Brookfield - the leasing manager of First Canadian Place charges broadcasters for the use of the broadcasters' HD-2, HD-3 and HD-4 carriers.   The annual change is in excess of $16,000 per year - per HD channle, plus extras and taxes.  it is more than likely that bean-counters realized that close to $20,000 was being burned up each year and decided to shut down the HD's, which I would guess never generated $1.  BTW the main HD channel (HD-1) does not trigger the annual surcharges.

It appears that Brookfield is unique of tower-site landlords in North America.   When I last checked with Scott Fybush he knew of no other corporation that charges an additional annual rental for each HD that broadcasters use. .
Brookfield also has a usurious cost recovery formula they impose on any station that uses its (analogue) SCMO subcarrier.  But hey, it's their building and their rooftop and there is no viable alternative.  That's business.

Last edited by tvguy (November 1, 2023 10:31 pm)

Radiowiz wrote:

mjf wrote:

I noticed that "Real Rock", 88.1-HD2, is gone.  The country music HD2 on Today FM, 93.5, is also gone.

Indie 88 was recently sold, but there is still a website advertising an HD2:  https://realrocktoronto.com/

The stream is down and has been now for a while. When you go to the real rock Toronto site and click the listen now it launches a window for streaming and it says festival radio and advertises indie 88, and it shows an ad for the field trip festival in 2022. 

tvguy wrote:

Brookfield - the leasing manager of First Canadian Place charges broadcasters for the use of the broadcasters' HD-2, HD-3 and HD-4 carriers.   The annual change is in excess of $16,000 per year - per HD channle, plus extras and taxes.  it is more than likely that bean-counters realized that close to $20,000 was being burned up each year and decided to shut down the HD's, which I would guess never generated $1.  BTW the main HD channel (HD-1) does not trigger the annual surcharges.

It appears that Brookfield is unique of tower-site landlords in North America.   When I last checked with Scott Fybush he knew of no other corporation that charges an additional annual rental for each HD that broadcasters use. .
Brookfield also has a usurious cost recovery formula they impose on any station that uses its (analogue) SCMO subcarrier.  But hey, it's their building and their rooftop and there is no viable alternative.  That's business.

What's surprising the most is that the property management is knowledgeable enough in radio engineering to this point, of their billing processes. 

In Phase wrote:

markow202 wrote:

tvguy wrote:

Brookfield - the leasing manager of First Canadian Place charges broadcasters for the use of the broadcasters' HD-2, HD-3 and HD-4 carriers.   The annual change is in excess of $16,000 per year - per HD channle, plus extras and taxes.  it is more than likely that bean-counters realized that close to $20,000 was being burned up each year and decided to shut down the HD's, which I would guess never generated $1.  BTW the main HD channel (HD-1) does not trigger the annual surcharges.

It appears that Brookfield is unique of tower-site landlords in North America.   When I last checked with Scott Fybush he knew of no other corporation that charges an additional annual rental for each HD that broadcasters use. .
Brookfield also has a usurious cost recovery formula they impose on any station that uses its (analogue) SCMO subcarrier.  But hey, it's their building and their rooftop and there is no viable alternative.  That's business.

What's surprising the most is that the property management is knowledgeable enough in radio engineering to this point, of their billing processes. 

Brookfield has a knowledgeable third party contractor that oversees the rooftop transmission facilities.  I'm sure they provide input to the landlord.
 

Speaking of HD, any updates with CN Tower and Master FM?

markow202 wrote:

WPE9HAY wrote:

Makes sense to not do HD-2 or 3 or 4 if it costs that much and few people are listening.

How come Z103.5 has only an HD-1? Nice tower up in the Caledon Hills...

That tower and escarpment view almost has if not better than CN Tower coverage. 

In terms of land area, yes. In terms of population covered, no. They went HD to improve reception in Toronto.