Local TV Matters vs. Stop The TV Tax

By Mack D. Male ·

As you may know, there’s a battle going on between Canada’s broadcasters and its cable/satellite companies. The broadcasters, CTV, Canwest Global, CBC, and others, want the CRTC to impose a fee-for-carriage, alleging that their signals are being distributed without compensation. The cable and satellite companies, Rogers, Bell, Shaw, Telus, and others, view such a fee as a “tax” on their subscription fees. The CRTC will examine the issue again in policy hearings beginning November 16th.

Both sides have started to encourage supporters to get involved and to contact the CRTC directly. The cable and satellite companies have launched Stop The TV Tax, while the broadcasters have launched Local TV Matters. They’re both on Twitter too: @stopthetvtax and @LocalTVmatters. If you want to submit comments, you have until November 2nd to do so:

I like that the issue is getting Canadians involved. Here are my thoughts on the issue:

  • As I wrote back in May, I think it’s disingenuous of the broadcasters to position this as a “save local” issue.
  • If it was really about saving local programming, the broadcasters would have no problem guaranteeing that funds raised from the fee-for-carriage would go entirely toward local programming. They aren’t willing to do that.
  • Local TV doesn’t matter. Local content, reporting, and community service matter, but none of those things require a TV station.
  • Is it really a coincidence that the broadcasters only started complaining loudly about this when the economic crisis was in full swing?
  • The local stations are still available for free via antenna. If there’s a fee associated with accessing them via cable or satellite, I want the ability to opt-out (ideally they’d be opt-in).

The fee-for-carriage wouldn’t result in an incredibly large amount of money for the broadcasters, so it’s not going to solve all of their financial troubles. It’s more of a stop-gap solution. They’re still going to lose money and viewers. Isn’t it time to rethink the strategy? Focus energy on something constructive?

As I’ve said before, we need to allow sick businesses to die so that healthy, innovative ones can take their place.

  • EG

    I was understanding that the TV broadcasters are willing to forego (sp?) the mandatory carriage on cable/satellite as long as they get FFC, and that the broadcasters will let the CRTC look at their books to make sure the subscriber fees they get will indeed to go local programming…

  • http://www.ents.ca Rob Davy

    It’s the fact the broadcasters want to charge the cable and satellite companies to broadcast something that I can get for free with a $5 piece of wire stuck in the air that I don’t like.

    The Broadcasters in question make their money on ads. More people watching (because it’s easy to watch via sat/cable) = more ad money.

    Seems stupid to me…

  • http://www.kobotindustries.com bryanarchy

    well put, mack!

  • http://colinizer.com Colin

    The extra $1.06 on my satelite service bill is really annoying and is for something I don’t care about at all.

  • http://www.timwilsonphoto.com tjameswilson

    Heard a quote on Spark (CBC tech program) a while back. It was something like this:

    If they don’t adapt, old business models always fail when confronted with new technologies.

    Words to live by.

    Thanks for keeping us abreast of this issue.

  • Robert

    The sheet music industry fought hard when radio became common, but lost out to the new technology.

    More TV stations need to get into publishing on the net. I get a lot of news that way and watch TV a lot less.

    Getting on the net also bypasses the cable carriers (except for high-speed internet which I pay for anyway).

    As tjameswilson said: adapt or die.

  • rob

    I will just cancel my cable and watch everything for free on the internet, I pay enough to watch the same old crap on t.v anyways

  • marianne

    I always thought that any kind of signal that flowed around us – radio,cell-phones,etc…were always in a state of TRESPASSING. Down our streets, in our backyards, through our airspace, our walls? our skulls? In fact, aren’t certain afflictions becoming more prevalent possibly because of it? Then we are the ones needing compensation. Failing that, these companies cannot look for their “compensation” without addressing ours..and I don’t want some old model about how we okayed the TRESPASSING enmass in order that things may work. No compensation! What a load of crap!

  • fred

    this is bull shit. im on disabilaty and i dont make much money. so i will just have to cancell my cable.

  • jim

    is thjs going to be another business expense deduction for bell if so the people who were forced to pay this should get a reciept for tax purposes drpo this folish tax.

  • http://mastermax Janet Hepworth

    Enough is enough. No wonder were in a recession.
    Like the Priminister says, it’s not over till it’s over. GREED is what motivates these Broadcasters. And it’s GREED that is bringing our country to it’s knees. Stop the GREED.

  • Jo-Anne

    It seems everytime you turn around some big corporation or another is ready to take claim to our wallets. Times are hard enough for all of us right now so why not kick us while we’re down. I could rent a lot of movies for what I already pay for the privledge of watching public t.v.

  • lynn

    i pay for the services rendered, why must we the consumer always pick up the slack, we don’t have to pay for the paper the bill comes on but sooner or later someone will come up with that notion too. i do not want an extra amount added to my bill, satilite dish user here, but i do like the “local” content i receive, the “cable” companies should be paying the “local” their fair share.

  • http://artem.bynet.ca artem

    tell everyone to go to the states, get dish network or directv and watch tv without tax, and its cheaper too. ones the Canadian tv corps loose alot of money, they will try to make cheaper tv in canada without tax

  • j.scott

    im all against more taxes let alone people getting richer on my money enough is enough!!!!

  • mike munro

    There maybe real truths to this propaganda war we are being subjected to, but we as a population will not be privy to them. our best bet is to just ture off the tv and go outside. and maybe its time to put the cable companies in there place. we should be able to pick the channels we want and not the list of crap they package together. one channel $1.00 if you need 100 pay $100. if you only need 10 pay $10

  • http://localtvmatterstous.blogspot.com berkvens852

    I love the ad about the tv tax hosted by the cable/satellite companies claiming that the CRTC will impose a tv tax on consumers for local tv. This is just the cable company’s way off passing the cost off to the customer so they can continue to turn a profit off a signal they get for free.

  • http://LocalTVMatters Patricia Sawchuk

    I think its not wright for the big cable companies not to pay the local tv companies.I like watching the cvrn news at 6:oo pm and would be very upset if it was taken away from us.

  • Shane Smith

    Both sides of this are just full of crap. On one hand, you have ctv who just months earlier, plunked down 1.7b and change for the CHUM/CITY group of tv, radio and specialty stations, and now they are going broke? Yeah sure.

    Then you have the cable/sat companies who essentially doing this as a way to warm us up to a huge increase on our monthly bills, tv tax or no tv tax.

    Enough is enough, time to dismantle the crtc and allow the Americans to come in and set up shop.

    And I know that many will not like the though of the big American companies moving in but when you have the average city of 500,000 with 3-5 local stations and the 4 Atlantic Provinces with a population of 5x of that with the same number of local news outlets then you have to wonder what’s on the go.

    Down with the Canadian TV System!!!

  • John

    People are played so easily.

    Both sides are completely full of shit.

    But no matter what you do… don’t let them take away local television. Pretty easy to control the message people are being fed when all of your news comes from the same place.

  • doug r

    After the networks treated local stations like money machines and also stripped local stations bare, it’s kind of hard to feel sorry for them. That said, I wouldn’t mind paying a nickel for each local station like the cable companies paid for cable stations like ESPN.
    Don’t these same corporations own the cable channels as well?
    Waah, waah.

  • Brandy

    I can harldy justify paying what i already pay just to get discovery channel. *5 theme pack to get the best deal. everybody should just drop thier service enough to cover the cost of this tax…so if it’s ten bucks, then take ten bucks off your service…and so on. and if you are really angry then cut your service right down to just basic, you still get local tv, but you make your point as well with the crtc and the cable company. we all have a choice in this matter, we could get outside and do other things. and i don’t think all this complaining is going to do any good. after all it’s not a democracy this television thing is it…you get what you pay for, they say. so stop paying for it.

  • MikeS

    It seems to me that local TV stations are conveniently hiding the fact that they benefit hugely from their signals being carried by cable and satellite. Local TV stations reach millions more viewers than they would if they had to reach them by antenna alone. These additional viewers translate directly to extra advertising revenues due to the larger viewing audience created by cable distribution of their signals. Local TV stations claiming that their signals are being stolen with no compensation is extremely misleading if not an outright lie.

  • LaVerne

    The cable/satellite companies claiming that the CRTC will impose a tv tax on consumers for local tv is an outright lie. This is just the cable company’s way off passing the cost off to the customer so they can continue to turn a profit off a signal they get for free. I’m quite sure the cable companies would complain if I rebroadcast their signal

  • http://cholocan.com/ Cholocan

    Mack, I agree that “it’s disingenuous of the broadcasters to position this as a ‘save local’ issue”. But it’s no more disingenuous than the cable and satellite companies masking their own self-interest under the guise of an advocacy campaign. The Stop the TV Tax propaganda deliberately leaves out the fact that the fee $5-$10 fee would actually be passed on by cable/satellite companies. Ironic isn’t it? Especially considering that the tone of their campaign is all about defending the Canadian consumer. Sadly, some people out there are relying on the rhetoric as their main source of information and are being completely misled. Both sides are using the consumer as a pawn in order to advance their own cause. If the CRTC does approve this “tax”, it should come with a clause (not just a recommendation) that states the fee can NOT be passed on to cable subscribers. This issue is between the broadcasters and the cable/satellite companies – we should all voice our opinions with the CRTC to ensure it stays that way!

  • http://www.stopthetvtax.ca/bloggers-and-editorialists-react-to-the-tv-tax/ Bloggers and Editorialists React to the TV Tax « Stop The TV Tax
  • Jude Repar

    How much more can the everyday person, “the common man”, financially absorb to make up for the greed of corporations and unwise financial decisions made by those with position and power and seeming know-how? It’s almost over. The middle class has almost disappeared. The everyday person must be protected. When is this legal “stealing” going to end, these seemingly legal strategies to outwit others? When is the Canadian government going to protect the interests of the simple person who is trying to make a living and feed his or her children? We are taxed out of our minds, out of our savings, out of all proportion… it MUST be stopped.

  • Kris

    How many times has your cable/satellite bill gone up over the past year? You weren’t receiving anything more from your service but still they wanted more money from you as we were in a recession and the cost of continuing to run the business went up. They still made a significant profit this year well above the tv stations they carry for free.

    With much of the advertising dollars (the only revenue conventional TV makes) being split amongst not just the conventional tv stations but also all the specialty stations there isn’t much to go around anymore. Advertising dollars are based on ratings and for conventional TV, ratings in your broadcast region are the only ones counted. So it doesn’t matter if you have hundreds of people watching on the west coast or in Toronto if your broadcast area only covers southwestern Ontario. Those viewers and the revenue they could bring in don’t count. When the recession hit the financial problems and cracks in the system were magnified. Specialty stations make money through advertising and through cable and satellite having to pay to carry them. All conventional tv is asking is for cable/satellite to level the playing field and start paying a fee to carry them also.

    You the consumer are paying for the convenience of having channels streamed into your home. Cable and satellite pay the American stations in order to carry their signal but don’t pay for the rights to air the programs you watch on conventional tv. They get all that for free from the Canadian stations. Ask yourself this question; would you still want satellite/cable if you couldn’t watch CSI, Law & Order, House, Survivor, Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice, Soap Operas, etc. If cable/satellite don’t air the conventional network channels they also can not air the American programs that CTV & Global own the rights to. Those programs will have to be blacked out on all American stations that are airing in Canada (unless you live near a border and have an aerial and digital box convertor then you get it for free).

    I would rather pay for a Canadian station I can watch American programming on than pay for an American station that I can’t watch much on anyways. Perhaps cable/satellite should cut the American stations and start paying the Canadian stations the carriage fee instead.

  • Ruperd Murdook

    I don’t think local TV matters and it’s time to evolve from that propaganda box(or now panel) in the corner of the room. The programming on TV is just that, programming the population into the illusion that what broadcasters say is truth. It has everything to do with their profit margins and manipulation of the public and nothing to do with what’s really happening in the world.
    A few weeks ago I wrote our local TV stations and asked them why they don’t have a viewer discretion warning at the beginning of their news programs because I find the “reality” they show, much more frightening than fantasy. I haven’t heard back yet…
    Now lets all line up for our H1N1 flue shots O.K? Where’s that sheep dog of mine anyway……

  • thomas

    I am just waiting for HULU to be watchable in canada then i will say goodbye to my cable and my tv and neither the cable company or the the stations will get my money

  • Barb

    Manly P Hall said it best,

  • Corbin

    Interesting comments so far and it’s good to see I’m not the only one who can see what a farce this “save local tv” is all about. I’ve emailed CTV, Global and even the “localtvmatters” site and no one will respond to my simple question.
    How much do these Canadian networks pay the satellite and cable companies to carry their signal? As we all know, the answer is none. So ultimatly they are getting totally free broadcast of their channels to millions of viewers who would otherwise never see them. If it were not for these satellite and cable viewers, would CTV and Global be able to bring in five cents worth of advertising? Of course not…therefore if not for the fact that the Canadian networks get free deliver to the general public, they would have all went broke and shut down long ago. They owe their entire exsistence to the providers. And those are the very same ones they are now attacking.
    As for loacl programming, give me a break! other than some news what is local? Watch CTV on Sunday morning in the west…the so called local news program “Question Period” is pre-empted for what…American NFL football…go figure!

  • Jeanette Swinson

    After everything that i’ve been listening to i think that what has been going on with the cable company that with all the money they take in and put in there pockets they should start paying it to the TV stations and keep them on the air. Now enough is enough.

  • A.Ko

    I am really confused by both campaigns. I don’t care
    about local tv, and I do want cable fees to go down, especially on the specialty channels. Looks like I fit on neither side.

  • http://www.stoptvtax.ca Andrew Curry

    IT not good you whant to take moany frome us whan you guys make more moany than us if you whant more shows you use your own moany and i am not going to take this any more you have no right.

  • Tiberiusduck

    Imagine that, my tax dollars from a proposed tax/fee, going to help boost the profits of “Private Broadcasters” and an already funded “C.B.C. to the annual tune of $1,200,000,000.00”. This proposed tax/fee is nothing but “CORPORATE WELFARE”. My contempt for the C.R.T.C. and this current Federal Government is growing by the day. The C.R.T.C. is not defending the average Canadian but bending to the will of these greedy Private Broadcasters. How dare they try to steal more money out of my pockets like this. This is supposed to be a free market economy. If these Private Broadcasters can’t make it on their own, then it’s time to do what every other free market company in Canada has to do in these hard times and that is down size their companies or close their damn doors. Folks, if this tax is allowed to go through, it will set a precedent for future corporate businesses in Canada. Don’t rule out the newspaper industry lobbying the federal government next to tax your internet to give them “Corporate Welfare” also. If you think that can’t happen, just look at what is already happening in Canada with TV. If there is so much as one dollar extra put on my monthly TV bill to give these greedy broadcasters “Corporate Welfare”, I’m going to cancel my Cable subscription and I’ll go 100% “Black Market” for my TV viewing. I will never again in my life, pay another dime for Canadian TV. I have had enough of this insanity.

  • D.W.

    I don’t like that Bell Express VU has just raised my bill again before the tv tax the channels I have 3 years ago it cost $45 now the same channels cost over $80 I’m sick of them taking advantage of me they must be stopped & the government should regulate what they can charge so people don’t get taken advantage of there out of control & can not be trusted.

  • dennis

    These bailout`s should never have started,Now here is anouther industry at the public trough for a handout. I say to them, no. I wonder how much they spend on corporate wages, fancey parties and all the waste that is created in the cost of doing bussness, that could have been put away in a rainey day fund. I find that their attiude of thinking toward the future is not a healthy one. Again i say no.

  • http://msm william savage

    no tax this is costing to much

  • Jeff

    this is stupid. if i can get the local tv for free, then why the hell would i pay the cable company for something i can get for free. like local tv is barely local anymore and frankly you don’t need a ctv nova scotia, ctv nfld, ctv pei, etc. i dislike ctv anyways because frankly i hate the people on it and find it has about as much relevant information as the chronically horrid does. I say that cable companies shouldn’t carry these so called “local” channels. Frankly the only reason i watch local tv is because its the first 5 channels and its on CABLE.

  • William

    I cancelled my cable about a year ago and never looked back. My biggest complain was, when switching over to digital, the rates went way up for a basic subscription (about +25%). Plus, they force you to rent their stupid digital-converter-box excluding the option to buy it outright or to use a third-party converter. So, rather than switching back, I just called the whole thing off. As for the cutting of the pie, that’s really a matter for the lawyers not the court of public opinion. Both sides are guilty of wasting tons of money on what amounts to a smear campaign.

  • http://firefox Evelyn

    I think this is really bullshit. For these people to do the things that they think they can get away with. These people need to be looked after for what they are doing and if not stop i`m canceling my cable.Why should we pay for there cable. Bullshit that`s what i have to say.

  • webterractive

    There are both pros and cons to these two groups. The broadcasters are just looking for another source of revenue and cable/satellite companies are looking to establish monopolies that would forece everyone to pay for TV. As of now I get OTA digital TV and Shaw doesn’t like that as my mailbox is inundated with their ads for their inferior service. As for carriage fees well the cable/satellite companies call it a tax, but that’s what it is to them as as all good business love passing the cost to consumers. I look forward to purchasing a Dish Network system as I rather pay an American business than some monopoly that can’t even tell the truth.

  • EM

    Confusion for the ‘regular’ person who watches tv. One hand is saying they pay the locals but mismanage the funds, the other hand says they get no money. I understood that if something is said about another ‘company’ in public (on tv) that is has to be truth or viable otherwise it’s considered slanderous. Both are saying completely different things both just as damaging. I’m also frustrated to only find out (via the tv) that ‘our comments’ to CRTC are cut off after Nov 2nd. I only ‘found out’ about my ability to say something on Nov 1st. Too confusing, way too confusing.

  • http://fayfiset@hotmail.com bruce fiset

    you can purchase at the source a t.v. antenna for under 50.00 simply remove you sat dish and install the new one and you will get 20 to 25 tv channels for free. problem solved.

  • Steve

    The only “tax” going on here is the petulant and greedy cable companies threatening to raise their already inflated rates if they don’t get their way. The fact that they can’t be honest about this little fact proves that they are in the wrong here and they know it. FACT.

  • Dave

    I would argee with the local television stations if they were not collecting thier operating revenues from advertizers. They are not like the commercial free stations that must rely on revenues from the cable companies to stay in business.

  • http://stopthetvtax.ca TERRY WILSON

    i say no to tv tax

  • http://stopthetvtax.ca TERRY WILSON

    i say no to the tv tax

  • Victor Taylor

    Here is the way I see this. The CRTC wants the cable companies to fork over 1.5% of their revenue to the broadcasters to enhance Canadian content. Instead of eating this revenue loss, the cable company wants to pass it off to us.

    The broadcasters are not being forced to actually do what the CRTC wants (ie. increase Canadian content) and they are making no promises to do so. This is because they know that if they increase Canadian content their viewers will decine since, by and large, Canadian content is crap. Therefore, the end result is that the broadcasters profit from this whole thing while doing nothing to enhance either local or Canadian content. The cable companies are essentially only breaking even by passing the CRTC “tax” onto us.

    Don’t get me wrong, I think that the cable companies have been robbing us for years and I’m no fan of theirs but on this one, I’m on their side.

  • http://stopthetvtax.ca Trina Medeiros

    I think our Canadian government sholud be ashamed
    of their selves. The rich get richer and everyone seems to always take from the in between and the poor. ALL large companies and Corporations should pay more taxes and not be allowed to claim as much on their taxes. Also STOP the TV tax and make those “****” cable companies pay out more on taxes. Why is it that we as Canadian’s have no say anymore where OUR money goes and only the Governments and courts decide. What’s happening to our Country. Shame on Them…..

  • Andrew

    I live in Toronto and gave up my $86.00 a month cable last Sept and bought a indoor tv antenna with amplifier for $45.00 and am happy with my 6 local HD tv stations.
    Don’t let Mr Cable or Ms Satellite tell you you need them to get HD TV, its free right out of the air.
    Check it out and keep your money in your pocket.

  • LC

    “Ask not what you can do for your government but rather what can your goverment do for you” LC
    The government is demanding too much from its citizens! Ever since it started charging for service charges! Why do you think we pay taxes ? Income tax, property taxes & the big LIE the gst! This is not to mentioned ALL the other prexisting taxes! Time has come for people to realize and do something about this!
    A few years back I became aware of a troubling fact while working for the city of ottawa. I learned that the federal government was stealing water from the city of ottawa, in the order of millions of dollars. It never appeared in the newspapers since it was settled out of court! This goes to what extent the government has gone corrupted and at all levels. The buck is just passed from one hand to the other( one party in power to the other). This is factual ! Astounding?
    Let us not forget that a government that operates in a surplus implies that it is profiting from its citizens! This is the major reason come at the end of each fiscal year the government is in a frenzy to spend all of its budget in order to justify replenishing itself. But in the meanwhile it finds ways to find new taxes, increase prexisting ones & have the audacity to add service charges and then slap you with the BIG LIE the gst. When are people going to realize that time has come for ACTION!
    While the 2 most important aspects of society
    (Education & Medicare) are being are being overshadowed by government fallacies or better known as PROPAGANDA such narcotics and the war overseas!
    pay the tv tax, I THINK NOT!

  • Terry Shiddle

    Rich Get Richer Poor get poorer.

  • Shannon

    If we are bring forced to pay additionally for the Canadian stations, will we also FINALLY be offered the opportunity to choose which channel we watch a broadcast on – if I tune in to NBC – can I now have the choice of not watching the GLOBAL or CTV feed? If I choose to watch the Superbowl – will I still miss all the US commercials or can I now watch the network that I have chosen to watch. It frustrates me to no end when I am watching the beginning of a US channel and the Canadian channel feed cuts in – often times further along in the program than the original feed – it blips back and forth. If you are going to force the “tax” on consumers, and we are esstentially paying for each and every channel being offered on satellite or digital cable, then we should actually receive the services we pay for. If I do not choose to watch a Canadian station broadcast – why is it being forced on me?

    Your comment: “If there’s a fee associated with accessing them (local networks) via cable or satellite, I want the ability to opt-out (ideally they’d be opt-in).” ABSOLUTELY – pay for what you want. If I want salad instead of fries – I have an OPTION. If I want satellite over digital cable – I HAVE AN OPTION – if I want NBC over Global or CTV….sorry, no choice. In virtually every aspect of our lives we have choices – now we will be forced to pay a tax for a services that some of us do not even want. Would you be okay with being charged $10 a month for long distances calls that you NEVER make – just in case you might want to one day? Would you pay for food that you won’t eat to “support” local growers (that being said – I choose to buy from local growers where possible – but I won’t buy eggplant if I don’t like eggplant – you get the gist). As I said above – I’m okay with paying for what I want – providing I GET what I PAY FOR. Seems so simple in my mind….

  • Robert

    Interesting to watch the CRTC decision passed down yesterday. They told the cable companies and the local stations (ie. Canadian networks) to get together, talk about it and work out their own deal. The CRTC does not want to make and enforce rules that nobody really wants. The person reading the decision said something to the effect of “if the local stations want to be paid for their signal then stop providing it for free.”

  • Sharon Perry

    All the Cable companies charge outragious amounts for their “services”. How can we tell? We see it all over the city. We see huge Cable Company buildings fully fronted with tinted glass. All of them flaunting their arrogance. Some are even located in prime (very expencive) areas of the city like Downtown. The CRTC (the “balless wonders” that they are) should force the Cable companies to share the wealth out of existing charges to the customer, and stay the hell out of my pocket. I pay enough for “packages” that give me very little choices! ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!
    Share the wealth, you greedy pigs!!!!

  • Aaron

    So many of you, are naive. If it wasnt for cable companies, half the country could not watch local programming (no matter how lame it is). The Cable company provide business for local tv, and vice versa. CTV, and friends cant run the business properly, and they want free money. i call BS. I support the cable companies 100% on this one. If the fee for carriage, happens, then i would like the option of NOT paying for CTV,CBC, A, Global. I can live without these poorly run stations.

  • Larry Laba

    I say NO to TV tax.

  • Elizabeth MacLean

    I say that is enough.I say no to taxes!!!

  • James Nielsen

    I say no to tv taxes. Its time for the none producers of this country to show results that help the nation. Put your hands back in your pockets, and earn your own way through this world. If you can’t pick up a shovel & work like the rest of us true taxepayers.

  • db

    I assuredly speak for thousands of viewers who are not associated with local televisions, Unions or Monopolies.

    Local TV is not needed in Canada.
    We have many wasted useless stations, including French ones, in an English speaking country. If the French (and every other nationality) do not want to amalgamate and assimilate, GO TO ANOTHER COUNTRY! The ENGLISH speaking taxpayers (majority) surely do not want you.

    While most of CRTC funding goes to Quebec & Ontario (for smut films & junk), the rest of the country is ignored & underfunded in comparison.
    No matter how much French is crammed down our throats, the majority are not willing to accept or fund.
    In the USA media fund themselves, without constantly being propped up with taxpayer money.
    Are Canadians so insecure they cannot fund themselves without sticking their pathetic hands out? Why should my taxes prop up the smut & junk we see turned out in Canada?

    The CRTC should bring in American up-to-date programs instead of constant old reruns & leftovers.

    We need more AMERICAN movie channels and A LOT LESS NOISY COMMERCIALS! The TV content Canadians are subjected to is disgraceful.

    I vote NO to local Television. NO MORE TAX DOLLARS FOR YOU.

    The majority of non-associated taxpayers feel the same but do not bother to write the CRTC.

  • jeff

    DB you are completely wrong. It has nothing to do with languages or cultures and frankly were not America, they have a soup pot assimilation and we have a diverse culture. the local TV “tax” is pretty much just English channels such as ctv. I find the fact that local doesn’t mean local. for example theirs a ctv Atlantic not ctv Halifax ctv Shelburne ctv Fredericton etc. the local part is like maybe a mention of a small event. Like seriously have you turned on CTV at all.

    The majority of the stuff is American.

    I do agree with one thing though and that is that most tv shows made using Canadian tax money is garbage, although there are a few good ones such as degrassi,North of 60, flash point, and bob and doug Mackenzie.

    finally you obviously don’t talk for most tax payers your ignorance to other cultures proves it again and again.

  • M Blair

    The local broadcasters are blowing smoke. The fact of the matter is that you can have these channels free over the air for years. They should be thanking the cable companies for cleaning up the signal and in doing so, attracting advertisers to thier realm (maybe the cable companies should charge them). The cable compaines are NOT a not for profit organization and do proffit from the business, however there is a huge amount of overhead to keep the system going. Do you people think that content is free? Cable companies pay millions of dollars to gain the channels that entertain you everyday. the average cost for cable is approx 65.00 per month, just over $2.00 per day…I bet you spend that on coffee…hmmm coffee companies must be sticking it to us too. Local TV is looking for a cash grab at the expense of the canadian TV viewer to bring more american content that we already recieve to thier particular dial.

  • D Agnew

    M Blair – Shaw Direct charges less than $.15 per channel per subscriber to cable companies, how the hell does that add up to paying millions per year?

  • bd

    I agree. It’s not like the cable companies take the free broadcasted content and sell it to us or anything. An extra fee would be fine.

  • Anonymous

    After this matter happened, Local cable operator had reduced their price.. but most of the users like to go for Dish network. Which gives extra channels and better results than Local cable.
    Openbox S10

  • Anonymous

    After this matter happened, Local cable operator had reduced their price.. but most of the users like to go for Dish network. Which gives extra channels and better results than Local cable.
    Openbox S10