Do Canadians need DTV boxes???

Question

I know that Canada's switching is in 2011 but since the US is changing and Canada has tons of american channels does that mean that we have to get the same DTV converter as the americans or can we still be able to view the channels with

Rogers Digital Cable or Bell Satellite?

Answer 1

this has nothing to do with this question but i did watch the attiude era u said i dont know nothnig about d lo..i was saying that it wont be the same if kane has his mask

Answer 2

No you do not need a converter box to watch cable or satellite programs originating in the US.

The analog shutdown in the US on 2/17/09 is only for over the air broadcasts. It has nothing to do with cable or satellite TV even in the US, let alone Canada.

The coupon type converters being sold in the US are for over the air TV signals only and do not work with any major cable system.

Of course, if you want to watch over the air broadcasts from stations in the US, you will need a converter box after 2/17/09. Canada is changing to the same ATSC digital over the air broadcast system as the US, so the same converter will work in both countries.

After the market for converters saturates in the US sometime in early 2009, expect the price of converters to drop and the bugs to have been worked out by then. I wonder if the Canadian government had this in mind when they set their analog cutoff date?

Also , Canada's switching most of it's analog TV transmitters down on 8/31/2011. There are already digital TV broadcasts in parts of Canada, but they are not as common as in the US.