Canadian content on American Channels

[Chinese Jamaican Bloke]

an example

fox and global carry the medical show House

on fox on channel 21 instead of seeing the "Fox" symbol you see the global symbol why do cable do this? you see the same thing on ABC, NBC and CBS you see the canadian channel symbol instead of the american one when the channels carry the same tv show why is that?

 

[cacruden]

Stupid thing about the SyFy (aka SciFi) channel is that they are constantly showing original programming made in Canada (Vancouver) - they probably spend more than the Space channel in Canada - and because they are owned by the wrong people - they can't be placed on Cable in Canada

 

[waterloowarrior]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simultaneous_substitution
http://www.crtc.gc.ca/Eng/INFO_SHT/Bdt10.htm

 

[JasonParis]

an example

fox and global carry the medical show House

on fox on channel 21 instead of seeing the "Fox" symbol you see the global symbol why do cable do this? you see the same thing on ABC, NBC and CBS you see the canadian channel symbol instead of the american one when the channels carry the same tv show why is that?

If you can't figure out the wiki/crtc answers, basically Canadian broadcasters have paid for the rights to air those shows in Canada so are thereby allowed to substitute their signal for the American one. This only happens under two main criteria:

1. The US and Canadian terrestrial broadcasters are airing the same show at the exact same time
2. The US and Canadian terrestrial broadcaster's signals are of equal quality (i.e. both in HD)

If you pick up your US signals over-the-air this can't technically be done though and you won't experience the substitution.

 

[GenerationW]

I know the simulcast rule, but why is Rogers allowed to substitute their own commercials for U.S. ads on American cable stations carried by Rogers that are not simulcasting shows?

 

[JasonParis]

Because those are cable station breaks. Basically, the cable system in every American market gets to sell those spots to local businesses, much the same way a broadcast network affiliate gets a "station break" twice an hour for local commercials.

This only happens on US channels where there's not a Canadian version (i.e., A&E, CNN, etc.) and happens because Canadian carriers aren't allowed to sell local ad time on US cable channels. Therefore, instead of airing dead air for two minutes, the CRTC instead makes them advertise Canadian services, often their own.