From the
Globe and Mail (also hit the front page on
slashdot.org):
During the opening day of a two week regulatory probe into Canada's television industry, the head of the CBC said there's no business model for HDTV. Apparently, according to Robert Rabinovich, advertisers in Canada and the USA aren't willing to pay a premium to advertise on shows broadcast in HD. Rabinovich adds that broadcasting in HD costs roughly 25% more than standard definition shows and the networks have had to foot the bill themselves.
Wah wah you say? Well, this part is a bit more troubling (to me at least):
The transition to HD has been likened to the shift from black and white to colour, or the move to stereo in the 80s. Mr. Rabinovich said the networks won't see any increase in their business despite the higher cost, so the CBC is arguing the regulator should allow the conventional broadcasters to start charging cable and satellite companies to carry their signal.
The feeds from conventional broadcasters, such as CBC, CTV, Global, City TV and others, are currently provided free. Specialty cable channels such as Showcase, HGTV and TSN are allowed to collect a fee as compensation for their lower placement on the dial and, arguably, the smaller ad revenue they attract because of their channel location.
All broadcasters are pushing for these fees to be introduced, which could increase a monthly cable bill by between $3 and $7 by some industry estimates, depending on what the rate is set at.
It is likely that the regulator would require the networks to pour more funding into Canadian content and productions if it did agree to the fee.