Rogers TV (London) removing ALL Erie PA stations

[sum-guy]

Just got a letter today from Rogers. They are removing all (or at least I think it's all) of the Erie PA stations that are currently being carried on the CATV analog cable service. This would be:

PBS Erie (WQLN) channel 8
NBC Erie (WICU) channel 61
ABC Erie (WJET) channel 62

They are bringing the Detroit PBS channel in (WTVS) and putting that on channel 62.

So it seems that channel 8 will be left blank (?).

This seems to be a deliberate attempt to degrade the analog-cable service.

I believe this leaves the London-area Rogers analog cable service with only 1 channel option (all from Detroit) for each of the 3 major US networks (ABC, CBS, NBC).

Does Rogers have to pay the TV stations in Erie (or Detroit) to carry their channels? Why didn't they put the new Detroit PBS channel on channel 8 - in place of the Erie PBS channel they're removing?

Seems odd that this is happening on Aug 18. Isin't that the date that some of the "A" channel stations change hands?

Does anyone know if the CRTC is making the cable companies pay the Canadian networks (A, CTV, Global, etc) for carrying them?

I think this is what is finally going to get me to cancel my rogers cable service.

 

[azumanga]

It seems that Rogers is homogenising its line-ups outside of Toronto and the Maritimes, so that all its systems would carry the same thing (apart from the local channels).

Both WQLN and Watertown's WPBS are urging their viewers to tell Rogers to keep their channels on Rogers. Considering that many of their pledge money comes from Rogers viewers, would Rogers get the message, or will their pleas to keep the stations on fall on deaf ears?

 

[sum-guy]

Both WQLN and Watertown's WPBS are urging their viewers to tell Rogers to keep their channels on Rogers. Considering that many of their pledge money comes from Rogers viewers, would Rogers get the message, or will their pleas to keep the stations on fall on deaf ears?

It will not matter to Rogers at all that their London viewers might want to keep the WQLN channel (and there are differences which are important for the older viewers, such as East Enders being carried on WQLN and not the WTVS I think).

What will matter to Rogers is if they lose subscribers because of these changes - and I hope they do.

I still want to know why it matters to Rogers that they sub the Detroit PBS for the Erie channel in London.

And I still want to know how (or if) that change, and the outright removal of the other Erie channels, benefits Rogers financially.

 

[FreddyE1977]

When I lived in Michigan 20 yrs. ago, I understood that cable systems all throughout Canada were picking up the Detroit affiliates of CBS, ABC, NBC and PBS and relaying them all over the country.
(a co-worker of mine had gone to visit relatives in Saskatchewan, and was stunned to find he could turn on the TV and watch WXYZ-TV7 news from Detroit). Is that still the current scenario? A business contact in Western Canada told me a few years ago that they had taken all of the Detroit stations off of his cable and replaced them with Buffalo and Rochester, NY affiliates. He claimed that it was because all of the coverage of shootings and murders on the Detroit newscasts was giving the US a very bad image. Any truth to any of that?

 

[azumanga]

When I lived in Michigan 20 yrs. ago, I understood that cable systems all throughout Canada were picking up the Detroit affiliates of CBS, ABC, NBC and PBS and relaying them all over the country.
(a co-worker of mine had gone to visit relatives in Saskatchewan, and was stunned to find he could turn on the TV and watch WXYZ-TV7 news from Detroit). Is that still the current scenario?

Yes, though in some areas, some or all of the Detroit channels are digital only (with other network affiliates in analog), or not available at all.

A business contact in Western Canada told me a few years ago that they had taken all of the Detroit stations off of his cable and replaced them with Buffalo and Rochester, NY affiliates. He claimed that it was because all of the coverage of shootings and murders on the Detroit newscasts was giving the US a very bad image. Any truth to any of that?

I don;t know, but I heard somewhere that Winnipeg's crime rate skyrocketed after the Videon system there (now Shaw) replaced most of the Fargo channels with Detroit's in the 1980s.

 

[mimo]

It seems that Rogers is homogenising its line-ups outside of Toronto and the Maritimes, so that all its systems would carry the same thing (apart from the local channels).

Both WQLN and Watertown's WPBS are urging their viewers to tell Rogers to keep their channels on Rogers. Considering that many of their pledge money comes from Rogers viewers, would Rogers get the message, or will their pleas to keep the stations on fall on deaf ears?

That's happening here in Ottawa, customers are switching over to Bell, since they will continue to carry WPBS

 

[azumanga]

That's happening here in Ottawa, customers are switching over to Bell, since they will continue to carry WPBS

I take it that's the landline cable service (similar to Verizon Fios), and not Bell TV satellite, correct?

 

[sum-guy]

> > That's happening here in Ottawa, customers are switching over to Bell, since they will
> > continue to carry WPBS

> I take it that's the landline cable service (similar to Verizon Fios), and not
> Bell TV satellite, correct?

Bell (Canada) does not offer any landline "cable" service. If they did, it would be IPTV (and IPTV is not yet deployed anywhere in Canada, and I doubt it will be any time soon). There is also no "fiber to the curb" anywhere in Canada I believe.

So it would have to be Bell satellite.

 

[FreddyE1977]

When I lived in Michigan 20 yrs. ago, I understood that cable systems all throughout Canada were picking up the Detroit affiliates of CBS, ABC, NBC and PBS and relaying them all over the country.
(a co-worker of mine had gone to visit relatives in Saskatchewan, and was stunned to find he could turn on the TV and watch WXYZ-TV7 news from Detroit). Is that still the current scenario?

Yes, though in some areas, some or all of the Detroit channels are digital only (with other network affiliates in analog), or not available at all.

A business contact in Western Canada told me a few years ago that they had taken all of the Detroit stations off of his cable and replaced them with Buffalo and Rochester, NY affiliates. He claimed that it was because all of the coverage of shootings and murders on the Detroit newscasts was giving the US a very bad image. Any truth to any of that?

I don;t know, but I heard somewhere that Winnipeg's crime rate skyrocketed after the Videon system there (now Shaw) replaced most of the Fargo channels with Detroit's in the 1980s.

Yes, the guy lived near Winnipeg, where I understand they were having some serious gang problems.
That would make sense.

 

[azumanga]

So it would have to be Bell satellite.

I thought the Bell TV satellite service only offered Boston and Seattle channels? Also, according to Wikipedia (take with grain of salt), Bell TV does offer VDSL television service in Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa, though I don;t know if it's a straight mirror of the satellite service, or if it includes local channels not available on satellite (including WPBS).