hbo times.

unless you've been living under a rock (or are wise enough to avoid spending all your heard earned cash on overpriced cable), you know that hbo has officially come to canada. the crtc starting paving the way for its arrival last spring sometime, and the american cable channel officially found a home on our airwaves on october 30th. this came after years of stringent crtc anti-competition regulations that kept hbo from crossing the border. so. how did this finally happen?

- hbo canada replaced mmore on the movie network dial (owned by the movie network's parent company, astral media)- which took care of the flailing channel while filling it with new programming.
- hbo canada has agreed to devote 25% of its airtime to canadian shows- the acquisition of which will increase revenue for canadian broadcasters.
- hbo canada is bundled with tmn so that consumers are not allowed to choose hbo instead of tmn- this tackled the largest roadblock in bringing hbo to canada.

some think these rules and regulations to be monopolistic and anti-competitive...which of course can lead into the "crtc over protects canadian programming which doesn't allow it to step up and truly compete with american programming" argument. but that's a whole other topic, and frankly, i debated it to death during my time at rye high. enough.

what is clear is that we're entering an age where canadian dramas are doing well for themselves at home as well as in the states (see: flashpoint) and with the addition of hbo to our television dial, it would seem things are changing across the board. and yet, not so much. because strangely, hbo canada doesn't offer tons more than the movie network acquires and airs on its own channels. but you do get programs at increased intervals, which is a bonus. if anything, i think anyone who checks out hbo canada will realise just how much canadian broadcasters offer on their own. these include shows from hbo, but also a bunch of acclaimed programming from showtime and amc (which have been edging hbo out as the cable station with the most envelope pushing programming). ironically, this makes hbo canada's arrival rather anticlimactic after all these years. i'd venture a guess that the crtc knew just what it was doing with that kind of timing.