WINTER 2002

Fans of HBO's stylishly violent The Sopranos or other equally brutal
cable mainstays like Dark Angel and La Femme Nikita may not
want to hear about this, but some Americans are getting those
shows, and others, without shelling out for cable or a satellite
package. They're getting them off outdated aerials and bunny ears.

Welcome to the border-town concept of Canadian leakage.

For many Americans, cable is still an elusive dream of the future
and satellites are still an expensive prospect, charging huge fees
for channel lists filled with look-a-like networks and obscure
offerings.

The big metal antennas that are still seen nationwide are bringing people living along Canada's borders not only the basic broadcast networks from US sources, but also their Canadian equivalents. Generally, anyone within a half hour drive or so of the Canadian border can pick them up with their aerial antennas.

While CBC and CTV, two major Canadian broadcasting companies, may not sound familiar to many people, they're the Canadian counterparts of PBS and NBC. Big name entertainment and education highlight these channels, but they've got some bonuses neither of those networks have, like the freedom to mix-and-match shows from various networks, both cable and broadcast.

The Littlest Hobo, just one example of the original Canadian programming available.

Without being burdened by the same network loyalties that tie up most American stations, CTV, Global and other Canadian networks are free to "rent" programming (buying broadcast rights from their distributors) from various sources.

Surfing from ABC's Who Wants to be a Millionaire to NBC's ER without changing channels is one of the CTV's selling points. No American network leads into The Sopranos with Ally McBeal, and in fact, no American broadcast network even airs the Sopranos. With episode titles like "Toodle-Fuckin-Oo," it's hard to imagine ABC airing it right before a Ted Koppel newscast.

American stations aren't the only feeding trough for these networks though. Canadians also have a fondness for British programs, relegated here in the United States to Britcom nights on PBS stations.

"I rarely watch network TV preferring the CBC channel. My family is from England and we enjoy watching the English programming on Canadian TV, especially Coronation Street," says Elspeth Donaldson, a Canadian TV watcher from Buffalo, New York.

Canadian TV has become famous for its focus on safe and clean ideas within its "native" programs. Often without superstars or dashing, exotic premises, programs like Cold Squad, Da Vinci's Inquest and This Hour Has 22 Minutes rely on quality writing and ensemble casts to keep viewers entertained.

The Odyssey and Power Play, two more shows that first aired in Canada.

Cable channels like the family-friendly Hallmark Channel, formerly the equally wholesome Odyssey Network, started bringing down Canadian shows like Avonlea and Wind At My Back to help supplement their pre-existing line-up, which already had re-runs of American notables like Doctor Quinn, Medicine Woman.

"One of the things I have found very appealing about dramas coming out of Canada is that they don't implode under all the star power American shows do. American actors too often want the work they appear in to be molded around their personalities," says Sydney Johnson, a cable convert to the Canadian content bandwagon. She discovered shows like Wind at My Back and Road to Avonlea as they were repeated through cable and satellite stations on the prowl for fresh content to fill their ever increasing programming holes.

Like almost all television programs, Canadian programming enjoys the benefits of syndication, allowing cable networks and others to purchase the rights to air some Canadian content, albeit, often years after it has aired in Canada and along the border.

While Canadian TV may seem like a veritable cornucopia of sin and swearing offset by old-fashioned family shows, it's actually a highly regulated industry. Surprisingly, most of those regulations are, in one way or another, self imposed. It's a sort of peer pressure… if you don't agree to follow the rules everyone else is following, you risk ostracizing yourself from the networks that do comply and the advertisers that put their money in them.

In 1993, the Canadian TV industry created the "Voluntary Code Regarding Violence in Television Programming." Among other things, this code barred outright use of gratuitous violence, prohibited acts of violence aimed at adults from being aired before 9 p.m. ("the watershed hour"), and requested viewer advisories before and after certain programs air.

With high-brow programming collected throughout the world and some hidden home-grown gems, Canadian stations have built themselves an empire. Unfortunately without the brand name recognition and jazzed up advertising schemes of their American counterparts, few people with access to this unique combination of global programming are aware of what they have.