Denwa and tulsa:
its funny, but the part of toronto i lived in was the very last one to get cable - around 1972 or so. so for the first 12 years of my life, i watched tv using only an antenna - and of course, still watched a lot of the buffalo atations. same was probably true throughout most of canada, as most of us live within 70 miles of the US border.
part of the difficulty is that we have 1/9th the population of the US - so the costs of programming are spread over fewer viewers (that is, advertsing will not pay enough to cover the costs of a program). at the same time, because US programming has already been produced for the US market and paid for, the producers can sell the progam to export markets, like Canada, for peanuts.
even as it is now, what little programming we have still needs government subsidies in order to be made. the liberals cut $25 million out of one fund, and that has killed a number of popular programs.
and the other thing is that americans have very little interest in watching shows that are not american - so if we make shows set in canada, with canadian themes and characters, no US network would buy them (though actually, many other countries do buy canadian shows).
even shows from the UK don't get shown on the major US channels - the US companies remake them for the american market. man about the house = three's company. this fall, they are remaking "couples" with american actors. its like japan and cars - even when american companies make cars of high quality, the japanese refuse to buy them!
and true, our film and tv industry has been very busy making films and shows for the uS market, but these are mainly american productions, which are set in the uS and with US stars playing US characters. its only been becasue of the exchange rate that we have been so busy. SARS and a 73 cent dollar will hurt the industry, and already have in fact.