Hey Everybody:

My neighbour owns a condo in Flordia, and subscribes to a Canadian satellite dish when he resides there during the Winter months. He tells me that he uses a satellite company called Freeway Support (http://www.freewaysupport.com/).

For those who are interested in Canadian Classic TV channels like CTS, DejaView, Prime TV and TV Land Canada, can find all the information at Freeway Support (http://www.freewaysupport.com/).

I just thought this could be useful for you. :)

I went to the website you mentioned. From what I read, unless I misunderstood the service is for Canadians only as far as Canadian TV goes. Unless of course an American lives in Canada and wants his American channels then they can help you out.

As far as those living in the US who want to enjoy CBC, CTV, MuchMusic, CITY, etc....unless you visit Canada and open up an address at the post office and have the bill sent there ( or have it mailed to a friend's house in Canada and tell the satellite folks you live there), then you are pretty much out of luck.

On a similar level to this, I know some who do "fake an address" in order to receive "local" channels from another state. I live in Colorado, the family down the street moved here from Baltimore last year. They have Direct TV. They didn't want to watch the Denver/ Cheyene TV channels. They never told Direct TV they moved out of Baltimore so as far as Direct Tv is concerned they are still "allowed" to get Baltimore local TV though they live in Colorado now. They use the autopay route and have the bill sent to a former neighbor back in Baltimore.

However if something goes wrong with their system or if DirectTV starts spot beaming local channels ( which I think they do in small markets ) then they will lose Baltimore TV.

Frankly I don't think its worth it.

Originally posted by sally mander
I went to the website you mentioned. From what I read, unless I misunderstood the service is for Canadians only as far as Canadian TV goes. Unless of course an American lives in Canada and wants his American channels then they can help you out.


According to my neighbour, the services are available to everybody. His bill is paid directly to the company, with no hassles. Also his brother-in-law who is Americian, and lives in San Franscisco, California has a Canadian Dish as well. If you click here (http://www.freewaysupport.com/fs_services_fees.html), this should give more information on how to suscribe to the programming. :)

I have a good friend of mine who is really into broadcast law, whats legal or not as far as the FCC, Neilsens, etc... go.

I showed her this thread and here is what she said..

"...This is very interesting. I really can't say this is legal or not but considering the fact that CTV, Global, and many other Canadian networks/channels DO quite often show American shows chances are this will change since many of the US Networks are funny as far as exclusive rights and such."

"...this reminds me of the early days of satellite when folks, say if you live in downtown Phoenix, were able to pick up "local" TV signals out of Erie, Pennsylvania and Boston. The serivce was called "PrimeTime 24" and offered the network channels at various time zones. However many local stations cried foul and had the governement outlaw the practice. At least those who live within 50-60 miles from a TV station.

"..chances are very few people suscribe to this service. But once it catches on, I am quite sure the goverment will get involved and stop the practice, or at least have all the American shows seen on Canadian TV blocked out the way many local TV stations do now when they don't want another channel such as TBS, WGN, KTLA etc...airing the same show as they do."

I asked her about the "Canadian snowbirds"issue.

"..sure there is a market there. But there is a "market" out there for those who want to watch out of town TV stations ( example..Dallas TV in Buffalo ), but they can't since that is not legal. Sooner of later those who live in Florida, Arizona, Cailfornia, the local stations there will have a say at what shows you can/can't watch on these dishes."

To sum it up...she says those who want to get Canadian channels on dish in the states, no problem..for now. But sooner or later one of the governements ( either the US or may even be Canada ) will put a stop to it or at least limit to what you can see to the point where the service won't be worth it.

Well, it just goes to show that people are fed up and will go to great lengths to get what they want. If governments were smart, they would leave people alone. Just look at all the file sharing that is "destroying" the music industry. The dish networks should be more concerned about hot cards than people viewing programming outside of your local area. Why can't we have open access to the channels we want as long as we pay for them?

Originally posted by DandR
Well, it just goes to show that people are fed up and will go to great lengths to get what they want. If governments were smart, they would leave people alone. Just look at all the file sharing that is "destroying" the music industry. The dish networks should be more concerned about hot cards than people viewing programming outside of your local area. Why can't we have open access to the channels we want as long as we pay for them?

Good point, DandR. It seems to me that both U.S. and Canadian governments are a little worried over some cross-border competition. A few American friends of mine are confused on why there isn't any Canadian cable channels available to Americans, while Canadians get quite a few cable channels from the U.S.

Maybe this will send a clear message to both the FCC and CRTC, that consumers are sick and tired of their governments telling them what they can watch and what they cannot watch. :mad:

Originally posted by DandR
The dish networks should be more concerned about hot cards than people viewing programming outside of your local area. Why can't we have open access to the channels we want as long as we pay for them?

You would think !!!

Both Direct Tv and Dish Network is beased in Denver. A friend of mine used to work there and they for some reason are more concened about "whose is getting the local channels illegally" than stealing smart cards, etc....

I agree that we should be able to watch anything we want, however thanks to Neilsen and the FCC, we cant.

The FCC doesn't allow cable systems to carry CBC, CTV, etc... unless its located near the border (Buffalo, Detroit, Burlington,VT).

I believe channels that are from other countries that do get played in the US like MuchMusic (though they are now known as FUSE in the US) and BBC America, though they may provide the programming the channel itself is American.

FOX I have been told (seen a few messages in here about it ) is very funny on who sees their stations. They have a rule that forces cable systems to carry only one Fox, unless of course the other Fox is owned by them.