To download or preview a program:

1. Go to acm.telvue.com.
2. Log in using the login and password given to you by CACTUS.
3. Click "Accept" on the disclaimer page.
4. Click the "Content" tab along the top.
5. To see just CACTUS member content, click "Quick Search".
6. Type "CACTUS" in the Search field and "Click Search".
7. All programs that have a tag of "CACTUS" are displayed. Double-click the name of the program you're interested in.
8. Information about the program is displayed. You can even preview it. Click "Download". It will be encoded in MPEG-2 format

Click here to return to the Program Sharing page.

There are three steps to submit a program to the Community Media Distribution Network (CMDN) server:

Save your program in MPEG-2 format.

MPEG-2 converters have different options. Click here for the CMDN MPEG-2 standards. This standard was chosen because it is compatible with as many automated television playback systems as possible.

Post info about the program on the CACTUS site:

1. Log in to this site using your CACTUS login and password (if you haven't already).
2. Either: Click "Create Content" on the Navigation bar to the left and click "Program Exchange" or use this link: Program Exchange.
3. Fill in the program information fields (name, description, and so on). Select "MPEG-2" as the format. Select the province or territory where the program was made and make sure your description tells others why it might be relevant to their viewers. Copy your description so that you won't have to retype it in step 10 below.
4. Click Submit. You will now see your program listed on the "Program Sharing" page.

Upload your program to the CMDN web site:

1. Go to www.cmdn.tv.
2. Log in using your CACTUS login and password.
3. Click "Accept" on the disclaimer page.
4. Click the "Upload" tab at the top.
5. Click "Add Files" at the bottom.
6. Click "Start Upload".
7. When the status field reports that your file is 100% uploaded, click the "Content" tab along the top.
8. Click "Import Content" at the left.

OTTAWA (July 13, 2011) After the digital TV transition comes to Canada this summer, tens of thousands of Canadians will likely lose free TV signals as broadcasters shut down analog TV transmitters and don’t replace them. The Canadian Association of Community TV Users and Stations (CACTUS) has launched a website to help those communities take their TV signals—and their local communications infrastructures—into their own hands.

“More than 100 communities in Canada already maintain their own broadcasting towers and retransmit TV signals to residents for a fraction of the cost of cable or satellite,” says Cathy Edwards of CACTUS. “The communities slated to lose CBC, Radio-Canada and private network signals have options that we can help them explore.”

To visit the CACTUS site, go to: http://cactus.independentmedia.ca/node/437.

The Canadian broadcast regulator, the CRTC, has ruled that broadcasters must upgrade TV signals to digital or stop broadcasting in 30 Canadian cities starting September 1. These include provincial capitals, cities with a population of more than 300,000 and/or cities with more than one local station. As a result, sixteen cities will lose free CBC and/or Radio-Canada signals. Hundreds more communities outside these 30 cities may lose free TV signals over the next few years if broadcasters decide not to replace analog transmitters when they reach the end of their useful lifespans.

“Digital TV is being welcomed around the world as a way of improving picture quality and providing more, not less, free TV” Edwards points out. “But in Canada, some viewers actually stand to lose from the transition if communities don’t step in. What most people don’t realize is that digital transmitters can be used to multiplex TV, radio, wireless Internet and cell phone service from the same towers, for a fraction of the price that these services used to cost separately.”

Ottawa (March 11, 2011) In a landmark ruling announced last week, Bell has been asked to carry Canada’s seven independent community TV channels as part of its basic service. These seven are among 43 local channels the CRTC has asked Bell to carry following the upgrade of customer set-top boxes from MPEG2 to MPEG4, which should be complete by September of 2012.

The Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS) is delighted with this decision. Catherine Edwards, spokesperson, said, “This is the first decision that the CRTC has made since 2002 to encourage the distribution of truly community-based television programming services.”

While there were once approximately 300 cable-administered “community channels” available to Canadians in most communities having over 10,000 residents, that has changed in the last decade. Edwards explained, “The content on those channels has been both professionalized and regionalized. Staff produce most of it, often with no input from the community. They’re no longer public-access platforms. Even worse, the majority of the production studios in rural areas have been closed. On many of these channels, Canadians are seeing the same “community” content province-wide, distributed from big hubs like Toronto”.