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Canada (population 30,000,000)

Since over 80% of Canada's population is marginalised geographically to zones adjacent to the US border, much of the country's English-speaking programming is heavily American-influenced. The French-speaking market covers only 7 million people, and is unsurprisingly therefore heavily state-subsidised.

Public broadcasting is undertaken by the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) and the SRC (Société Radio-Canada). TV-Ontario and Télé Québec are educational channels. Operating budgets are partly state-subsidised, with the remainder derived from advertising revenue. Principal private channels are CTV and Global (English) and TVA and TQS (French).

Over 9 ot of 10 households have cable access, and 7 out of 10 have a cable connection. Regulation of the industry is the responsibility of the CRTC (Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission). There are 27 English and 16 French thematic stations, plus 5 pay-TV channels. Provided that no other Canadian enterprise is offering direct competition, satellite and cable channels can also distribute American TV.

Thematic TV is on the up in Canada, with an increased auadience market share of 38% in 15 years. American TV gets just under 15%, with home-grown TV channels down to only 33.5%. On the French side, 35.2% of viewing time is spent on thematic channels, 4.1% on pay-TV and 59.7% on Canadian channels.

Ownership of principal players is as follows: TVA - Quebecor Media, TQS - Bell Globe Media and Cogeco, CTV - Bell Globe Media, Global - CanWest Global. Unlike CanWest (English) and Quebecor (French), Bell Globe Media has a foot in both camps.

Public TV in Canada is not permitted general thematic channels, but has nonetheless expressed interest in Internet alternatives. Astral is one of several smaller, private companies specialising in thematic content.