Canadian Heritage committee  The public service announcements are the responsibility of the broadcasters.

Canadian Heritage committee  That's not what I said. What I said is that it was a cooperative approach. Everybody has a responsibility. The broadcasters have an important responsibility to actually give us the information as to when they're transitioning so we can actually communicate and coordinate. But we are working together; it's everybody's responsibility together.

Canadian Heritage committee  The fact that I'm not at liberty to show it to you doesn't suggest there isn't a plan or a strategy that exists.

Canadian Heritage committee  I don't want to speak on behalf of the CRTC—it was here last week—but I believe, from reading its policy decision, that it looked at the number of people affected, and the cost associated with it would have been considerable. If you took a per capita approach of what they spent in the States and just converted to the size of the Canadian population, it would be a program of over $200 million in Canada.

Canadian Heritage committee  There are various prices. Not all converter boxes are made the same. Some of them have remote controls, some are very basic, and some aren't the same quality as others. This is a wide range; it's a very competitive market out there. What I can tell you is that the U.K. had speculated that its boxes would be closer to the $100 range when it started.

Canadian Heritage committee  A few months ago, in June or July, the CRTC thought it was up to $75.

Canadian Heritage committee  Oh, absolutely.

Canadian Heritage committee  I don't think I can add much to the CRTC's own number, other than to say that any time you do change, people are very apprehensive before the change occurs. My experience has shown that Canadians are far more resilient than we give them credit for, and they adapt. Keep in mind that the policy in Canada has always been to “lag behind the United States”.

Canadian Heritage committee  The vast majority are not touched.

Canadian Heritage committee  In addition to a more traditional advertising campaign, our outreach strategy certainly included reaching out to provincial and territorial governments, consumer associations, as well as MPs. As I said, the impact is local. We're working on a kit that actually drills down, for the respective ridings of all members here, exactly what would happen in that riding, so that you're in a position to answer those questions.

Canadian Heritage committee  We agree that the Internet is not the only solution, because in fact there's probably a large percentage of the population that is not already covered by the 93%, that would not necessarily be connected to the Internet. That's why the proposed campaign, which I can't give you any details on right now because it's not fully approved, will be a multi-platform approach to reach Canadians, keeping in mind that the PSAs required by the CRTC are probably the most efficient use.

Canadian Heritage committee  This is why we set up our coordinating function, which will be reflected, in part, on our website, where we're trying to get the detailed information. I don't know if you were in the room, because I noticed that you arrived a little bit late, when I was saying that one of the challenges with this national initiative is that the impact is very local.

Canadian Heritage committee  Well, it wasn't a decision to wait until the last minute. I wouldn't put it that way. It was a decision to enter the marketplace when the communication opportunities were at a maximum. Remember that just a few months ago broadcasters were still fighting the possibility of going to digital.

Canadian Heritage committee  We are talking about homes, not individual people.

Canadian Heritage committee  It is about that, yes. Let's stick with 850,000. Some people get their TV satellite service through what is known as the grey or black market, in other words, the underground market. We do not know who they are, they are really outside our knowledge. I do not know how many there are, but the number may be higher in some neighbourhoods than others.