NAFTA and dishes???

ak267 · #1 (**permalink**) 10-10-2009, 06:00 PM

I just don't get it. In an era of "free trade" why such a fuss about cross border sat-dishes?

Does it boil down to turf-wars, securing markets and protectionism???

bwaldron · #2 (**permalink**) 10-11-2009, 10:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ak267

I just don't get it. In an era of "free trade" why such a fuss about cross border sat-dishes?

Does it boil down to turf-wars, securing markets and protectionism???

It boils down to money -- most especially programming content being licensed for transmission separately in each country.

Slartibartfarst · #3 (**permalink**) 10-11-2009, 11:07 AM

To the best of my knowledge there are no limitations on sat-dish sales between the US and Canada.

bradleys · #4 (**permalink**) 10-11-2009, 12:05 PM

NAFTA was intended to help companies with free trade. NAFTA does not change anything for regular citizens (at least that I've noticed in 20+ years of traveling between USA and Canada).

Satellite Expert · #5 (**permalink**) 10-12-2009, 07:49 AM

Quote:

NAFTA does not change anything for regular citizens (at least that I've noticed in 20+ years of traveling between USA and Canada).

Except that it takes longer .. and much more hassle to go thru customs now than 50 years ago.

SamCdbs · #6 (**permalink**) 10-12-2009, 07:57 AM

No, it "boils down" to copyrights. Esentually, everything else being equal, there are 1/11th as many English speaking people in Canada as in the USA. So Canadian networks pay Canadian-sized prices for Canadian rights. They do not own the rights to most of their material in the USA or any other country. Really that simple.