Roku adds 17 free live TV channels

CBC news itvlooks like
I saw a bunch of diginets too
Yep. Carriage of the actual OTA CBC is a massive copyright violation outside of the region nearest the border. This is the CBC news channel, which is free.
 
Yep. Carriage of the actual OTA CBC is a massive copyright violation outside of the region nearest the border. This is the CBC news channel, which is free.
The CBC News Channel is same one found in FTA on 119 West/C-band.
It does have frequent breaks in programming, telling you that it will return shortly.
But it does not have any geo blocking in the U.S., and the price is right.
A very good addition to your Roku offerings.
 
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The CBC News Channel is same one found in FTA on 119 West/C-band.
It does have frequent breaks in programming, telling you that it will return shortly.
But it does not have any geo blocking in the U.S., and the price is right.
A very good addition to your Roku offerings.
Upstate New York state cable has carried canadian channels since cable was invented..they just pay a copyright fee
 
Upstate New York state cable has carried canadian channels since cable was invented..they just pay a copyright fee
It was always easy to pick up over-the-air CDN stations in U.S. border areas and have them allowed on cable systems in those areas. Where it got complicated was trying to do the same in locations that could not directly receive them over-the-air because of greater distance from the Canadian border, and later issues about rights from U.S. copyright holders, sometimes on a program-by-program basis. Unlike the rest of the world, the rules have never been logical on signals between the U.S. and Canada. The games we play.
 
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The CBC News Channel is same one found in FTA on 119 West/C-band.
It does have frequent breaks in programming, telling you that it will return shortly.
But it does not have any geo blocking in the U.S., and the price is right.

As things change, it is possible some contracts have been signed to get CBC here. After all there are several International news channels that are run in the US.
 
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Upstate New York state cable has carried canadian channels since cable was invented..they just pay a copyright fee
Really they don’t pay anything. US law provides that a cable system whose headend is within 70 miles of the border, and which actually picks up the signals OTA, commits no copyright violation. Same rule applies to Mexico as well.

Outside of that border zone, retransmission of Canadian OTA channels is prohibited.
 
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Really they don’t pay anything. US law provides that a cable system whose headend is within 70 miles of the border, and which actually picks up the signals OTA, commits no copyright violation. Same rule applies to Mexico as well.

Outside of that border zone, retransmission of Canadian OTA channels is prohibited.
What about microwave links?
 
It is US copyright law. Technology has nothing to do with it. The US has simply maintained what was true on the ground when Fortnightly was still the law and cable was something that rural people had because they could not get TV other wise.

Thus if you live near or nearish to the border, cable has, and pretty much always has had, some Canadian channels. Likewise, if you go the OTA route, you can get some just OTA, as signals have no idea what side of some man-made line they are on.

However, if you go outside that zone, US copyright law applies and the US owners of the material do not allow it to be shown.
 
It is US copyright law. Technology has nothing to do with it. The US has simply maintained what was true on the ground when Fortnightly was still the law and cable was something that rural people had because they could not get TV other wise.

Thus if you live near or nearish to the border, cable has, and pretty much always has had, some Canadian channels. Likewise, if you go the OTA route, you can get some just OTA, as signals have no idea what side of some man-made line they are on.

However, if you go outside that zone, US copyright law applies and the US owners of the material do not allow it to be shown.
It was interesting to see cable TV develop in my hometown of Grand Forks, North Dakota. The only directly received Winnipeg TV channel was CKY (CTV network), when the Grand Forks cable system went on the air in 1970. Its transmitter was 25 miles south of Winnipeg, and was physically able to be received with GF Cable's 500 foot tower.
CBC from Winnipeg was a problem because they shared VHF Ch 6 with WDAY-TV in Fargo, about a 225 mile separation. In the end, CBC was linked by a microwave system tying together smaller towns between Grand Forks and the Canadian border, with a pickup point somewhere to the north but still in the U.S. I don't know what today's status is, but the reception of CBWT-CBC would definitely be bending those rules if interpreted literally.
 
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It was interesting to see cable TV develop in my hometown of Grand Forks, North Dakota. The only directly received Winnipeg TV channel was CKY (CTV network), when the Grand Forks cable system went on the air in 1970. Its transmitter was 25 miles south of Winnipeg, and was physically able to be received with GF Cable's 500 foot tower.
CBC from Winnipeg was a problem because they shared VHF Ch 6 with WDAY-TV in Fargo, about a 225 mile separation. In the end, CBC was linked by a microwave system tying together smaller towns between Grand Forks and the Canadian border, with a pickup point somewhere to the north but still in the U.S. I don't know what today's status is, but the reception of CBWT-CBC would definitely be bending those rules if interpreted literally.
Do you remember ckx out of brandon?
 
Do you remember ckx out of brandon?
Yes...that was on channel 5, and it came in late at night when skip conditions were right, usually after midnight, and only when Fargo channels 4 and 6 had signed off for the evening. (this was the case in the early 1970s...no late night TV and no VCRs!)
 
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I found the OS 10.5 there and the Roku Channel guide app. It is a nice addition to to other cable type guides. There are several available:
Airy TV
Anthym TV
Bumble Bee TV
Distro TV
F2V TV
Film On
FoxD TV
Glewed TV
Plex
Pluto TV
Redbox
Red Bull
Roku Channel
Sling
STIRR
Stremium
XUMO

I wish there was a way to DVR most of them. I think the only one that has a DVR in Stemium. We now have El Rey, which used to be on Direct TV. Now they stream for free.
 
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In the end, CBC was linked by a microwave system tying together smaller towns between Grand Forks and the Canadian border, with a pickup point somewhere to the north but still in the U.S. I don't know what today's status is, but the reception of CBWT-CBC would definitely be bending those rules if interpreted literally.
That's interesting to read that there was a microwave link to bring CBWT farther south of the border. I think at some point the cable system in Grand Forks switched over to satellite delivery using CBC's C-band master feeds because CBWT was dropped from the lineup a few years ago when CBC discontinued those feeds. I think I remember the cable operator explaining that they no longer had a feasible option to receive CBWT.

With that move, there are now no Canadian channels available on cable in Grand Forks, as CKY was taken off the lineup well over 15 years ago.
 
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I found the OS 10.5 there and the Roku Channel guide app. It is a nice addition to to other cable type guides. There are several available:
Airy TV
Anthym TV
Bumble Bee TV
Distro TV
F2V TV
Film On
FoxD TV
Glewed TV
Plex
Pluto TV
Redbox
Red Bull
Roku Channel
Sling
STIRR
Stremium
XUMO

I wish there was a way to DVR most of them. I think the only one that has a DVR in Stemium. We now have El Rey, which used to be on Direct TV. Now they stream for free.
Do they have the wrestling on El Rey like they did before?
 
That's interesting to read that there was a microwave link to bring CBWT farther south of the border. I think at some point the cable system in Grand Forks switched over to satellite delivery using CBC's C-band master feeds because CBWT was dropped from the lineup a few years ago when CBC discontinued those feeds. I think I remember the cable operator explaining that they no longer had a feasible option to receive CBWT.

With that move, there are now no Canadian channels available on cable in Grand Forks, as CKY was taken off the lineup well over 15 years ago.
I remember CKY and CKX on Minot cable

CKX went out of business
 
That's interesting to read that there was a microwave link to bring CBWT farther south of the border. I think at some point the cable system in Grand Forks switched over to satellite delivery using CBC's C-band master feeds because CBWT was dropped from the lineup a few years ago when CBC discontinued those feeds. I think I remember the cable operator explaining that they no longer had a feasible option to receive CBWT.

With that move, there are now no Canadian channels available on cable in Grand Forks, as CKY was taken off the lineup well over 15 years ago.
That is a pity, when (pre Covid) you consider all of the Canadians driving down to Grand Forks and Fargo. I noticed that CKY was dropped from the CTV FTA feeds formerly on Anik F1R (now on F3 at 119 West). Could have something to do with all of the remote Manitoba communities that previously had CTV analog translators, getting turned off when there was a chance to upgrade to digital, and nobody willing to make a future investment. Now there is no reason for CTV to send out that Winnipeg signal on C-band. Other Canadian markets still have CTV translators and other reasons to be fed in a similar manner.
 
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