It's been two weeks since the Digital Apocalypse swept Canada. Two weeks. Am remembering I had every channel at breakfast. Checked news and traffic. Weather Network. Ten minutes of Sandy Dennis making her way
Up the Down Staircase on Turner Classic Movies, before heading for work. Home again after sundown, after work, the teevee universe had gone dark.
Thursday night, two weeks ago. None of my fiddlings and positionings of rabbit-ears, of omni-directional bargain-bin antenna scavenged in the spring, none of it pulled in more than a single channel, CHEK 6, from Vancouver Island. And it appeared to be snowing heavily there. Possibly high on the Malahat.
It felt just exactly like an ending of something would feel like. The stars extinguished in a blackening universe. Yes, the Digital Apocalypse sweeping Canada. I was alone, sudden'like, isolated in the unnatural heart of the, um,
world's n'th most livable city (downgraded as of August — Darn you, Malahat![Shakes fist]).
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Am not a victim, no. No. Had canceled Shaw cable before summer. In the spring, Shaw had switched off some channels I'd paid for, said they had gone Digital, said I'd need a for-now free wee box if ever I wanted to see those channels again. They sounded like kidnappers, Heh. And I didn't like the word NEED. NEED smelled of weakness of character, and stubborn is my main flaw, and I won't negotiate with kidnappers. Shaw didn't switch off immediately, though, 'Bless 'em. Maybe Shaw figured I'd be back. Maybe Shaw figured it an unnecessary effort, to turn off one party-poopin' NTSC luddite when the Great Analogue Cut-Off in a single efficient sweep would switch off the thousands of us who wished to chance Canada's digital future without NEED of Shaw services* and the wee box.
* Along with Shaw, add Telus, Rogers, Bell. Am visualizing them all, imagining the CRTC hosted Labour Day long weekend barbecue. Beer and burgers. And clapping all around for the great job of turning Canada's airwaves pay-per-view.
Am not boasting: I could have afforded to go ATSC, to pay, to continue to see their idea of the teevee universe. I'm stubborn when it comes to being force-fed, though; also count my pennies; I've chosen not to join the party.
But what about Canadians who cannot afford to pay? I hate to say a word against [Fanfare]
Vancouver, world's n'th most livable city, but there are folks, living in the heart of post-Olympics Here, who not only couldn't afford to go to the warmest winter Oly' ever, they also cannot afford to pay for tv they used to see for free over rabbit ears, over [gasp] rooftop fishbones.
Information, at its best, is also education. Am only wondering if this Digital Apocalypse also heralds the beginning of a separation: There'll be Canadians not in the information loop. And how can the CRTC see that a good thing? Why can't Marshall McLuhan step from behind a theatre curtain and save the day, Heh?
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That, above, is more wordy than I intended. It says what's on my mind, though.
Am doing fine, gleaning news, entertainment, and interesting bits from internet and around the radio dial. Just the same as folks did before teevee.
Radio, I mean.
They didn't have internet.
They probably just talked to their neighbours. Real chat rooms, that kinda thing. Tea and cakes, too.
