Star Choice Line-Up (September 2003)

[Bluenoser]

from Debut (Star Choice listings magazine)
* signal only available in local market

200 PPV Previews
201-236 Viewer's Choice (English PPV)
238 Hockey PPV
261-274 Canal Indigo (French PPV)
291-293 HDTV Channels
298 Canal Star Choice 298
299 Star Choice Channel 299
300 CBHT-CBC Halifax
301 CBMT-CBC Montreal
302 CBLT-CBC Toronto
303 CBOT-CBC Ottawa
305 CBKT-CBC Regina
306 CBRT-CBC Calgary
307 CBXT-CBC Edmonton
308 CBUT-CBC Vancouver
310 CJON-NTV/Global/CH//CTV St. John's
311 CJOH-CTV Ottawa
312 CFCF-CTV Montreal
313 CFTO-CTV Toronto
315 CKCK-CTV Regina
316 CKY-CTV Winnipeg
317 CFCN-CTV Calgary
318 CFRN-CTV Edmonton
321 CIVT-CTV Vancouver
330 CIHF-Global Saint John
331 CIII-Global Toronto
335 CKND-Global Winnipeg
336 CHAN-Global Vancouver
338 CICT-Global Calgary
339 CITV-Global Edmonton
340 ASN
341 CJCH-ATV/CTV Halifax
342 CHRO-NewNet Ottawa/Pembroke
343 CFMT-Omni1 Toronto
344 CITY-City Toronto
345 CHCH-CH Hamilton
346 CKVR-NewNet Barrie
347 CKEM-A Channel Edmonton
348 CHEX-CBC Peterborough
349 CFPL-NewNet London
350 APTN
351 ACCESS Alberta
352 SCN
353 CICA-TVO Toronto
354 Knowledge Network
355 CITS-CTS Burlington
357 CJIL-Miracle Channel Lethbridge
358 CHEK-CH Victoria
359 CKVU-City Vancouver
360 WDIV-NBC Detroit
361 WXYZ-ABC Detroit
362 WWJ-CBS Detroit
363 WUHF-Fox Rochester
364 WTVS-PBS Detroit
370 KHQ-NBC Spokane
371 KXLY-ABC Spokane
372 KREM-CBS Spokane
373 KAYU-Fox Spokane
374 KSPS-PBS Spokane
379 KING-NBC Seattle
380 KOMO-ABC Seattle
381 KIRO-CBS Seattle
382 KCPQ-Fox Seattle
383 KCTS-PBS Seattle
385 WGRZ-NBC Buffalo
386 WKBW-ABC Buffalo
387 WIVB-CBS Buffalo
388 WNED-PBS Buffalo
390 CBC Newsworld
391 CTV NewsNet
392 TSC
393 BC Legislature
394 Vision TV
396 CPAC
397 Ontario Legislature
398 Weather Network
400 TSN
401 TSN Alternate
403 The Score
406 Speed Channel
409 Golf Channel
416 Rogers Sportsnet East (Ottawa/Quebec/Atlantic Canada)
417 Rogers Sportsnet Ontario (Ontario exc Ottawa area)
418 Rogers Sportsnet West (Prairies/NWT/Nunavut)
419 Rogers Sportsnet Pacific (BC/Yukon)
460 WTSN
461 Fox Sports World Canada
462 Xtreme Sports
463 Raptors NBA TV
464 ESPN Classic Canada
465 NHL Network
466 Leafs TV (Ontario only, Leafs viewing area [west of Pembroke-Belleville line, and west of the Ottawa Senators region])
500 CNN
501 BBC World News
502 CNN Headline News
504 CNBC
505 Discovery Channel
506 History Television
507 Canadian Learning Television
508 ROB TV
511 MSNBC
512 Country Canada
513 Documentary Channel
514 Tech TV
515 Biography Channel
520 A&E
521 Showcase (E)
522 Showcase (W)
523 Bravo!
524 Prime (E)
525 Prime (W)
527 Star
528 Space
529 WTBS Atlanta
532 Deja View
533 Lonestar
534 BBC Canada
535 TV Land
540 Family Channel (E)
541 Family Channel (W)
542 YTV (E)
543 YTV (W)
544 Teletoon (E)
545 Teletoon (W)
546 Treehouse TV
547 Comedy Network (E)
548 Comedy Network (W)
549 GSN
550 Discovery Kids
551 National Geographic Channel
552 BBC Kids
553 Animal Planet
554 Discovery Civilization
555 Discovery Wings
559 EWTN
560 TLC
561 Food Network
562 Life Network
563 Discovery Health
564 HGTV
566 Talk TV
567 W (E)
568 W (W)
570 Men TV
571 FashionTelevision
572 CTV Travel
574 PrideVision
575 One: Body, Mind & Spirit Channel
580 MuchMusic
581 MuchMoreMusic
582 BET
583 CMT
584 Spike TV
590 MTV
591 MTV2
592 Court TV Canada
593 iChannel
594 BookTelevision
595 Mystery
600 PPV Previews
601 TMN
602 MFest
603 MExcess
604 MEscape
605 MFest
610 Scream (E)
611 Showcase Action (E)
612 Mpix
613 Mpix2
614 IFC
615 Showcase Diva
621 Movie Central
622 Adrenaline Drive
623 Heartland Road
624 Shadow Lane
630 Scream (W)
631 Showcase Action (W)
632 Encore Avenue
633 Comic Strip
651 WGN-WB Chicago
652 WPIX-WB New York
653 KTLA-WB Los Angeles
654 WSBK-UPN Boston
680 Playboy TV
681 Health Channel
700 CBFT-SRC Montreal
701 CBAFT-SRC Moncton
710 CFCM-TVA Quebec City
711 CFTM-TVA Montreal (national feed)
713 CHOT-TVA Hull
714 CFTM-TVA Montreal (Western feed, delayed 3 hours)
716 CFER-TVA Rimouski
717 CJPM-TVA Chicoutimi
720 CFTU-Canal Savoir Montreal
721 CFJP-TQS Montreal
722 CIVM-TQc Montreal
723 CFAP-TQS Quebec City
730 RDI
740 MeteoMedia
750 RDS
751 RFO St-Pierre et Miquelon
752 Canal Vie
753 Canal Evasion
754 Canal Z
755 Series+
756 Historia
760 LCN
761 TV5 Quebec Canada
762 MusiMax
763 CHLF-TFO Toronto
764 ARTV
770 Vrak TV
771 Teletoon (French version)
773 Canal D
775 MusiquePlus
780-783 Super Ecran
800 Telelatino (English/Italian/Spanish)
801 Fairchild TV (Cantonese)
805 ATN (Hindi/English/South Asian languages)
807 Odyssey (Greek)
816 Apna Sangeet (Punjabi audio)
819 Sur Sagar (Punjabi audio)
901-940 MaxTrax-Galaxie (music channels)
975 CFTK-CBC Terrace*
976 CJDC-CBC Dawson Creek*
977 CKSA-CBC Lloydminster*
978 CITL-CTV Lloydminster*

audio also includes 46 Choice Radio and 11 Selection Radio channels

 

[PrevueTalk]

Thx Bluenoser

 

[PrevueTalk]

Days before WTSN Kicked the Bucket

 

[crainbebo]

And I think Shaw Direct subscribers get to watch all of those Canadian stations and Seattle/Boston channels when they hook up the dish (correct, Bluenoser?). Which means they beat any American cable or satellite company in providing a multitude of broadcast networks. Even cable TV in eastern B.C. offers CITV Global from Edmonton (hundreds of miles northeast), WSBK, KTLA, WTVS and usually at least one to two networks from Detroit, and Seattle or Spokane depending on the location. The Detroit stations and CITV were historically carried on Cancom in the '80s.

 

[KML0224]

How in the hell were there that many broadcast stations available?

 

[Bluenoser]

For the US network stations, Star Choice (now Shaw Direct), viewers could get either Buffalo or Detroit for the east, and either Seattle or Spokane for the west signals...but not both (one feed for each timezone)! On Bell TV (which I subscribe to), the stations were Boston and Seattle. As for the superstations, under CRTC rules, they were the local OTA feeds (though with WTBS and later WPCH, there were some slight modifications).

 

[crainbebo]

Let's say I moved into British Columbia and hooked up to Bell TV...I would be able to watch Global/CTV/CBC/CityTV feeds from all over the country, right? Or just the ones from that province? Could I just as easily watch Chicago P.D. early on CITY-DT Toronto as I could at the normal Pacific timeslot on CKVU Vancouver? Because they carry all the CityTV stations...

 

[KML0224]

Does/did Canada ever have a Syndex rule like the commercial US stations do?

 

[Bluenoser]

Let's say I moved into British Columbia and hooked up to Bell TV...I would be able to watch Global/CTV/CBC/CityTV feeds from all over the country, right? Or just the ones from that province? Could I just as easily watch Chicago P.D. early on CITY-DT Toronto as I could at the normal Pacific timeslot on CKVU Vancouver? Because they carry all the CityTV stations...

My understanding is that these days, it would primarily be just from that particular timezone, but I'm not 100% sure on that...I've been a subscriber for a few years, and am grandfathered on an older package.

 

[Mr Tony]

Let's say I moved into British Columbia and hooked up to Bell TV...I would be able to watch Global/CTV/CBC/CityTV feeds from all over the country, right? Or just the ones from that province? Could I just as easily watch Chicago P.D. early on CITY-DT Toronto as I could at the normal Pacific timeslot on CKVU Vancouver? Because they carry all the CityTV stations...

at the time yes. I had Shaw around that time until 2009 and you had all the stations. So me being in MN I could record shows (say Red Green) from CBC Vancouver but my "address" was NW Ontario (Kenora). This was before DVR's being big so having 5 time zones was nice for recording to a VCR
Now you only get your province stations with the option to add the rest. So as example if you live in BC you get the Vancouver stations, CKPG (City Prince Gorge), CFJC (City Kamloops), CTV2 Terrace and Dawson Creek.

So the folks in Ontario kinda get the best deal as they get all the different networks (CTV, CTV2, CBC, Global, Yes, City, SRC/ICI, CHCH, Omni1 & 2, TVO & TFO) from multiple locations (Toronto, Ottawa and Thunder Bay) whereas someone in Winnipeg only gets CBC, CTV, Global, City, YES and SRC/ICI

at the time you also got the US Nets (as noted above) but with simsubs. The US Nets are in all plans except the "limited" package which is mainly Canadian nets, weather channel, TVA & TV5 (French mandatory stations), APTN (Aboriginal station...again mandatory carriage), CPAC (Parliament) and AMI (Descriptive services).

 

[tvnut]

For the US network stations, Star Choice (now Shaw Direct), viewers could get either Buffalo or Detroit for the east, and either Seattle or Spokane for the west signals...but not both (one feed for each timezone)! On Bell TV (which I subscribe to), the stations were Boston and Seattle. As for the superstations, under CRTC rules, they were the local OTA feeds (though with WTBS and later WPCH, there were some slight modifications).

There was a way to get all four U.S. cities with the network feeds. You asked for Buffalo and Spokane, but also for the U.S. networks in HD. That brought in Detroit (Rochester for Fox, for N.Y. Giants fans) and Seattle. Only the Buffalo and Spokane PBS stations remain from those packages.

 

[PrevueTalk]

There was a way to get all four U.S. cities with the network feeds. You asked for Buffalo and Spokane, but also for the U.S. networks in HD. That brought in Detroit (Rochester for Fox, for N.Y. Giants fans) and Seattle. Only the Buffalo and Spokane PBS stations remain from those packages.

Bell Expressvu can Only get Seattle and Boston (Supplied by Bell Themselves while Star Choice can Get Seattle or Spokane and Detroit or Buffalo (supplied by Shaw Broadcast Services)

 

[tvnut]

Only PBS from Spokane (242) and Buffalo (236) are carried on Shaw Direct from those cities now.

KSPS Spokane has a number of low-power translators across Alberta, an office in Calgary and mentions Calgary in its top-of-hour ID. It might be the only American TV station to do so.

 

[crainbebo]

Interesting that they have limited it to stations within the province. Cable providers in eastern B.C. often carry CITV Edmonton (Global) dating back to the early Cancom days. Eastlink in Osoyoos/Oliver (near the WA border) carries Detroit networks, WNED Buffalo, CTV2 Atlantic (ex-ASN), CBLT Toronto, NTV (CJON St. Johns), CHCH, CKVR Barrie, and a few other eastern Canada stations on their digital package. Seattle networks, B.C. stations, and CITV are available on standard basic cable.

 

[tvnut]

But if you get the Timeshift package, you get every English-language TV station in Canada and the U.S. stations (two of the four PBS, others are on another tier). It’s $8 monthly on the small package and included on the bigger two, according to the Shaw website. I’d guess most people have it.

 

[crainbebo]

They also carry CFYK Yellowknife on ch 225. That's the remaining CBC station in the 'CBC North' system...what used to be in the clear on C-Band for so many years. I've found those blue screen weather crawls in the past...

 

[tvnut]

Watched a lot of CBC North (and those weather forecasts) on C-band, along with that just-audible CBC Radio subcarrier at times. Adding CBMT Montreal was a plus! Sort of made up for the scrambling of TSN CHCH, CHAN and CITV in 1985 or so.