The Future Of Canadian Television

The majority of Canadians receive their TV signals through cable or satellite; therefore, it would be easy to regulate access to US programming. Let's not forget that many US services are still banned from Canada, and several other US stations are available through premium packages only. It would be easy enough to implement the same measure for all US networks. With US networks effectively turned into pay-TV in Canada, a lot of Canadians would have to rely on Canadian broadcasters to watch their favourite shows. I don't have any stats at this point, but from anecdotal evidence I know that a lot of Canadians, perhaps even most Canadians, subscribe to basic cable only (even in today's digital age - the US package could be sold as a digital bundle and thus also serve as an incentive for Canadians to get digital cable, which would benefit all the Canadian diginets). Without any direct competition from US networks, Canadian broadcasters would be free to pick and choose the "real winners" of any given TV season. In fact, CTV, for example, would not have to jump right in and risk buying a show that gets cancelled within the first few weeks of the season. They could wait it out and then snatch up any shows that have proved to be ratings winners south of the border. As a matter of act, we could avoid a lot of the rubbish altogether. So many US shows are simulcast by Canadian broadcasters simply because they are widely available on basic US networks. Case in point: Kelsey Grammer's sketch show. Global only picked it up, because they felt that Canadians would watch it on FOX. Well, it was axed within a few weeks, but Global had spent good money on a show that was never meant to be. If our broadcasters were no longer "forced" to simulcast every single show from the US (good or bad), they'd have more room in their schedules for - hey, here's an idea - Canadian shows. At this point, we would also know whether they really meant it when they said, "We'd love to do Canadian shows, but we have to keep up with the Jonses in the States, and that doesn't leave us any room for Canadian shows." As I said, I can appreciate a good US show as much as the next Canadian, but I find it shameful and embarrassing that the second largest country in the world does not have an independent TV industry (on paper we may have it, but the reality is completely different). The next step would involve ensuring that all Canadians have access to all Canadian broadcasters (CH, for example, is still missing from Alberta). In other words, CBC, CTV, Global, CH, A-Channel and CityTV would have to be at the very front-end of every cable dial on every cable system across Canada. Of course, there are Canadians who live close enough to the border to pick up US signals off-air. But the quality of these signals is usually less than mediocre, and not all US networks can be received in this way. I believe this is the only (logical) solution for protecting the sovereignty of our TV industry. And, finally, let's not forget that American cable operators do not carry Canadian stations. So, why should we make theirs freely available? [Proofreader's note: this article was edited for spelling and typos on June 7, 2005]