HDTV Networks Inc. has applied to the country's broadcast regulator to launch a free, over-the-air, high-definition television service.

From its base in Vancouver, HDTV Networks wants to broadcast in the country's eight largest English television markets: Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Halifax.

HDTV Networks is a subsidiary of CSR Investments Inc., a private company controlled by John Bitove. CSR also controls Canadian Satellite Radio and the XM Satellite brand in Canada.

"Canadians are drastically falling behind in HDTV technology, and it is critical that as a country we deliver high-definition programming around the clock to all Canadians," Bitove said in a press release.

The company said it will broadcast a mix of original content, plus other Canadian and foreign programs.

All of Canada's major TV broadcasters operate their own HD channels (CBC/SRC has two — one in English and one in French). The CBC's free HD channels are available over the air in four cities — Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and Vancouver.

But most of the programming offered on the Canadian broadcasters' HD channels is not actually broadcast in high definition.    

The HDTV Networks proposal says all of its programming will be in high definition. "HDTV Networks is aiming to be the first all-HD Canadian network serving a national audience," the company said in a background document. 

Only one in 10 Canadian households now has an HD-capable TV set, according to an August 2006 study prepared for the CRTC. That could rise to 45 per cent penetration within five years.  

HDTV Networks' broadcast licence has yet to be approved by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.