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BBG Communications
1658 Gailes Boulevard, San Diego, CA, 92154
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Licensed cable distributors in Canada

2008-12-29

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Ninety percent of Canadian households use cable television, making it a very common method of television programming delivery in the country. Currently, there are 739 licensed cable distributors in Canada. This streamlining of the cable distribution companies from 2000 just a few years ago is attributable both to major cable companies acquiring smaller distributors and to a recent change in CRTC rules by which independent cable operators with fewer than 2,000 subscribers are no longer required to operate under full CRTC licenses.

Major Canadian cable companies include Rogers, Shaw, Cogeco, Vidéotron and EastLink/Persona. But despite these many numbers, most cable companies do not compete with each other directly. Only one cable company serves a specific market in most Canadian cities. And in the few cities that are served by more than one cable company, each company is restricted to a specific geographical division within the market. For instance, in Hamilton, Cogeco Cable, Mountain Cablevision and Source Cable are all licensed operators, but each has a monopoly in a specific area of the city.

However, two major companies offer direct broadcast satellite delivery as an alternative to cable: Bell TV, which is a division of BCE Inc., and Star Choice, which is a division of Shaw Cable. Grey market DBS dishes are also available from American services such as DirecTV and Dish Network, but since these are not licensed Canadian providers, stores that sell those packages—and users who buy them— are at risk of being criminally liable.

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