Canada
Canada does not have any television stations that operate as "superstations" in the official sense of the term. Technically, almost every station in Canada is a superstation, as almost all local TV stations are carried nationally by one or both satellite providers, and any of these stations can be carried by any Canadian cable system, at least on digital cable. The closest Canadian equivalent to the "superstation" model is an independent station (the number of which has grown recently with the demise of E!), and to some extent the television system. Moreover, Canadian providers are able to distribute American television stations in their digital package, regardless of whether or not they are licensed superstations.
Beginning in the late 1980s, Canadian Satellite Communications began distributing BCTV from Vancouver, ITV from Edmonton, and CHCH from Hamilton, primarily for distribution by smaller cable systems throughout Canada. Coincidentally, these stations were, like Cancom, owned (or later acquired) by Western International Communications. As a result of their early availability, which predated most Canadian specialty channels, these stations (the first two now owned by Canwest, the latter by Channel Zero) continue to have a superstation-type status on analog cable in many smaller Canadian communities, and in the United States along border-area cable systems (such as Buffalo, New York/Niagara Falls, New York, Burlington, Vermont, and Bellingham, Washington).
Presently, both the aforementioned CHCH and CJON-TV in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador use slogans referring to each as a "superstation" (the channels have no corporate affiliation). However, once again, neither station has any special regulatory status at present conferring that title.
Canadian subscribers to premium movie channels The Movie Network and/or Moviepix also receive several major US superstations like KTLA and WPIX, depending on their cable provider. TBS was removed from the Canadian market when it moved to a cable only service in the US, as this would have required CRTC approval to be carried on Canadian cable. However, it has been replaced with the Atlanta feed of Peachtree TV.
Read more about this topic: Superstation
Famous quotes containing the word canada:
“I see Canada as a country torn between a very northern, rather extraordinary, mystical spirit which it fears and its desire to present itself to the world as a Scotch banker.”
—Robertson Davies (b. 1913)
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—Irving Layton (b. 1912)
“What makes the United States government, on the whole, more tolerable—I mean for us lucky white men—is the fact that there is so much less of government with us.... But in Canada you are reminded of the government every day. It parades itself before you. It is not content to be the servant, but will be the master; and every day it goes out to the Plains of Abraham or to the Champs de Mars and exhibits itself and toots.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)