FreeHD Canada - New proposed satellite service has applied to the CRTC for a licence

**scrooloose** · 08-25-2009 12:32 PM

Bell ignores the US market because they can't sell there, simple as that. Ditto for any other Canadian service including FreeHD, if it ever comes to pass.

-Mike

**lern4483** · 08-25-2009 02:14 PM

Originally Posted by scrooloose

Bell ignores the US market because they can't sell there, simple as that. Ditto for any other Canadian service including FreeHD, if it ever comes to pass.

-Mike

Bell cant sell to the US market because the barred in doing so?
As well as all Canadian Sat cos?

**Derwin0** · 08-26-2009 08:25 AM

Originally Posted by lern4483

Bell cant sell to the US market because the barred in doing so?
As well as all Canadian Sat cos?

Canadian Satellite companies can sell in the U.S., but in order to do so, they have to do the following:
1) negoicate (and pay) for the rights to transmit their channels in the U.S.
2) blackout any programming on carried channels that do not have U.S. rights for those programs (ie. spongbob on YTV or Little Bear on Treehouse, since Nick has the U.S. rights for those). Not to mention ABC/CBS/NBC/Fox programming on CTV/Global.

Both of those pretty much kill any chance of them selling thier programming in the U.S.

**Inno** · 08-26-2009 12:23 PM

It has to do with rules set out by the FCC in the States and the CRTC in Canada. In
Canada the programming has to have a certain percentage of Canadian content......etc. etc. etc.
Essentially there are rules and regulations which make it illegal for those services to be sold out of country. For years there have been gray areas and to some degree there still are. To some, if the provider is being paid for their service and nobody is loosing revenue because of it, then I don't see a problem with it.
It's not Bell ignoring that market it's a matter of laws and probably politics.

**nelson61** · 08-29-2009 06:48 PM

Originally Posted by Inno

It has to do with rules set out by the FCC in the States and the CRTC in Canada. In
Canada the programming has to have a certain percentage of Canadian content......etc. etc. etc.
Essentially there are rules and regulations which make it illegal for those services to be sold out of country. For years there have been gray areas and to some degree there still are. To some, if the provider is being paid for their service and nobody is loosing revenue because of it, then I don't see a problem with it.
It's not Bell ignoring that market it's a matter of laws and probably politics.

.

I suspect the problem is the Canadian content provision. US and Mexico have a bilateral agreement providing extensive cross border satellite programming but US/Canada does not.

This excerpt from the US/Mexico agreement is probably the reason .

ARTICLE VI.

1. In order for DTH-FSS and BSS services to be economically viable, neither Party shall impose significant restrictions on the amount or origin of advertising and program content. In this regard, the following key principles shall apply:

1.1 Any requirements for domestic program content and/or education and public
interest programming should be limited to a modicum of the total program
channels of these multi-channel DTH~FSS and BSS systems. Any such
requirements may be met on a system-wide basis, that is, they do not need to be

met on a per-channel basis......

**joshuals** · 08-30-2009 09:43 AM

So, then, here is the question that has plagued me for years:

I have a rental in Rimouski, QC. If I had a roof antenna there, I would get zero programming from the US. But if I subscribe to Cogeco Cable, or Shaw, or Bell, almost anything available in the US is provided via those services, legally.

Yet at my home in Arizona, if I were to ask Cox Cable, or Dish, or DirecTV to add Canadian programming they'd have a hundred reasons why they couldn't/wouldn't do so. The only way to solve the problem, then, is to come in through the back door using a brokered Shaw account.

Why?

**Derwin0** · 08-31-2009 07:23 AM

Originally Posted by joshuals

So, then, here is the question that has plagued me for years:

I have a rental in Rimouski, QC. If I had a roof antenna there, I would get zero programming from the US. But if I subscribe to Cogeco Cable, or Shaw, or Bell, almost anything available in the US is provided via those services, legally.

Yet at my home in Arizona, if I were to ask Cox Cable, or Dish, or DirecTV to add Canadian programming they'd have a hundred reasons why they couldn't/wouldn't do so. The only way to solve the problem, then, is to come in through the back door using a brokered Shaw account.

Why?

Because more people in Canada want to watch American programming than people in the U.S. want to watch Canadian programming. Therefore Canadian distributors get agreements to carry American programming, and U.S. distributors (except for Cable companies located near the border) don't bother.

**Mojo** · 08-31-2009 08:04 AM

Correct.
Most Americans have zero interest in Canadian programming or programming providers

There is no market for it here.

That being said, my friends and family have no idea they are happily watching Canadian programming/Sat provider until they see a obvious Canadian commercial. Then they get this confused look in their face

**joshuals** · 08-31-2009 09:29 AM

Originally Posted by Mojo

Correct.
Most Americans have zero interest in Canadian programming or programming providers

There is no market for it here.

I can understand that the market may be somewhat small.....but with all the Canadian winter visitors and with all the Americans that subscribe to Bell/Shaw via various devious means.....

Yet I've had cable companies in towns in New Hampshire, where I formerly lived, tell me that there were FCC/CRTC rules that PREVENTED them from providing Canadian content, even if they wanted to, due to the fact that they were located too far away from the source of the programming.

Likewise, when a Dish or DirecTV hawker comes to my door, I scare them away by asking them if they provide any Canadian content, and their reply is normally something like "um....er......we CAN'T do that". It de-fuses their sales pitch in a hurry, as they haven't prepared a comeback for that question......

Am I getting too far off topic.....?

**Stargazer** · 08-31-2009 04:56 PM

While there may be more demand for Canadians to view U.S. programming, isn't there also an advantage for the Canadians in that if a service is launched there and some people in the U.S. want to view the programming, that since the population is greater in the U.S. than Canada, that they would have a larger gathering than just the Canadians vs. if someone just launched the service in the U.S. and getting some Canadian viewers? I guess we have Mexico as well that could view the satellite footprint since we are in the middle.