Keep reading after the jump….

Since September 1st. The CRTC has recieved 1000′s of letters from upset Canadians demanding that they not be taxed in order to fund a bailout of the big two Canadian Broadcast networks (CTV and Global). On September 17th, the Heritage Minister asked the CRTC to review their decision and consider the consumer in the debate.

With the above said, the CRTC still needs to hear from you! Please send your MP, the Heritage Minister and the CRTC a letter or email expressing your opinion. CTV and Global are lobbying very hard to try and charge you money for a service that is supposed to be ad-supported. (You are actually doing them a favour by watching on Cable and Satellite as they no longer need to build out terrestial transmitters…. think rabbit ears).

Shaw Cable has a great website with sample letters that you can send to your MP in the mail and via email (remember, postage to an MP or Minister does not require a stamp).

Please speak up!

No word on what packages you need in order to get AMC HD, or of it’s just a preview. I’ll update the post as I learn more about it. If you have any info, please post it in the comments.

[My commentary on the report follows after the jump]… 

A cursory glance at the chart shows Rogers and Bell ExpressVu neck and neck, they don’t have all the same channels, but with ExpressVu not adding any new channels in the last couple of months, Rogers could take the lead in Canada. ExpressVu needs to pick up a few more channels if they want to remain the dominant HD player in Canada. ShowCase HD has been out for quite a few months, and according to the charts, it has a medium ammount of content, and would be a great asset. (this is unlike A&E HD which is a total waste of HD bandwidth stretching an SD signal to HD — not any fault of Bell I might add).

Shaw cable has been making a few strides forward, which is good to see. I havn’t looked at a Shaw HD box in a while, so I am not sure if they have resolved some of their bandwidth issues yet. I do know quite a few Shaw employee’s who are on ExpressVu simply due to the ammount of HD Content.

Videotron and Cogeco have the most HD french channels, but who really cares about that, its a waste of bandwidth for most of the country. (kidding really).

SaskTel Max is really impressive, 27 HD channels over their ADSL 2+ based network is very impressive! Considering that SaskTel serves a much much smaller market than TELUS, they are the most technologically advanced ILEC in Canada. Telus really needs to take a look at SaskTel and roll up their sleves and get to work upgrading their network. Right now, you can’t really buy TELUS TV. I would like to review Telus TV once it makes its appearance in my area.

The main reason for the update to the list appears to be the addition of HDNet to StarChoice and Shaw Cable’s lineup. (not too surprising, StarChoice is owned by Shaw). Bell has had HD for a while now, and they still appear to be the HD leader in Canada.

I’m not expecting to see many new HD channels this year, Bell is expected to focus on upgrading to MPEG-4, adding additional bandwidth for HD channels, as they try to stay ahead of the Cable, and IPTV providers.

Notice someone missing? Bell ExpressVu does not yet have National Geographic HD, or Showcase HD. Currently, both channels are expected to launch on Express Vu sometime around Feburary 28th 2007. This comes as a surprise that Express Vu has not launched these two channels,  given that they are sure to be quite popular, and even more surprising because Express Vu is the High Definition leader in Canada.

I’m not sure what Bell is thinking, but they must have their reasons. Even after the addition of these two new channels to the competitors line ups, Express Vu is still in the lead with the most HD channels in Canada.

One more thing, Kenny vs. Spenny is going to be shown in HD.

Rumors abound that claim that Food TV HD, and HGTV HD will also launch soon, both of these are also Alliance Atlantis channels, and were granted their HD license ammendment on July 6th 2006.

For you Leafs nuts out there, Leafs TV HD is now available on Bell ExpressVu channel 848.  I do not subscribe to thi’m stis channel, so I cannot comment.

Personally, I’m still waiting for Bell to make HDnet available to subs.

Have a look at the guide if you are curious.

Hopefully it isn’t long before we get to enjoy showcase in HD!

[via Digital Home Canada]

The reason this is such a huge suprise to me is that the CRTC actually made a decision that is going to benefit viewers like us. Almost all of the Canadian networks (CBC, Global, CTV, SportsNet, etc) were opposed to this. Likely due to the fact that they are finally going to be forced to produce content in HD.

The previous federal liberal government pressued the CRTC to postpone making a decision on HDNet for the past three years.
No idea as to when we will see HDNet in our programming guides, but it is refreshing to hear that they have been added to the “list”.

Good move CRTC, I applaud you.

[via Digital Home Canada]

If you are a Shaw customer you should be able to get The games and the finale, since Shaw does carry SportsNet HD, TSN HD, and CTV HD.
I’m hoping CTV does a better job with the World Cup final then they have been doing with their simsub’d HD shows. (CSI, American Idol, etc).