Americans don't know how good they have it, because the state of downloads in Canada is PATHETIC!

Xbox 360 - With less than 50 titles (SD and HD combined), what's the point?

AppleTV - No movies, 55 tv series. However, its all second-tier shows like Pimp My Ride, Joes-vs-Pros, and MuscleCar TV. Not a single prime-time show in sight, unless you count CBC Canadiana shows like Corner Gas.

Please tell me I'm missing a service, it can't really be this bad, can it?

Americans don't know how good they have it, because the state of downloads in Canada is PATHETIC!According to some American reports, the state of free downloads in Canada is very advanced...:)

Diogen.

According to some American reports, the state of free downloads in Canada is very advanced...:)
That's true, but the reason there's so much piracy in Canada is because of the lack of legal alternatives and poor television services.

1. Time delay - Consider South Park as an example. We don't get Comedy Central, instead we have the Canadian operated Comedy Network. Comedy Network airs South Park, but the episodes appear on the Canadian channel several months later, after they are broadcast in the U.S.! People don't want to wait several months to see an episode, people want to see it immediately and want to be able to talk about it with their classmates or co-workers the next day. Therefore, many Canadians who would watch it legally on television IF it was broadcast day and date are driven to download it illegally!

2. No High Definition - Consider Battlestar Galactica as an example. We don't get SciFi Network, instead we have the Canadian operated Space Channel. Space broadcasts Battlestar Galactica, however there is no HD version of Space Channel! So, while Americans get to enjoy Battlestar Galactica in HD, Canadians are stuck with SD. Therefore, many Canadians who would watch it legally on television IF it was broadcast in high definition are driven to download it illegally in order to see it in HD!

3. Not Broadcast, period - Although there are Canadian operated "equivalents" to most American cable networks, they aren't really equivalent. They may license a few of the more popular American shows (like South Park and Battlestar Galactica mentioned above), many other shows are simply not licensed and broadcast in Canada.

Many people incorrectly jump to the conclusion that Canadian piracy is a result of our copyright laws or poor enforcement of those laws, but they just don't get it. We are close enough and share enough media with the U.S. to know what Amercians are watching. Our crappy Canadian television services drive Canadians to piracy, because Canadians want to watch the same programs, at the same time, in the same quality, as Amercians!

That's true, but the reason there's so much piracy in Canada is because of the lack of legal alternatives and poor television services.

1. Time delay - Consider South Park as an example. We don't get Comedy Central, instead we have the Canadian operated Comedy Network. Comedy Network airs South Park, but the episodes appear on the Canadian channel several months later, after they are broadcast in the U.S.! People don't want to wait several months to see an episode, people want to see it immediately and want to be able to talk about it with their classmates or co-workers the next day. Therefore, many Canadians who would watch it legally on television IF it was broadcast day and date are driven to download it illegally!

2. No High Definition - Consider Battlestar Galactica as an example. We don't get SciFi Network, instead we have the Canadian operated Space Channel. Space broadcasts Battlestar Galactica, however there is no HD version of Space Channel! So, while Americans get to enjoy Battlestar Galactica in HD, Canadians are stuck with SD. Therefore, many Canadians who would watch it legally on television IF it was broadcast in high definition are driven to download it illegally in order to see it in HD!

3. Not Broadcast, period - Although there are Canadian operated "equivalents" to most American cable networks, they aren't really equivalent. They may license a few of the more popular American shows (like South Park and Battlestar Galactica mentioned above), many other shows are simply not licensed and broadcast in Canada.

Many people incorrectly jump to the conclusion that Canadian piracy is a result of our copyright laws or poor enforcement of those laws, but they just don't get it. We are close enough and share enough media with the U.S. to know what Amercians are watching. Our crappy Canadian television services drive Canadians to piracy, because Canadians want to watch the same programs, at the same time, in the same quality, as Amercians!


As a Canadian myself, these are some valid points.

As an example, I own an Xbox 360. I'd be willing to pay for content but there's nothing there!!! I would have purchased an Apple TV, but again, there are no movies AT ALL being offered on ITunes for Canadians!

I own an HP Mediasmart hosting media THAT I OWN being streamed via 2 original XBox's, 360, or PS3 (with a Popcorn Hour A-100 on order) for my family to watch but that content can get stale very quick.

To watch anything current, I either have to go to my neighbourhood Blockbuster or consider using Bittorents/Newsgroups.

Buying a Blu-Ray disk is generally around $30 each, and, although cheaper than going to the movie theatre, IMO is still too expensive vs. the possibility of renting it online via a possible MS or Apple offering in Canada. Netflix doesn't exist here either.

So, when you have very few options to rent/purchase, guess what the smart Canadians do? Yup, you guessed it.

CDN here, I just download anything I want when I want and watch it on the tv. It is almost easier then paying for cable tv/sat, but then I would miss out on hockey which can't happen!!!

Is Download in Canada really that bad? Maybe some districts. My friend in Canada told me that it is fine.

What do you mean by "it is fine"? We have terrific broadband coverage and speeds, if that is what you mean, but there is basically no legal content available to us! Even the SD shows watchable on U.S. TV network websites are blocked to non-U.S. visitors!

Hell, we don't even get to watch the awesome Superbowl commercials. We get to watch 3 of the same stupid Bell commercial with 2 lame gophers taking to each other about cell phones instead...

That being said, downloading isn't a problem. The RIAA and MPAA can't reach their fowl claws accross our border and hassle individuals like on the US side of the border.

The overall point to any Americans reading is that we don't have a reasonable alternative for getting legal content. Considering our proximity, it's quite lame to wait months (if not years) for a download offering.

Give us the service and we (or at least some) will come. Until then, downloading content will be the order of the day. Why miss out?

This is why I use the TV for the local news and rend DVDs once a week. It's simple and I don't have to get caught up in all the red tape just to watch something :)

Here's more bad news. According to Rogers/Yahoo - the cablemodem provider in Eastern Canada, as of April 2008, everyone's cablemodem plan has a capped bandwidth.

After you exceed your monthly cap, you will be billed $2/GB. That would make a BD50 worth $100 according to Rogers/Yahoo.

The problem is that the most expensive plan has a cap of only 95GB, and according to their tracking I used double that in December, the highest month in 2007, but every month under normal usage, my family is easily exceeding that cap just about every other month.

If download IPTV or AppleTV is the future, then Rogers/yahoo is not part of that future.

Hell, we don't even get to watch the awesome Superbowl commercials. We get to watch 3 of the same stupid Bell commercial with 2 lame gophers taking to each other about cell phones instead...

That being said, downloading isn't a problem. The RIAA and MPAA can't reach their fowl claws accross our border and hassle individuals like on the US side of the border.

Those two critters are beavers! NOT gophers ... are you sure you are posting from Canada? :)

I used Rogers HD here in Ottawa, and for the last couple of years, at least one of the two Superbowl feeds (I have east-coast: Detroit and west-coast: Seattle HD options) wasn't buggered by Canadian commercials. I guess we're lucky.

I posted this in this in the apple tv thread also. However, i think for us Canadians a repeat is worthwhile. I own apple tv and the way to get around the content restriction is to buy an itunes gift card from a US retailer and register your itunes account with any US address. My friends and i all do it and it works great. All the content we can handle!

Those two critters are beavers! NOT gophers ... are you sure you are posting from Canada? :)

I used Rogers HD here in Ottawa, and for the last couple of years, at least one of the two Superbowl feeds (I have east-coast: Detroit and west-coast: Seattle HD options) wasn't buggered by Canadian commercials. I guess we're lucky.

Bell Expressvu used to show the US feed also, at least on the HD channels, but this year was the first Superbowl that the american commercials were replaced by canadian ones.

I posted this in this in the apple tv thread also. However, i think for us Canadians a repeat is worthwhile. I own apple tv and the way to get around the content restriction is to buy an itunes gift card from a US retailer and register your itunes account with any US address. My friends and i all do it and it works great. All the content we can handle!

Have you looked at the notice of the bandwidth cap effective this month from your service provider? Which internet provider do you use? CableModem or xDSL? Rogers is putting a damper on AppleTV by capping bandwitdh and charging $2/GB above the capped limit.

isp's throttling p2p traffic sucks in canada. i hope this issue gets resolved.

I got an email from Apple today stating that Movies are now available from the Canadian iTunes Store. I checked, and its working on both my Apple TV and iTunes.