Good news.

Thanks to you and hundreds of other Canadians, the CRTC has been getting an earful about the plan to deny one-third of our population access to free TV.

But we need to turn up the volume. And that's where you come in.

Please use OpenMedia's Tell-A-Friend feature to share this campaign with as many people as possible.

There are only 6 days left to crank up the protest. Letters must arrive at the CRTC by Monday, Nov. 2.

Most Canadians still don't know that 11 million people will not be able to access their public airwaves. YOU hold the key to unlocking the vault of silence the networks -- CTV, CBC and Global -- are relying upon to shut down hundreds of transmitters in 2011, cutting off free TV signals in communities across the country.

It takes only a minute to use OpenMedia's Tell-A-Friend feature to share this campaign with your friends and family. Please spread the word far and wide. We cannot do it without you.

If you haven't already, please take action and tell the CRTC this is unacceptable.

We know we can count on you to get the word out. It's only because of efforts by people like yourself that the CRTC will be persuaded to act in the public interest and not that of the TV titans.

With sincerest gratitude,

Steve Anderson,

OpenMedia.ca national co-ordinator

Subject: Cutting off small-town Canada's free TV is wrong

Dear [decision maker name automatically inserted here],

You need to tell the CRTC to rethink its approval of a plan that would cut 11 million Canadians out of access to free, over-the-air TV signals.

This is a big country with a diversity of regions and population. Canadians have always made an effort to carve out an accessible space on the TV dial where we can find stories and information by and about ourselves.

But now, because Canadian broadcasters want to cut costs, the Commission is proposing that only 29 cities continue to get free, over-the-air TV service after the transition to digital in 2011.

To leave 11 million Canadians who live in smaller cities, towns and rural areas with no other option but to pay for cable or satellite to watch even their local or regional TV stations undermines the purpose of the Canadian broadcasting system that we have built over 50 years.

This is not necessary. There are other options, including helping broadcasters to use the new digital technology to improve TV service in smaller cities and towns. This also stands to help local broadcasting: if improved service encouraged more of us to watch the local and regional stations over the air, stations in those smaller communities would be more viable. Instead, your plans virtually deliver people into the 500-channel universe where the small local stations get lost in the shuffle.

Please ask the CRTC to rethink its model for the digital transition and to find ways to use the new technology to make sure all parts of Canada are served by our public airwaves.

Sincerely,

[Your Name]

cc:
Hubert T. Lacroix, President of CBC/Radio-Canada
Ivan Fecan, CEO of CTVglobemedia
Leonard Asper, CEO of Canwest (Global TV)