CTV Edmonton officially launches in high definition

On October 1, 2012, CTV Edmonton launches its full official day broadcasting in high definition.

Oct. 1 marks a historic day at CTV Edmonton.

The station has launched its first, full day broadcasting in high definition.

“These are exciting times,” said CTV Director of News & Public Affairs Dan Kobe.

“This is the difference between seeing a slightly fuzzy picture to having your eyes re-done and seeing everything crystal clear. The difference is amazing. You hear a lot from people who say they don’t’ want to watch TV unless it’s HD and we understand that so we are thrilled that we can offer the clearest, best picture that is available.”

CTV is now available in HD on:

The journey to high definition has been a long one and a number of changes have been made at the station to enable the switchover from standard definition to high definition.

“Watching this unfold over the last year and a half has been interesting,” said CTV Vice President and General Manager Lloyd Lewis.

CTV Edmonton is one of the first in the family to switch to high definition.

“I think we’re the fourth in the CTV network to be converted at a local level so it may seem like a ways behind the curve but it’s actually pretty much right on the curve with what’s going on right across the country,” Lewis said.

Click here to watch an exclusive web-only behind-the-scenes look at CTV's transition to HD with Carrie Doll.

Nearly 30 kilometres worth of new HD wiring had to be installed in the station. The way we gather and ingest video from the field has changed. Our photojournalists became equipped with new HD cameras. Crew has switched from beta tape to SD cards capable of handling high definition footage. Our editors are working off new operating systems. A new HD satellite dish has been installed to our old microwave truck.

“Over the last four months we basically rebuilt the station,” said Brad Hooper, CTV head engineer. “It’s been a huge undertaking.”

There is a brand new control room and even the CTV newsroom has been made over. Walls have been taken down to make the newsroom more open and modern.

Although CTV is now being broadcast in HD, the high definition feed is currently not being carried by Shaw Direct or Bell - CTV's parent company - and that’s a matter of capacity.

“It’s a capacity issue. Satellites only have so much capacity,” Lewis said.

“It takes a great deal more capacity to carry these HD signals and in some cases some providers don’t have that capacity yet so that’s a function of time and technology and if someone does have questions they should definitely call their provider and try to get a sense of when that will take place.”

The entire CTV Edmonton family invites all Edmontonians and northern Albertans, to join us for all of the day's newscasts, as we “flip the switch” and celebrate our official high definition launch on Oct. 1.