TVO, Global , City TV, OMNI's and even Sun TV probably will end up having great signal over the GTA. CTV with its change to ch 9 remains to be seen what happens as most people probably installed a UHF only antenna system. In general the switch over is a positive one because analog reception in the GTA was spotty at best with lots of trouble. Even if they decide not to use subchannels or add extra features (like mobile TV , TV Guide, TV Firmware update, general data) still the improvement in picture and audio quality alone tips the balance on the positive side.

The funny thing about all this is that if OTA TV viewers are far less than cable/satellite/IPTV like is mostly said then a discount coupon program towards the purchase of a coverter box would have not been that expensive at all if targeted for only that sector of the population that needed it but I guess that goes against the freedoms of the rest who despite having cable/satellite still they probably also wanted that coupon eh?. Does any knows how much has the goverment charged (earned as profit) from the sale of the new freed spectrum (all above ch 51) to the wireless operators?. I bet they paid top dollar for that spectrum for their new upcoming LTE networks (read Rogers, Bell and the likes). That extra new money alone would have funded such coupon program like the one they had in the states (although not 100% perfect) specially in a country were there are surpluses rather than deficits thanks to the heavy taxation system.

In any case what is the point on having the CBC in HD free OTA when major events like the Track and Field World championships are only broadcasted online?. And this is from the network that claims to be an olympic network!.