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Which Canadian Stations Are Available On U.S. Cable?
I stumbled on this Wikipedia article by accident, but it's something I recall a few people asking in the past: which Canadian stations are carried on U.S. cable systems? For the most part, this only involves border cities, so there's not a widespread penetration beyond them.
I wonder what kind of an audience they get and - with all the simsub - do U.S. systems also black out the Canadian stations when they're airing the same show as an American network? What do the subscribers in Maine and Vermont think of all those French language outlets from Montreal? And why is CBC French picked up, of all places, in Boston?
Don't know how completely accurate this is, but still worth a look if you're curious.
List of Canadian television stations available on cable in the United States
- Lorne
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Re: Which Canadian Stations Are Available On U.S. Cable?
There are a significant number of people of French-Canadian descent in New England.
French-Canadian population in New England
- mace
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At one time, CBLT, CFTO and CHCH could be found on most cable systems in Western New York. Today, I think only CBLT remains and in SD only. Possibly because of HNIC? CFTO was probably dropped because their primetime schedule was an almost identical mirror of the Buffalo affilliates.
- Paul Jeffries
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RadioActive wrote:
Do U.S. systems black out the Canadian stations when they're airing the same show as an American network?
According to Wikipedia, yes. The U.S. has something called "syndication exclusivity" (or "syndex" for short), which requires American cable companies to block out an out-of-market station if they are showing the same program as a local station. Apparently it's not just restricted to non-local U.S. stations either:
"Syndex also applies to programs seen on stations in Canada and Mexico – in the Buffalo, New York television market, when CTV owned-and-operated station CFTO-DT or Global owned-and-operated station CIII-DT airs a program that is also seen on an American broadcast network, the Canadian broadcast is blacked out, or replaced with the signal of the American station carrying the same program at that time (note that this does not apply to most sports on cable, especially if they are different productions from one another, unless the league for that sport requests a blackout; Buffalo Sabres games carried on CBC Television's Hockey Night in Canada and on MSG Network can be seen on both channels)."
From what I understand, the cable companies aren't required to plug in the local signal either, so you may find yourself staring at a blank screen if you choose the out-of-market station.
PJ
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- paterson1
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Since CBC and Radio Canada have no simsub, likely would be why you see them show up on a lot of US cable. CHCH is likely picked up a fair bit in Buffalo and WNY because of proximity and little simsub in the schedule since they are independent. I am assuming cable doesn't block out their daytime retro programming, but maybe they do since there are US channels on cable with something similar?
- MJ Vancouver
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CBC Vancouver is carried on cable in Seattle, and I’ve heard of local viewers watching it for HNIC. Apparently Kraken games are carried on a premium cable channel not carried on basic, and any time the Kraken is carried on HNIC they get some viewership in Seattle via CBUT.
Not sure if this is still the case, but I’ve heard of CHEX and CKWS being carried on cable in certain parts of New York State including Rochester. Fybush might be able to confirm whether that’s still the case or if they got dropped. I’ve also heard of CBC Windsor being carried on cable in parts of Ohio, but again I’m not sure if that’s still the case.
- mace
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Simsub happens to Canadian stations on this side of the border as well. The CFTO signal replaces CKCO when there is duplicate programs running.
- MJ Vancouver
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Simsub happens to Canadian stations on this side of the border as well. The CFTO signal replaces CKCO when there is duplicate programs running.
I remember seeing this years ago in Kingston when CKWS was still a CBC affiliate; they also got CBOT Ottawa on basic cable. CKWS simsubbed over CBOT’s signal for all CBC programming.
Last edited by MJ Vancouver (May 8, 2023 8:27 pm)
- fybush
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I've noted this before, but we have never had CBC in English on Rochester cable, much to my dismay. For a few years in the early 1980s, we had CBLFT, of all things, I suppose for no better reason than because it was a decent signal at the cable headend. It was replaced by CFMT for a while and then went away. We also had CJOH for a few years, via the channel 6 transmitter at Deseronto, with picture quality that came and went with the weather.
CKWS used to have carriage as far as Syracuse and Rome, fed by microwave from the Watertown system. I think that's mostly if not entirely gone now. I have never seen CHEX carried anywhere in the US. Channel 13 (WOKR/WHAM-TV) in Rochester would have made reception over the air very difficult.
CHCH was all over western New York in the 1970s and 80s, once you got west of Rochester. It even had carriage as far south and east as Corning. I'm not sure if it was being picked up over the air or microwaved from somewhere closer. The systems in Corning and Elmira carried WKBW from Buffalo in the 1960s and into the 70s before there was an ABC affiliate (WENY-TV) in the market. It's possible CHCH was brought in along with WKBW by microwave, but I'm not certain. In any event, I don't think CHCH is on any US systems these days. Not much interest in local Hamilton/Niagara news on this side of the border.
Last edited by fybush (May 8, 2023 10:14 pm)
- Forward Power
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Re: Which Canadian Stations Are Available On U.S. Cable?
CHEX's sign-offs in the early to mid '80s mentioned carriage on a few cablesystems in NY state... this YouTube clip was uploaded by Barrie's Travis Doucette.
- canam2021
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CFTO was dropped by Spectrum Cable Buffalo because after repack they could no longer pick up their signal which is now on highband VHF. CFTO and CBLT were accessed off air. At one time CFTO was designated a significantly viewed channel on Spectrum cable in Niagara County.
Last edited by canam2021 (May 9, 2023 10:08 pm)
- Paul Jeffries
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Re: Which Canadian Stations Are Available On U.S. Cable?
CHEX's sign-offs in the early to mid '80s mentioned carriage on a few cablesystems in NY state... this YouTube clip was uploaded by Barrie's Travis Doucette.
Jerry Nurse Scrap Metal is still in business, according to Google. And their phone number is still the same, too. 
PJ
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