I have it from VERY good sources first hand that Canadian DBS service providers here are aware of the what is going on with grey market subscriptions. To begin with, Canada has a huge number of snow birds that migrate to Florida during the winter months and bring their DBS receiver along with them, and have permanent dishes at both locations.
In fact, at one of the DBS companies here, managers have been known to reactivate subscriptions knowing that the customer was most likely living in the USA and that his system was there too. Hey, every subscription counts these days. Don't think there are no Canadians subscribing to Amerian DBS using relatives' addresses or borker services. It swings both ways. The former president of one Cdn. DBS company had both DirecTV and DishNetwork at his house, along with the competitors satellite system and cable too. Have to monitor the industry and the competition right?
If the customer is going to keep paying for their monthly service (rather than stealing the service outright with a black market card - D!abolic you listening here), then from a business point, it makes sense to me. The customer has after all provided the Canadian DBS company with a completely valid Canadian address, etc, etc. And the customer IS paying his monthly subscription. Few people know this, its costs both Expressvu and StarChoice approx. $750 per new customers (the equipment is given away WAY below cost just to make it up later on the monthly subscription).
Expressvu in particular is very concerned about their system being hacked - going so far as to hire retired RCMP officers to investigate this area. Watch for this ball to drop soon.
Regarding `that' Canadian court case; its set for Dec. 04/01 from the Supreme Court of Canada. This should pretty much decide the fate of American DBS in Canada once and for all. The side trying to bring an end to American DBS's in Canada has even gone so far as to invite DirecTV rep's to attend and testify for them - and they are coming. BUT, the Supreme Court of Canada has tended to rule for the little people and this case is split straight down the middle 50/50, take your pick!
Finally to D!abolic, support HD and the programmers like Marc C. who invest $milllions! My monthly (fortune) subscription to HBO, including HBO HD, via DirecTV is just $18 Canadian per month, and I get HD Net too! IMHO, money WELL spent!