#265729 - 22/09/2005 17:25
TiVo service supported in Canada now
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 12/11/2001
Posts: 7738
Loc: Toronto, CANADA
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Just in case anyone missed it (I did), TiVo is now officially supporting their service in Canada. With the latest software updates you can supply a Canadian postal code and pick from Canadian lineups for data.
Neither TiVo nor any of its partners are distributing TiVo boxes in Canada yet though. You have to buy the box in or from the US.
This makes me happy, but I'm still not going to buy a standalone. I think tghe price with lifetime subscription is a good deal, but I can't see the usefulness of dropping down to a single tuner. I'm using two tuners with my SageTV box right now and feel I might need a third.
The other thing that has me worried (about TiVo) is the new feature they've added which allows copyright owners to control their intellectual property on your device. They can choose to flag something for deletion that you've had saved for months, put time-limit restrictions on how long you can keep a recorded program as well as prevent you from recording specific programming.
This all may be a little too little, too late. Now if only DirecTV were available in Canada (screw CanCon regulations).
Bruno
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#265730 - 22/09/2005 17:29
Re: TiVo service supported in Canada now
[Re: hybrid8]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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I'm sure that it has something to do with the fact that DirecTV has dropped TiVo. Their new box is almost out the door. They're not desupporting the DirecTiVos (yet), but they soon will not be selling them anymore, and I imagine that was by far the largest part of TiVo's revenue. Expanding the market seems to be about the only option.
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Bitt Faulk
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#265731 - 22/09/2005 19:01
Re: TiVo service supported in Canada now
[Re: hybrid8]
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addict
Registered: 02/08/2004
Posts: 434
Loc: Helsinki, Finland
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Will this work if your TIVO is in the USA but you subscribe to a Canadian satellite service? (screw the FCC  )
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#265732 - 22/09/2005 19:11
Re: TiVo service supported in Canada now
[Re: petteri]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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Um, the FCC has no authority over satellite providers.
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Bitt Faulk
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#265733 - 22/09/2005 19:21
Re: TiVo service supported in Canada now
[Re: wfaulk]
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addict
Registered: 02/08/2004
Posts: 434
Loc: Helsinki, Finland
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True, but technically I don't really have the authority to view content that hasn't been licensed for broadcast in the USA, esp. content that is broadcast by my local providers. But in any case I have no idea how Tivo runs it's service and if they would "let" you punch in a Canadian postal code if I subscribe to Tivo from the USA.
Edited by petteri (22/09/2005 19:22)
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#265734 - 22/09/2005 19:23
Re: TiVo service supported in Canada now
[Re: petteri]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 12/11/2001
Posts: 7738
Loc: Toronto, CANADA
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I think it would work fine. I'm sure you can type whatever zip code you want right now regardless of where you are. AFAIK they don't check your billing address against your TiVo lineup Zip/Postal code. It's all the same to them, they're just feeding you different data out of the same database.
Bruno
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#265735 - 22/09/2005 19:24
Re: TiVo service supported in Canada now
[Re: wfaulk]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 12/11/2001
Posts: 7738
Loc: Toronto, CANADA
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I wish it was the same up here. But the CRTC has their hands all over everything. And being lobbied by Bell and Rogers there's no way anyone else could squeeze in with foreign service.
Bruno
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#265736 - 23/09/2005 00:47
Re: TiVo service supported in Canada now
[Re: wfaulk]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 05/01/2001
Posts: 4903
Loc: Detroit, MI USA
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Quote:
Um, the FCC has no authority over satellite providers.
I thought the FCC was in charge of what mediums used which range of the radio spectrums (including satellite). Granted, that's not any sort of "content"or decency authority, but they dictate how much bandwidth a technology has to play with.
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Brad B.
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#265737 - 23/09/2005 02:38
Re: TiVo service supported in Canada now
[Re: SE_Sport_Driver]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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I could be wrong, but I don't think they even have any authority over that, as they're pretty much concerned with transmitters, and the transmitters are a little out of their jurisdiction. Even if they do, it's hardly what was meant.
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Bitt Faulk
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#265738 - 23/09/2005 15:13
Re: TiVo service supported in Canada now
[Re: wfaulk]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 05/01/2001
Posts: 4903
Loc: Detroit, MI USA
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True dat.
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Brad B.
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#265739 - 23/09/2005 18:48
Re: TiVo service supported in Canada now
[Re: SE_Sport_Driver]
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addict
Registered: 02/08/2004
Posts: 434
Loc: Helsinki, Finland
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When I said "screw the FCC " I was trying to say that I don't like how it is "illegal" to subscribe to a Canadian satallite system from the USA. I was thinking about this article: LA Times (via freepress) I'm still not sure exactly what laws are involved or who is charged with enforcing them. I think it is the FCC but I'm not 100% on that. Kinda funny how some canadians want more US programming and some americans want more Canadian/International programming. I subscribe for the French language channels, live Formula 1 coverage and better hockey news(lots of good that did me last season...) among other things.
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#265740 - 23/09/2005 20:29
Re: TiVo service supported in Canada now
[Re: petteri]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 05/01/2001
Posts: 4903
Loc: Detroit, MI USA
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I'm lucky enough to get Canadian hockey coverage here in Detroit (Ontario is so close the signals carry) and nothing beats CBC hockey coverage. So I know what you mean. Even though I disagree with how the Canadian government funds about $1 billion a year to the CBC and allows it to compete against privately owned Canadian stations, in effect trying to run them out of business, all while collecting advertising revenue, they still have my heart when it comes to Wings games!  To the FCC's credit, they are A LOT more "hands off" when it comes to programing than Canadian authorities. And like was mentioned, they don't even get involved with content issues unless something is broadcast OTA. Sure, on Canadian TV you see more boobs and hear more swearing, but Canada demands a certain percentage of all broadcasting be Canadian based (they demand that all Canadian radio station play a certain percentage of Canadian artists too.) And get this, they had no problem allowing Al Jezerra (you know, the station that hates the West and shows all the decapitaion videos because they "just happen" to get all the videos sent to them) but it took YEARS of complaining by a handful of Canadians to allow Fox News into Canada. There were more concerned about a "Right leaning news network" then a Jihad propaganda machine. My Canadian buddies and I talk about this all the time. So, while it may be true that the FCC doesn't allow you to buy Canadian satellite equipment, I think it's more about those satellites not having the authority to beam there signal into the USA than it is about trying to control what you watch. Likewise, DirecTV wasn't authorized to broadcast into Canada so people there couldn't buy DirecTV equipement. But what they started doing was importing the gear and hacking the cards. It wasn't even illegal until very recently. So they were "stealing" a signal that didn't even have the authority to be broadcasting there. I always thought it was kind of interesting. But IIRC, DirecTV finally convinced Canadian authorities to make it illegal to steal their service because a lot of those "hacked" cards were coming to the USA by the thousands. I guess it's a matter of respecting borders. I doubt any country in Europe would like if we started filling their skies with radio signals either. But because of the nature of the signal's coverage area, some parts of neighboring countries do get the signal.
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Brad B.
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#265741 - 24/09/2005 10:01
Re: TiVo service supported in Canada now
[Re: SE_Sport_Driver]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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Quote:
Al Jezerra (you know, the station that hates the West and shows all the decapitaion videos because they "just happen" to get all the videos sent to them)
If you were interested in having your US-based international incident shown, would you send it to CNN (or Fox News or CBS or ABC or NBC -- it's not our fault that we have more news outlets) or would you send it to the BBC or CBC or other foreign news source or your local podunk news station? I think you'd send it to the biggest source where you could still see it reported on your TV. And even if you sent copies elsewhere, too, who would get it first? Now I want you to think about how they "just happen" to get the videos again.
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Bitt Faulk
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#265742 - 24/09/2005 10:30
Re: TiVo service supported in Canada now
[Re: wfaulk]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 05/01/2001
Posts: 4903
Loc: Detroit, MI USA
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Quote:
Quote:
Al Jezerra (you know, the station that hates the West and shows all the decapitaion videos because they "just happen" to get all the videos sent to them)
If you were interested in having your US-based international incident shown, would you send it to CNN (or Fox News or CBS or ABC or NBC -- it's not our fault that we have more news outlets) or would you send it to the BBC or CBC or other foreign news source or your local podunk news station? I think you'd send it to the biggest source where you could still see it reported on your TV. And even if you sent copies elsewhere, too, who would get it first? Now I want you to think about how they "just happen" to get the videos again.
And they "just happen" to be on scene for nearly every car bomb - before the bomb goes off - in Iraq with cameras rolling too.
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Brad B.
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#265743 - 24/09/2005 10:36
Re: TiVo service supported in Canada now
[Re: SE_Sport_Driver]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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Do you have any evidence of that fact? I've never heard it before.
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Bitt Faulk
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#265744 - 24/09/2005 15:25
Re: TiVo service supported in Canada now
[Re: wfaulk]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 05/01/2001
Posts: 4903
Loc: Detroit, MI USA
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My appologies to Bruno for getting this thread so Off-Topic from his original post..
Quote:
Do you have any evidence of that fact? I've never heard it before
I'm digging through old news articles because most of this is about a year old.
This is from the Arabic newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat, around Nov. 24th of 2004:
Quote:
Iraqi security investigators have revealed that Al-Zarkawi’s right hand man Omar Hadid was a member of Sadam Hussein’s personal body-guards unit. Omar Hadid later joined Al Qaeda and was trained in Al Qaeda’s Afghanistan camps. Omar is the brother of the manager of the Baghdad office of Al-Jazeera news channel, which was closed three month ago.
The investigators also revealed that Omar led the terrorists in their fight for Felujah against the U.S. and Iraqi forces. Further, they suspect that he is still in Felujah. They also said that he had left Saddam’s service about 10 years ago to join Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. Omar then left Afghanistan for Pakistan after the fall of the Taliban in 2001. Omar then returned to Iraq shortly before the war.
The sources also confirmed that Omar is the brother of Hamid Hadid the manager of Al-Jazeera news Channel office in Iraq. The Al-Jazeera office in Baghdad was closed three months ago because of their biased broadcasting, and inciting violence in the land. Omar’s second brother was killed with the rest of his family during an air attack on their house. This attack took place two hours after Omar visited his second brother’s home. We later tried to contact Hamid Hadid in Baghdad and Doha (Qatar’s capital) to confirm this information but to no avail.
I found references to a May 11, 2003 article of a mob of Iraqis attacking an Al-Jazeera truck because they accused them of supporting the fallen regime and the insugency, but the article is no longer available at the Guardian UK site.
A July 25th, 2004 story from CNN reporting Iraqi authorities considering banning Al-Jazeera from Iraq because of their suspected ties to the bombings is also showing a "file not found". I guess Al-Jazeera WAS banned in January of 2004, but that was only for broadcasting content that was considered "counter productive" to the US installed government. At the very least, they were accused to citing violence in the country in all of the reports later that year.
A more recent story (though not what I was referring to) on the BBC about Al-Jazeera ties to Al-Qaeda. Actually, the story dates back to 2001.
Still searching... the London bombings keep coming up as a more recent story.
///EDIT: (This part was writen while Bitt was posting his... didn't read his till after and he didn't read mine until after this was posted:)
Either way, they were merely accusations so I don't know how much hard proof there will be. The Iraqis at least thought so. But regardless, it's interesting that the CRTC saw Fox News as a thread and saw no problem with Al-Jazeera. For the record, I don't think any stations in Canada actually carry Al-Jazeera yet. The CRTC, last I read, was going to let stations carry it, but put various restrictions on it and said the cable companies would be responsible to make sure they're enforced. I guess it wasn't worth the trouble for the cable companies.
Edited by SE_Sport_Driver (24/09/2005 15:49)
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Brad B.
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#265745 - 24/09/2005 15:47
Re: TiVo service supported in Canada now
[Re: SE_Sport_Driver]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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By the way, I have virtually no experience with Al-Jazeera. I'm not defending them, really. They well may be harboring terrorists, though I doubt it. I just have never seen any evidence that they're anything other than a (perhaps overly) nationalistic news source. And your implied accusation seemed to have no founding.
There's also a well-received documentary called "Control Room" about Al-Jazeera. I don't know that much about it, either, but I do get the impression that it wasn't found to be a terrorist organization and that it's more of an actual documentary than, say, "Fahrenheit 9/11". (Which, no matter which side of the issue you're on, is not a documentary based solely on the fact that it's obviously a point of view that found facts and other points of view to support it, while ignoring other facts and points of view.)
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Bitt Faulk
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#265746 - 24/09/2005 15:55
Re: TiVo service supported in Canada now
[Re: wfaulk]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 05/01/2001
Posts: 4903
Loc: Detroit, MI USA
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I did see some references to that documentary while doing my searches. I'll have to check it out. An interesting quote I saw was from the president of Al-Jazeera saying that he admired Fox News. Oh brother. More ammo for the FNC haters!  Thanks for your opinion on the 9:11 documentary. I think that's a very fair view. Too bad it was packaged as a documentary! IMO, I think that Al-Jazeera, while not officially a state sponsored station, is heavily influenced and supported by various states in the Middle East. While they may come off as supporting terrorism (or at least not opposing it) I think their real motive may be to make sure this democracy thing doesn't catch on. Too many princes and kings in that region don't dig the idea I'd suspect!
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Brad B.
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#265747 - 24/09/2005 16:03
Re: TiVo service supported in Canada now
[Re: SE_Sport_Driver]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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Yeah, well, when you've got supporting opinions by old women in nursing homes, your credibility as a documentarian kinda goes out the window (unless your documentary was about the political views of octogenarians). That doesn't mean the actual facts he presented are worthy of dismissal, but the package is.
Oh, and, uh, those Canadians sure will love the TiVo. Yeah, that's it.
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Bitt Faulk
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#265748 - 24/09/2005 18:05
Re: TiVo service supported in Canada now
[Re: SE_Sport_Driver]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 29/08/2000
Posts: 14493
Loc: Canada
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Quote:
But regardless, it's interesting that the CRTC saw Fox News as a thread and saw no problem with Al-Jazeera. For the record, I don't think any stations in Canada actually carry Al-Jazeera yet. The CRTC, last I read, was going to let stations carry it, but put various restrictions on it..
Uh, you just contradicted yourself there. With the CRTC restrictions, AJ presents much less of a threat to our country than FOX et al. But since we already (presumably: I don't actually have cable TV to verify) had ABC, NBC, CBS, and others, FOX probably wasn't a big leap beyond those.
The USA doesn't worry so much about other countries' channels, simply because there are no other nations close enough to the USA for it to be an issue. Except for some Mexican channels (minor), and some Canadian networks (CTV, CBC, and "Global"). Hardly enough to overwhelm USA-ian "culture".
Cheers
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#265749 - 24/09/2005 18:39
Re: TiVo service supported in Canada now
[Re: mlord]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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For the record, Fox News is a separate channel from the Fox network. Fox News is a 24-hour news channel like CNN whereas the Fox network basically only produces prime-time TV shows for its local affiliates to show, like ABC, NBC, and CBS. (Although they do a little more than what Fox does. Namely, they also have some non-primetime shows that they distribute to affiliates, like 30-minute national news programs and morning shows. In particular, Fox has no news programs, although the local affiliates might, and they can use Fox News as a wire service of sorts.) So your notion that already having those other networks makes it not much of a step is probably not correct. Saying that you already have CNN and MSNBC would be more important.
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Bitt Faulk
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#265750 - 27/09/2005 00:52
Re: TiVo service supported in Canada now
[Re: mlord]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 05/01/2001
Posts: 4903
Loc: Detroit, MI USA
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Quote:
Uh, you just contradicted yourself there. With the CRTC restrictions, AJ presents much less of a threat to our country than FOX et al. ...
I don't see a contradiction. An anti-West, terrorist sympathizing bullhorn poses more dangers, IMO, than a news channel accused of being "too pro-America, too pro-Bush". If both are a threat, then one threatens to appear in your program guide and annoy you with Bill O'Reilly and one threatens to motivate people living within your borders to bomb a subway ala London. Even if AJ poses a 0.05% threat, that 0.05% is more of a tangible threat in my opinion. You can simply block OReilly from your channel list.
Quote:
The USA doesn't worry so much about other countries' channels, simply because there are no other nations close enough to the USA for it to be an issue.
I thought that the enlightened that walk among us watch CBC, CNN International and BBC so they don't limit themselves to just the US view of the world? Regardless, our government doesn't tell us what news we can be exposed to. I know it's unique because of the community I live in, but a lot of the Arabic channels here show programming that isn't kind to the US, but there are no laws against it. Further, proximity of national boundries doesn't appear to be a factor in what programming Europeans can get.
Quote:
Hardly enough to overwhelm USA-ian "culture".
I know that's the intent, but people in Canada want access to information, entertainment and "culture" and they are being told no. Unfortunately, some people are beginning to think that Canadian culture is defined by "not being the United States." While that may define Canadian politics, I would think with the rich history, arts and culture that Canada has, it's not in any danger from Fox News.
It looks like I might be outnumbered on this one though. In the news yesterday, China is further restricting access to international news as well.
Now, if we could just get the CBC to be an influence to Fox hockey coverage!
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Brad B.
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#265751 - 27/09/2005 12:18
Re: TiVo service supported in Canada now
[Re: SE_Sport_Driver]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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Quote:
a news channel accused of being "too pro-America, too pro-Bush".
For the record, I don't see Fox News (and the current administration) of being too pro-America, but actually being anti-America. They seem to stand for everything I think this country's ideals find offensive. It's not that I dislike America; I love it. But I think that this administration is trying to ruin what I love about it and that Fox News is its bulwark.
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Bitt Faulk
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