I was sitting in the parking lot of IKEA the first time I heard the Government of Canada’s digital television transition advisory on my AM radio. Scripted to a bristling player piano score (perhaps the agency that produced the radio ad thought Canada was transitioning from silent pictures to talkies?), the spot advised listeners that over-the-air (OTA) television “snow” (aka analogue signals) would be “cleared” from Canada’s airwaves by August 31, 2011 so as to make way for digital television signals.

While last week’s switch from analogue to digital television could have been a welcomed change for OTA viewers (conservatively estimated to represent one million households) if it had been equitably executed, the benefits to be realized by the analogue television shut-off hasn't been shared with all Canadians. MP Charlie Angus said it best when he described Canada’s digital television transition as a “hodgepodge” effort.

Under Canada’s new two-tier OTA television broadcast system, viewers residing in cities of 300,000 or more (with some exceptions) are now able to pull in a dozen or so free to air Canadian digital television signals using a roof top antenna or a set of “rabbit ears” (provided they have a newer TV or a digital-to-analogue converter box).

As for viewers who live outside these large cities, determining their access to Canadian OTA television signals post August 31 is truly a job for one of those octopi used to predict professional football matches. Some viewers living in rural and remote areas of the country might still be able to receive stations using their old analogue television set. Others might be able to also pull in digital stations using a digital receiver. Others still might not be able to receive any over-the-air television signals at all. For example, the number of available OTA television signals in the rural Ontario community of Vennachar Junction has gone from five (CBC, Radio-Canada, TVO, CTV and Global) to just one (Global) in the past week.

The plowing of Canada's analogue television system has certainly cleared plenty of snowy signals from the airwaves. Unfortunately, it's also served to further deepen Canada's digital divide. For rural and remote communities that still rely on dial-up to access the Internet and that have never had cell phone service, the snatching away of OTA television signals by the Government of Canada is the latest blow.

(Image source: digitaltv.gc.ca. Blog post title source: My Dad)