Who Decided WJBK Detroit Should Be The Canadian Satellite Fox Affiliate?

[Gregg]

If you go to the TV Listings at www.tvguide.ca and put in a Winnipeg postal code, it looks like Winnipeg cable systems carry a mix of US network stations from North Dakota (WDAZ ABC, KGFE PBS), Minneapolis (WCCO CBS, KARE NBC) and Fox from Rochester NY which only does news at 10pm ET.

So many Canadian cities, including Ottawa, get their four U.S. networks from Detroit.  That's great for the CBS station, WWJ-TV 62, which has NO local news department.  But it also includes Fox 2 WJBK, which runs 8 hours of local news per day, of little interest to Canadians. 

However Canadian cable systems could opt for Fox 31 WUHF Rochester NY, which only runs an hour of local news per day.  So that gets me back to my original post... why not just make WUHF Rochester the standard Fox station for Canadian cable systems, regardless of some syndicated programs on WUHF overlapping with what's on Detroit's ABC, NBC and CBS stations?  Viewers in Winnipeg don't seem to mind getting their U.S. stations from three different American markets, with some syndicated programming probably overlapping.

[dtuba]

KCTS (the PBS affiliate here in Seattle) can be seen on Bell & Shaw cable systems throughout Canada (not just the western part). I've fielded tech calls from Toronto and even the Maritime provinces.
Then again, KCTS is practically a Canadian station anyway- almost half of our viewer donation $$ come from Canadian viewers.

[OhioMediaWatch]

That situation is repeated with PBS' smaller market border-adjacent stations like the ones in Watertown NY (Ottawa/Cornwall) and Erie PA (London).

But unlike Seattle, those stations are even more dependent on the cash haul from their larger Canadian city viewers.

The Erie station, WQLN/54, almost lost its carriage on Rogers in Ontario. They were going to use an existing fiber connection to replace it with Detroit's WTVS. Eventually, WQLN got a fiber feed to Rogers, and it remained on the system.

Buffalo is larger, but very much depends financially on the huge market of Toronto...

[Bluenoser]

KCTS (the PBS affiliate here in Seattle) can be seen on Bell & Shaw cable systems throughout Canada (not just the western part). I've fielded tech calls from Toronto and even the Maritime provinces.
Then again, KCTS is practically a Canadian station anyway- almost half of our viewer donation $$ come from Canadian viewers.

And I've seen mentions on KCTS of a group out of Vancouver (I think it's called Pacific Coast Public Television Association) that supports some of KCTS' programming.

[rjoc]

That situation is repeated with PBS' smaller market border-adjacent stations like the ones in Watertown NY (Ottawa/Cornwall) and Erie PA (London).

But unlike Seattle, those stations are even more dependent on the cash haul from their larger Canadian city viewers.

The Erie station, WQLN/54, almost lost its carriage on Rogers in Ontario. They were going to use an existing fiber connection to replace it with Detroit's WTVS. Eventually, WQLN got a fiber feed to Rogers, and it remained on the system.

Buffalo is larger, but very much depends financially on the huge market of Toronto...

Maine PBS seems to rely heavily on viewers in New Brunswick, they are mentioned often during pledge=breaks. ...they are carried on just about all Cable sytems in the province, I believe. 

[EJM]

If you go to the TV Listings at www.tvguide.ca and put in a Winnipeg postal code, it looks like Winnipeg cable systems carry a mix of US network stations from North Dakota (WDAZ ABC, KGFE PBS), Minneapolis (WCCO CBS, KARE NBC) and Fox from Rochester NY which only does news at 10pm ET.

It looks like Thunder Bay gets everything from the Twin Cities (WCCO, KARE, KSTP, KMSP, and KTCA)--bypassing both the Twin Ports (Duluth/Superior) and Upper Michigan altogether.

[EJM]

As it turns out, I posted without looking at Thunder Bay's digital systems (i.e., what I mentioned above apparently refers to Shaw's basic cable system):  Shaw's digital system features both the previously mentioned Twin Cities stations and Spokane's counterparts--not to mention several "superstations"; the unaffiliated Tbaytel digital system features, instead, network affiliates from Buffalo/Rochester and Seattle--plus the "superstations".

[EJM]

Going in the other direction (i.e., westward), it looks like Access Communications' basic system in Regina carries everything out of Boston (as well as KCTS), while the local digital systems carry everything out of both Boston and Seattle--along with the "superstations".

[Wright County Guy]

If you go to the TV Listings at www.tvguide.ca and put in a Winnipeg postal code, it looks like Winnipeg cable systems carry a mix of US network stations from North Dakota (WDAZ ABC, KGFE PBS), Minneapolis (WCCO CBS, KARE NBC) and Fox from Rochester NY which only does news at 10pm ET.

It looks like Thunder Bay gets everything from the Twin Cities (WCCO, KARE, KSTP, KMSP, and KTCA)--bypassing both the Twin Ports (Duluth/Superior) and Upper Michigan altogether.

Thunder Bay did get the big 3 and PBS from Duluth before 1985, via LP UHF translators in Grand Marais, MN, which took the Duluth signals over-the-air, THEN retransmitted those to LP UHF translators in Grand Portage, MN, which were then picked up for Thunder Bay's cable system--encompassing 190 miles!  Needless to say, the signal quality could be less-than-perfect, especially in summertime tropo conditions. 

There were attempts to build a microwave system in 1983, but it never happened.  The CRTC debated and found that (at that time) satellite delivery of the Detroit stations was the way to go.

Much details here (via Northpine.com):  http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/1986/DB86-219.htm

[unclehonkey]

Shaw changed the nets in Thunder Bay to Mpls from the CANCOM ones at beginning of year

The major Minneapolis TV stations are getting some added coverage north of the border. Canadian regulators have approved Shaw Cable's application to switch the source of its big-four U.S. programming in Thunder Bay to Minneapolis. Online listings indicate WCCO-CBS and KARE-NBC were already being carried in Thunder Bay, with KSTP-ABC, KMSP-FOX, and KTCI-PBS set to replace feeds from Detroit and Rochester, NY. Shaw told the CRTC that a customer survey indicated a preference for Minneapolis over Detroit. WCCO and KARE are already carried by most other cable systems in northwestern Ontario and Manitoba. The Thunder Bay system had originally carried Duluth stations but switched to Detroit satellite feeds in 1986 because of problems receiving the Duluth stations over the air. In addition to Canadian channels, all Canadian cable and satellite providers carry the big four networks from the U.S. plus PBS.

CRTC decision
http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2011/2011-749.htm