Minutes of the Technical Advisory Committee on Broadcasting (B-TAC) - Final Minutes of the Meeting held on June 5, 2006

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Attendees of the Second Meeting of 2006 Technical Advisory Committee on Broadcasting (B-TAC)

1. Chairman's Opening Remarks

Mr. Mimis welcomed the members to the second meeting of 2006 and opened the meeting. He said that a number of activities had taken place since the last meeting. These included the completion of the AM-IBOC tests, planning for the FM-IBOC measurement in the CBC and field testing in Toronto, etc.

2. Approval of Agenda

Mr. Moltner proposed adding ‘Rules for FM 2nd adjacent channel co-location’ as item 10.1.
Mr. Mathieu suggested that ‘Call Sign Rules’ should again be included for discussion. The amended agenda was approved by the members.

3. Draft Minutes of the First Meeting of 2006

The following changes were made to the draft minutes of the first meeting of 2006:

Section 4:
‘CBC Long Range Plan with channel members’ was corrected to ‘CBC Long Range Plan with channel numbers’

Section 5.2
‘Mr. Stacey…EMCAB 2 value of 125dBu which was for all telecom facilities’ 1st para was changed to ‘Mr. Stacey…EMCAB 2 value of 125dBu which was for all radiocom facilities’

Section 5.6 ‘Mr. Gauthier indicated that…(Bureau du BABE)’ 1st para was amended to
‘Mr. Gauthier indicated that…(Bureau du BAPE)’

Section 7.1
‘Interference Caused by Hand Held Devices’ was changed to ‘Interference Caused by FM Modulators used with Hand Held Devices’

1st para
‘He said that interference from small hand-held devices such as iPod etc…’ was changed to ‘He said that interference from low-power FM modulators used with small hand-held devices such as iPod etc…’

The minutes were approved as amended.

4. Matters Arising from the Minutes

Application Priority Assignment

Mr. Vaccani reported that the Department had undertaken a review of the current practices in assigning priorities for applications, and in general, the current process worked well. However, the Department would be meeting with the CRTC to look for possible improvements, for example in cases such as application amendments, license exemption application etc. He suggested that members should contact the Department in case they have a timing problem with their applications. Mr. Bergin added that there had been some reorganization within the Commission and it had adopted a new set of service standards intended to speed up the application process. He also suggested that members should contact the Commission to resolve any application problems in specific cases.

Nav/Com Program

Mr. Leduc reported that the new version of the program should be available within one month and it would be posted at the Department’s website for the members.

5. Status Report

5.1 Digital TV/Digital Radio

DTV

Mr. Dadourian said that at this year’s NAB, the emphasis was on digital equipment and services. IPTV and mobile TV were the prominent topics. On mobile TV, of the three proposed standards, DVB-H was the most popular; DMB and the Qualcom’s Media Flow systems were also being discussed. Mr. Dadourian pointed out that this type of service would require a separate network and there was no current spectrum allocation for it. As well, cost and return on investment are an issue.

Mr. Dadourian also mentioned the A-VSB system which carried two separate bit streams, one for HDTV and a 2 Mb/s stream for mobile TV. Simulation of the system had shown that this signal could be received up to 150 m/hr in a mobile environment. He indicated that the CRC would be testing this system in the coming months in Ottawa. On the TV receiver front, Mr. Dadourian said that wide screen digital sets with ATSC tuners were now out-selling analogue sets in Canada. On the subject of the CableCARD requirement in the U.S., U.S. cable companies and the FCC were still at odds on this requirement and the Department would be monitoring further developments on the subject.

DRB

Mr. Dadourian reported that U.S. implementation of IBOC was ongoing and currently there were over 700 radio stations on-air, of which about 150 stations were broadcasting in HD1 and HD2 modes. In Canada, the Department and CBC were planning to conduct further testing of FM IBOC HD radio, including field tests for performance, coverage, etc. Mr. Dadourian suggested that the coverage of the digital IBOC signal would be around 50 to 60 km for a Class C1 station. However, he said that actual field experience had indicated that coverage may also vary from station to station depending on the presence of 1st and 2nd adjacent interference.

Mr. Stacey commented that ultimately the success of HD radio technologies and services would depend on consumer receiver manufacturers making HD receivers available and affordable.

On a related topic, Mr. Dadourian referred to the sale of webcasting receiver sets which could pick up radio signals on the Internet via wireless LANs or modems.

5.2 BPR Updates

Mr. Mimis tabled document TAC-06-02 which outlined the schedules of issued and planned Canada Gazette notices. He indicated that once the antenna policy was finalized, all the BPR’s would be reviewed and updated to harmonize with the new policy. Mr. Stacey raised the topic of the EMCAB-2 overload value of 125 dBu which this committee had agreed to apply to broadcasting; however, this proposed change has yet to be revised in the BPRs. In response, Mr. Dadourian said that the Department was assessing whether the EMCAB 2 issue could be independent from the antenna policy, in which case, the adoption of the proposed change would be formalized in the near future.

5.3 CRTC Updates

Mr. Bergin informed the members that there had been some reorganization and personnel changes in the Commission. New service standards had been adopted to improve efficiency. Mr. Bergin said that recent hearings had been held for the all channel alert, and in the radio review, a number of issues were tabled, such as IBOC, proposals for all of L-band replacement model, ownership restriction for broadcasters, etc. Mr. Bergin suggested that an extensive review of the TV band had been scheduled for this fall. Notices were issued on digital migration from analogue cable to standard definition digital and mobile TV. He also indicated that Canada Gazette notices for HD pay Specialty TV would be issued soon. Mr. Gauthier inquired if a sunset date for analogue TV would be part of the upcoming TV review. Mr. Bergin replied that all relevant issues would be discussed.

5.4 Subcom 15 (Gov-On-Line)

Mr. Vaccani reported that the subcommittee met recently to discuss three main items, namely the format of the coverage maps, updates of the service contours, and issues related to electronic submission of applications. He said that the subcommittee recommended that the format of the submitted coverage maps should be in pdf. The updating of the service contour maps was ongoing within the Department and would be posted it on the Department’s ‘experimental site’ when ready. Mr.Vaccani requested that future submissions of service contour maps should also be in both pdf and map-info formats. As for the electronic submission of applications, Mr. Vaccani encouraged members to use the system. He mentioned that the requirement to submit in XML format would be dropped since it was of little benefit. Mr. Marcoux suggested that there were still errors and omissions in the database update and the Department needed to work on this problem.

5.5 Subcom 17 (Post DTV Transition Issues)

Mr. Dadourian said that planning for post DTV transition had been completed and with few exceptions, almost all broadcasters were placed between channel 7 and channel 51. Mr. Dadourian indicated that negotiation with the U.S. would probably start this Fall. For planning purposes, only one class of station was used for post DTV with 82 km (90,90) coverage. As well, the post transition parameters would be different from the transition parameters. Mr. Dadourian outlined some planning priorities, for example existing channel 7 to channel 13 would be replaced within channels 7 to 13, channels 2 to 6 would be placed within channels 7 to 13 before UHF channels, etc. He suggested that there would be no release of the draft plan before negotiation with the U.S. However, he would be happy to answer inquiries if members had specific questions on their allocations. Mr. Marcoux suggested that it might be easier for broadcasters if the transition and post transition parameters were the same. In reply, Mr. Dadourian said that Canada would first need an agreement from the FCC, moreover, existing analogue channels would complicate the situation.

Mr. Stacey said that another option would be for the CRTC, in its upcoming DTV policy review, to study the possibility of skipping the transition altogether and implement DTV transmission on a specific timetable.

5.6 Subcom 16

Mr. Dexter tabled document TAC-06-01 which detailed some of the recommendations from subcom 16. These included class minimum parameters. HAATs over water/U.S. land modification of Section C-3.3 and Section H in BPR-3 and the removal of Vpol justification, etc. There were also some proposed clarification changes, such as interference zones from U.S. Class C stations, interference zones shown on coverage maps, interference zones to be shown from grandfathered over parameter stations and as built parameters, etc.

Mr. Dexter indicated that other remaining issues included the protection of under utilized channels, etc. A brief discussion followed on the recommended changes. Mr. Gauthier suggested that after the issuance of the antenna policy, the recommended changes should be formalized by an amendment of BPR-3. The above recommendations were approved by the members.

5.7 AM-IBOC Tests

Mr. Lam reported that the AM-IBOC tests in the laboratory had been completed and a test report would be made available when ready. Mr. Lam said that preliminary findings of the test suggested that the AM-IBOC signal would cause a reduction of S/N ratio in the 1st adjacent channel AM. The degree of reduction seemed to depend on the quality of the receiver — the higher the quality, the more the reduction. He suggested that the presence of AM-IBOC in the 1st adjacent channel would impact the quality of reception and therefore the coverage. Members discussed the impact of interference from an AM-IBOC signal and one suggestion was to require a power back-off from the IBOC signal. Mr. Lam indicated that a field test may be possible in the future. Mr. Gauthier informed the members that the CBC was planning to conduct further FM-IBOC tests both in the laboratory and field testing in Toronto.

6. Informatics

Mr. Leduc said that except for the finalizing of the new NAV/COM program, there had been no major developments in informatics since the last meeting.

7. PI Codes for FM (RBDS)

Mr. Stacey said that CAB was concerned with the generation and assignments of PI codes since PI codes may become more important as some cell phone manufacturers are incorporating RBDS capability in cell phone sets. He suggested that the PI codes should be assigned together with the call signs and the Department should publish a list of all used and available PI codes on its website for broadcasters to chose from. Some discussions followed and it was agreed that a subcommittee (subcom 19) be set up to study the issue. Mr. Vaccani would be the chairman and Mr. Stacey, Mr. Gauthier and Mr. Leduc the members.

8. CDTV/B-TAC

Mr. Mimis said that the Board of Directors had decided to close CDTV Inc. at the end of August 2006. However, he felt that over the years CDTV Inc. had provided some useful information on consumer products regarding DTV and he suggested that this information should be retained and hosted by Consumer Affairs on its website. He further suggested that B-TAC may want to set up a subcommittee to evaluate the existing material and identify the appropriate part of the material to keep. Mr. Stacey suggested, however, that a joint Industry/Government group rather than B TAC sub-committee might be better suited to deal with consumer issues.

On a related matter, Mr. Mimis said that HDTV technical group should also be retained to address DTV technical issues and TeleSat Canada may be willing to provide administrative support for the group. Mr. Mimis agreed to pursue this possibility further and in the meantime, proposed to set up a B-TAC subcommittee (subcom 20) to address the consumer information issue. Mr. Dadourian would be the Chairman, with Mr. Bergin, Mr. Conway and perhaps Mr. Stacey after consultation with the CAB on the matter.

9. ITU/AM Band Allotment Planning for Digital Radio

Mr. Mimis reported that there were two main activities taking place on the international scene concerning the MF band. The first was within CITEL which had adopted a resolution to convene a regional conference to plan the AM band for digital radio in the future. Instead of reworking the existing AM Plan for digital radio, it would be likely that a new AM Plan to allow the introduction of IBOC, DRM and other forms of digital radio would be adopted. At the same time, the ITU was developing the technical interference parameters for the AM Plan. Mr. Mimis suggested that some European countries were considering placing this issue on the agenda of the next WRC (2010) which would result in a worldwide plan for IBOC and DRM. This would also have an added financial benefit for Canada for not having to fund a regional conference. The Department will continue to monitor the situation and report back to the members in future meetings.

10. Other Business

10.1 Rules for FM 2nd Adjacent Channel Co-Location

Mr. Moltner said that existing practice would disallow FM 2nd channel co-location unless the incumbent agreed and he would like to have a technical explanation for this practice. In reply, Mr. Dexter said that this is due to short-spacing and interference concerns. Mr. Stacey added that the provision for incumbent agreement to allow 2nd channel co-location is for situations where the incumbent is willing to accept interference (perhaps from its own sister station) or after the resolution of the interference problems between the two parties. Referring to the recently rejected applications in Toronto, Mr. Kirk suggested that the FM spectrum may not be fully used if this rule were strictly enforced since the probability of interference to the incumbent would be low. Mr. Gauthier argued however that this rule should be applied in general. Mr. Mimis said that this rule had been reviewed in the past by the B-TAC committee and it was decided that it should not be changed. However, it was agreed that the rule may also be by-passed on a case-by-case basis.

Mr. Dadourian added that in some cases, the situation may offer the possibility of co-location, for example 2nd adjacent channel on one side and a 3rd adjacent on the other side, etc. Some discussions followed on the implementation of this rule with regard to the recent applications in Toronto. Mr. Blythe, speaking on behalf of Caribbean African Radio Network, said that the interest and benefits of the audience should also be a factor in applying the rule and in interference risk assessment. It was agreed that the Toronto case warranted a separate discussion outside the present meeting.

10.2 Calls Signs

Mr. Mathieu said that the subject had been discussed by this committee in previous meetings and it was agreed the existing call sign rules should be changed. However, it had yet to be formalized by the Department and he would like to know the current status of this issue. Mr. Mimis said that due to the recent change in Minister and Deputy Minister of the Department, there has been some delay in the gazetting process within the Department. He expected that the notice will be issued within a month. Mr. Dadourian added that the Department had no mandate to decide on the choice of call signs by broadcasters and would not be involved in the arbitration of phonetic similarity between call signs. He suggested that this should be resolved between broadcasters.

11. Date of Next Meeting

The date of the next meeting will be on Monday, September 25, 2006.