Yeah, When I hear about some the decisions that the CRTC makes I can get caught up in it just a bit too much. I'm in the Niagara region where "local" news comes from Hamilton. So, I do appreciate that I have the choice of watching local TV for free. For years growing up that's all we had, because my folks refused to pay for cable tv. Now that I subscribe to Bell AND Dish Network (NO, NOT FREE TO AIR) I find myself wondering: "Why am I Paying for these channels that also have commercials?" In theory, they're taking in revenue--twice--aren't they?
Local broadcast channels should be available for free to the masses. Even with satellite tv, I find myself watching the "main" networks more than Discovery, MTV, Much and even TSN.
I agree with you when you say that we should have a Canadian Identity, but how about some local identity too. The only local thing on most Toronto stations is the news. CHCH is E! most of the time and then 30 or 60 minutes of news, CFTO is CTV just like every ofther CTV affilliate. I flip around for the CTV news and it's Some station in Regina, not the national news. There are markets smaller than Niagara (Kingston) that have a local tv station. The CRTC rejected an application for a braodcast station out of St. Catharines, because giants like CTV, GLobal and even CITY cried that they would lose ad revenue is there was one more staion on in the area.
Yeah, my cable is through Cogeco, and I am paying more because I don't have it bundled with Cogeco Cable tv--but that will never happen. My brother is a cable contractor and even he gets frustrated with Cogeco. They took Discovery HD and put it in a separate package-that pissed him off.
