The other day I received a survey online saying that they are thinking about introducing pay tv into Canada.

I just had to answer a few questions on it (I feel they were asking the wrong questions, for example nothing about how much I would pay for it or what I would like to see on it)

They said that provisionally on pay tv there would be no ads (I guess this would be expensive) and they would have sports events, live concerts, drama series (similar to HBO) etc etc

If it has proper tennis coverage like the pay tv in Australia I will get it straightaway, otherwise it depends on what is on offer.

I tried to google it but could find no more information.

Interesting, hopefully this will actually happen and for me there will be something worthwhile watching.

We already have pay TV?! Or am I missing something?

I think we not only have pay TV but get US pay channels free from the DirectTV satellite. I suppose we get about 1500 channels. Alas, apart from Desperate Housewives, there really is isn't any quality programming.

Maybe Babsi meant a subscription channel with original Canadian content?

Me too! I'm starting to think the last 20 years might have just been a dream.

No, pay tv is very different, the price of this package (I have no idea if it is 1 channel or a group of channels) will probably be quite a bit as you are paying for quality which *should* be very high and there are no ad's.

It is a bit like HBO/Showtime in the US, quality channels with quality programming which you pay more for. Like I said before Australia does this.

The only things I watch on tv here is 24 (which finishes next month) and tennis (which is a joke in regards to programming).

We get HBO/Showtime. We get the exact same channels as in New York as well as the Canadian ones.

I know what this is about

Its advert free T.V. you pay extra to have top programs without the adverts...

In other words a bit like the BBC...

Exactly - which is what I have and I do pay for it (knew I wasn't going barmy....phew!)

I have 900 channels - a right mixed bag of regular with commercials: BBC Canada for east enders, and some good old british sit coms and movies. CBC (a free channel wherever you get it from), for Corrie and Emmerdale...lol, and 'Canadian programming (bit like the BBC is to UK), and a bunch of other 'subscription' channels for ad free movies/sports etc. (You can even get Playboy and porn channels .....not that we do, of course...ahem)

This is all via satellite and costs anywhere from about $30 - $150 per month, depending on how many channels you don't want to watch (often find the '57 channels and nothing on' , to be true...lol)

Pay tv is very, very different. It is an extra, in theory it is a lot more expensive than normal cable/satellite tv with no ad's with supposedly very high quality programming and it is not available in Canada yet, that is why I filled in the survey as they want to know what interest is in it.

And you can't get HBO/Showtime in Canada unless you have a grey dish which is most likely Direct TV, you can get programmes from those channels, most like on Showcase and they are behind on a few of them.

Yes you need a Direct TV dish to get those channels in Canada but, if you value the programming, it's probably worth buying the dish. The same considerations would apply to this new service if it were to be offered. I have to say you're the first person I've heard praise Australian TV; even Australians are usually glad to have escaped it. I didn't watch much TV in Australia but what I did see looked to be roughly the same as Sky, I suppose we should expect that.