Surprisingly accurate considering CTV is owned by Bell, which also owns Bell TV. However, the piece still used the more popular “fear” based style of delivery instead of a more neutral information based style of delivery. |
| Published on |
August 31st, 2011 |
| By reporter |
Robin Gill |
| Working for |
Global |
| Source |
http://www.youtube.com |
| TECH |
30 points |
| NO FREE TV |
30 points |
| OBSOLETE ANT |
200 points |
| TOTAL |
260 points |
| Comments |
A complete disgrace. This news item was grossly misleading in so many ways, it’s a miracle it ever made it to air. |
| Published on |
September 1st, 2011 |
| By editorial cartoonist |
Bruce MacKinnon |
| Working for |
The Chronicle Herald |
| Source |
http://thechronicleherald.ca |
| TECH |
10 points |
| TOTAL |
10 points |
| Comments |
Not a news piece, but an editorial cartoon. It wasn’t scored as strictly as a conventional news piece. But technically, you can still use that old coat hanger! |
| Published on |
April 18, 2011 |
| By reporter |
Laurent LaSalle |
| Working for |
Radio-Canada (in French) |
| Source |
http://blogues.radio-canada.ca |
| TOTAL |
0 points |
| Comments |
Not only was the piece accurate, it even explained how to get the best possible reception for the maximum number of channels. |
| Published on |
March 2, 2009 (YouTube video upload date) |
| By reporter |
Nancy Wood (English)
Louis-Philippe Ouimet (French) |
| Working for |
CBC and Radio-Canada |
| Source |
http://www.youtube.com |
| TOTAL |
0 points |
| Comments |
Accurate and informative. Both reports did point out that you can’t get cable specialty channels over-the air, and that your old rabbit ears will still work. However, they did warn that a bigger antenna may be necessary to get more channels, which could introduce a new round of “antenna envy.” |
| Published on |
August 19, 2011 |
| By reporter |
Bahador Zabihiyan |
| Working for |
Radio-Canada (RDI) |
| Source |
http://www.radio-canada.ca |
| TECH |
20 points |
| NO DIG TUNER |
25 points |
| NO FREE TV |
60 points |
| OBSOLETE ANT |
100 points |
| CABLE SAT |
300 points |
| TOTAL |
505 points |
| Comments |
The worst of the lot. A monumental piece of garbage reporting. |
| Published on |
August 24, 2011 |
| By reporter |
Vincent Brousseau-Pouliot |
| Working for |
La Presse (Affaires) |
| Source |
http://lapresseaffaires.cyberpresse.ca |
| OBSOLETE ANT |
50 points |
| CABLE SAT |
100 points |
| BY NAME |
100 points (half the points) |
| TOTAL |
250 points |
| Comments |
A highly confusing series of articles that does a better job of confusing the readers than inform them of their choices. Only half the demerit points were added for the naming of Shaw’s DTH satellite service since the reporter was pushing Shaw’s free “local channels” service available to anyone who can’t get local digital channels with a TV antenna, and who hasn’t subscribed to a cable or satellite service during the last three months. |
| Published on |
August 29, 2011 |
| By reporter |
Catherine Vaillancourt |
| Working for |
V |
| Source |
http://vtele.ca |
| TOTAL |
0 points |
| Comments |
Clear, concise, and to the point. The news item did an excellent job of informing the television viewer of all of their choices (including cable/satellite) without actively promoting or aggressively pushing one platform at the expense of another. |
| Published on |
August 31st, 2011 |
| By reporter |
Danny Côté |
| Working for |
TVA |
| Source |
http://tvanouvelles.ca |
| NO DIG TUNER |
25 points |
| TOTAL |
25 points |
| Comments |
Not as thorough as the V report, and it did fail to mention that your flat panel TV may already have a digital tuner inside. Still, knowing that TVA is owned by Québecor which also owns the cable company Vidéotron, it’s surprising the report didn’t even try to push the corporation’s own cable TV products. |
The Canadian Public ®