Just got BBC Canada through satellite last week ... I've finally realised just how awful north american TV really is

Been glued to the beeb for four days now .... wondering when the novelty will wear off.

So what are you watching that I'm not? I used to think it was great but I feel the programming has gone abit down hill....way to many reality shows.

It will wear off around the time you realise how many repeats there are on BBCC! (And dreadful home improvement shows)>

We just subscribed to BBC Kids, even though we don't have any! There's still Thunderbirds, Top of the Pops, Blackadder, Dr. Who .....excellent!

I like BBC Kids too ... haven't seen Thunderbirds yet, but I've managed to catch the others.

How long did it take for the novelty to wear off?

I did say we just got it ... before last week we were watching five channels with an antenna ... before that we had cable, which really wasn't worth the money - that's why we ended up with an antenna.

There is a LOT of home improvement shows ...

Hi
are there any advantages in having sat rather than cable?
Do you get better/more channels than with cable.
mike

We've got StarChoice ... we get every CBC, CTV, etc region from across Canada ... we've got young kids, so it's actually convenient for us to be able to travel across time zones to catch a show.

Satellite worked out cheaper for us than cable ... to get the channels we wanted we would have had to shell out $150 just for a digital cable box ... satellite was effectively "free" ... $100 for the reciever ... $50 off with an instore promotion and $50 programming credit ... the dish itself and installation were free ... the monthly charge is also slightly lower ... we're probably saving $10 or $20 per month, which adds up.

Cable is actually pretty expensive for what you get and unless you go digital, you don't get parental controls.

Per pay view is comparable to a visit to Blockbuster ... $4.99/movie ... special events and adult stuff are more expensive ... I saw a footie game at $14.99 for PPV ... you wouldn't even get the option of watching that with regular cable.

[glaswegian

The novelty will wear off, but if you are anything like us, it is the first channel we check each day.

There are some terrific shows on like Spooks, casualty, mersey beat and Sunday night brit flicks. I have become an Eastender fan since I moved here and I hated the show back home.
The downside is the repeats.

Our kids ask us why we are always watching shows from Britain!

Glaswegian, can I ask where in Glasgow you hail from?

I didn't realise just how much I'd missed Casualty ...

Tried watching Corrie on CBC ... I just plain don't like it ... looking forward to watching my first Eastenders in 3 years in a few minutes.

The south side

Well..my offer still stands....if you want to write my presentation about tidal pools........

In BC we are fortunate enough to have 2 great BBC stations - one from Detroit and the other from Seattle......in their last newsletter they said that there was such an incredible demand for the "old" BBC programs that they have started to run them again....all creatures great and small, as time goes by, keeping up appearances, yes minister (my personal favourite - talk about good english humour)etc.....great classic shows.....you can certainly tell how old they are...by the wear and tear on the tape.

PBS stations are all my husband and I watch generally speaking (although we seldom watch TV).....there is far to much garbage on TV. Luckily, our kids are young enough that we still have complete control on their TV watching......and so they don't watch any at all....but by the time their school age.....I'm sue it will be different.

Don't be daft! He can't! He's still glued to his television set. The novelty still hasn't worn off.

It'd be amusing if it is three years behind England - you could then start where you left off. Or is it pretty much up-to-date?

I loved it when we first got it!

Then realised all they do is repeat the same episodes over and over, so cancelled it!

The only good thing was 'enders, but I got over not watching it.

Coronation Street is at least a year behind England....and living in BC....we probably get it 1 1/2 years later...........but it's also really changed over the last year.....with alot of the old characters gone....not the same program.......

Phil and Lisa were just argueing over the baby in a cottage near the top of a cliff ... does that give you a clue?

It's sometime after Lisa shot Phil ... we haven't seen Walford yet so I don't know what else is happening.