Media of Canada - Cable Television

Cable Television

Cable television is a very common method of television programming delivery in Canada. Many Canadian cities have cable penetration rates of 90 per cent or more of television households.

There are currently 739 licensed cable distributors in Canada. This significant decline from over 2000 just a few years ago is attributable both to major cable companies acquiring smaller distributors and to a recent change in CRTC rules by which independent cable operators with fewer than 2,000 subscribers are no longer required to operate under full CRTC licences. (However, the CRTC does retain some regulatory authority over these operators. This is an exemption granted by the CRTC to previously licensed companies that continue to meet certain conditions, and does not mean that anybody can simply set up their own small cable company without CRTC approval.)

Major Canadian cable companies include Rogers, Shaw, Cogeco, Vidéotron and EastLink/Persona. Most Canadian cities are served by only one cable company per market; in the few cities that are served by more than one cable company, each company is restricted to a specific geographical division within the market. For instance, in Hamilton, Cogeco Cable, Mountain Cablevision and Source Cable are all licensed operators, but each has a monopoly in a specific area of the city.

However, two major companies offer direct broadcast satellite delivery as an alternative to cable: Bell TV, which is a division of BCE Inc., and Shaw Direct, which is a division of Shaw. Grey market DBS dishes can also be obtained from American services such as DirecTV and Dish Network, but as these are not licensed Canadian providers, stores that sell those packages—and users who buy them—are at risk of criminal charges.

In some remote communities in the Territories (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), cable delivery is prohibitively costly, so similar services are offered through MMDS technology.

A basic cable package in English Canada traditionally includes:

• the major Canadian commercial networks (CTV and Global),
• the English and French CBC networks, including Newsworld and RDI (the French-language Newsworld equivalent),
• the provincial educational broadcast undertaking (e.g. TVO in Ontario) (if one is available, as not all provinces have one),
• a community channel (locally produced public affairs and information programming and community events listings),
• APTN, a network devoted to Aboriginal programming,
• TVA, one of the two private French-language broadcasters in Quebec1,
• local or regional independent stations such as Citytv, CTV Two and CH,
• CPAC, which broadcasts parliamentary sessions and committee meetings, along with some political public affairs programming,
• a similar channel broadcasting the proceedings of the provincial legislature,
• American network affiliates of ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS and Fox2,
• a mixture of Canadian and American special interest channels such as TSN, MuchMusic, CNN, CTV News Channel and Showcase3.

A further set of Canadian and American special interest channels are offered as extended cable packages, which are available for additional fees. In the past, cable companies have engaged in the controversial practice of negative option billing, in which a subscriber is automatically given and billed for the new services unless he or she specifically declines them, but this is now illegal.

As well, a package of pay TV channels is also available for further fees, including movie networks such as The Movie Network, Movie Central, Super Channel and Super Écran, and American superstations such as WSBK, WPIX, WGN and KTLA (which are often affiliated with The CW and MyNetworkTV.) These services, however, require a descrambler box.

Cable companies now offer digital cable packages in most Canadian cities, including a number of channels which have been licensed exclusively for digital package distribution. Digital cable also typically includes a range of audio broadcast services such as Galaxie and Max Trax. In some markets, digital cable service may also include local radio stations; where this is offered, it has largely replaced the availability of cable FM service. Digital cable, however, is provided only if a customer chooses to subscribe to that package.

Although this is sometimes controversial, Canadian cable companies are required by the CRTC to practise simultaneous substitution when a Canadian channel and a non-Canadian channel (which is usually American) are airing the same program at the same time. Programming on an American service may also be blocked if it has significant bearing on a Canadian legal matter (one episode of Law & Order, inspired by the trials of Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka, was blocked in Canada) or if it interferes with a Canadian channel's broadcast rights (such as James Bond movies airing on Spike TV; the Canadian broadcast rights are held by Bell Media.)

Many cable companies also offer high speed cable Internet service.