Cutting The Cord In Canada

Unless you have been living under a rock (I've always loved this expression), I'm sure you have all heard about "cutting the cord" from your TV provider and are running like the wind to jump onto the IPTV bandwagon. And, here in Canada, why would you not? So many are doing it, and in so doing, are saving loads of money. But if you are living in Canada (or even the UK for that matter) its a bit more complicated and just a tad illegal (at the moment anyway). And yet, that is not stopping hundreds of thousands of Canadians from moving to illegal IPTV to save a truckload on their TV services, and really, who can blame them?

Today's post is an elaboration of a post that I wrote a couple years ago for my personal blog. Sadly, nothing has really changed over this time and IPTV is just as prevalent a topic today. With costs soaring across the board for day-to-day living it's no wonder Canadians are fed up with forking out loads of money and turning to streaming services under the radar. I do want to state, that in no way am I promoting illegal streaming or suggesting that you sign up for it. It is illegal and you should look to legal alternatives and methods to stream digital media.

What is IPTV?

IPTV is a way of receiving ("streaming") your TV services through your internet rather than through a dedicated cable and cable box or satellite dish. It stands for Internet Protocol Television. It's much like how home and business telephone services run - (VOIP or Voice over IP) all through the internet rather than through it's own dedicated line. All the big TV service providers are offering this now as a mainstream service. Being rural however, this availability of needing high speed internet for it is not available and therefore, rural areas cannot reap the benefits of fiber internet and IPTV services. But even for those that can receive this service here in Canada, there is a hefty price tag that goes along with it, in addition to your internet service hefty price tags. And all of those prices just keep skyrocketing.

Monopoly & Money Grab

Many don't realize that Canada has the highest rates in the world for TV and Internet services along with mobile phone data plans. Why is this? To be blunt, we have a monopoly of companies that are the greediest bastards on the planet and take full advantage of us. No, I am not just a bitter "Canuck" (although in this regard I am). But seriously, this is fact - not made up conspiracy stuff.

Back in the '70's,'80's, '90's and even early 2000's, if you wanted a home telephone service or television service in Ontario, there was only one company to call. Bell for telephone and Rogers for cable TV. Shaw Communications handled the western provinces and northern Ontario. And that really hasn't changed until more recently. With the introduction of the Internet, that didn't change much either. Now there are 3, Rogers, Bell and Telus (the "Big 3") for this service. Though, there is the new Xplore Net satellite service that just launched in recent years but again, a hefty price tag comes along with it. And for mobile phone plans, again, the same 3 companies as they own all the smaller ones now.

I am not going to go into detail about all of this history as I will completely loose focus on the main topic of my post. So, to sum it all up in a nutshell, while the Canadian government reluctantly stepped in to make a ruling that there cannot be Monopoly control for these services several years ago (and more recently for cellular), and ruled that there must be a competitive market, thus forming smaller business for these services, it really changed absolutely nothing.

As the main infrastructure for these services were all built by the monopolies, the smaller businesses did not have the funds to build their own infrastructure and had to "rent" the existing infrastructure while still trying to sell their services. As you can imagine, this didn't let the small businesses make enough money and have all been completely swallowed up by the big corporations, Bell, Rogers and Telus. While some businesses for TV and internet services are still surviving in small pockets locally, the cellular market is a different story. All of these small companies like Fido, Public Mobile, Koodo, Wind, Virgin, and Chatr are all owned by one of the "Big 3", Rogers, Bell and Telus. How in the world is this not a monopoly? For a real laugh, check out this video from a sketch comedy group, Extremely Decent, that sums up these facts quite nicely and with an immense amount of truth behind it. *Warning Vulgar Language*

And to top off the laughs while we are smiling from that last one, here is another one they did regarding Net Neutrality... and again, while this is made in jest, it is actually based on fact.

The "Black Box" of IPTV

Now that we have had a good chuckle, let's get back to the topic at hand. If you remember back in the 80's and 90's, satellite TV was hugely popular. And of course, these service costs got quite excessive for the average homeowner. So, the black market developed "The Black Box". Underground computer programmers developed a little reception box that took the encoded satellite signals and un-encoded them, thus now giving you access to all the satellite TV channels for free, after a small $200 fee to the programmer. Of course, the Satellite companies caught on and would change the code so the illegal boxes didn't work anymore so you would have to take your little black box back to your programmer to have him put in the new decryption data, pay a small reprogramming fee to them, and you were all set. This is almost exactly what modern IPTV has come to - at least in Canada.

The World Wide Web

With the advancement of the Internet over the past several years, it has offered us an amazing way to communicate, get, and transfer information. It has given us endless amounts of possibilities and we now so heavily rely on it for just about everything. Yes, it will even wash your dishes, turn your lights on, control your thermostat. stream videos from YouTube, post of Facebook, stream movies and TV, and most importantly, allow me to sit here in my onesie sipping coffee (yes, I am a grown man wearing a onesie - its a Star Wars onesie so... its justified) and type out this blog for all of you to read. 😁

Today, all of us enjoy a world with Netflix, YouTube, Hulu, Crave, Prime Video and Disney+ (or whatever service you use), and watch Movies and TV Series in the comfort of our own homes on our Smart TV's, computers and even on our mobile devices for a somewhat small monthly fee. Thankfully, us Canadians can do that too, even though the media libraries are not as extensive as in the US - yet we pay the same amount (but I won't get into that now).

And yet, LIVE TV streaming services are restricted here in the Great White North, as we still must have our live TV services through our monopoly. And, if you want most channels, other than network channels, you have to pay extra. And, like almost everyone who has an HD TV, you must pay extra to have these channels in HD. So, the average cost with taxes and fees and cable box rental, is, at the very least, about $100.00 a month. To get all the channels (English) they offer with all sports and movies you are going to pay almost $400.00 So, as you can see, we get screwed.

And this is because the monopoly controls this. If LIVE streaming is allowed in Canada, the monopoly would loose money, so they do everything in their power to have these services blocked from being in Canada. Even the CRTC rules that live streaming content is only allowed if it contains a minimum of 30% Canadian created content. Seeing as how the film and TV industry is predominantly American... we get no LIVE Streaming. But the rest of the world does get it. And it doesn't matter what provider you are with...it's the same thing. Enter pirated IPTV.

The New Black Box

Canadians are tired of getting screwed with less services and higher prices and therefore, sparks the huge drive to find a much more cost effective alternative. Oh, that's right, we don't have any. Or at least, not legally. While we cannot do anything about our Internet costs (we are forced to pay through the nose to have what is now considered an essential service), we need to take full advantage of it's offerings and capabilities.

Television networks now broadcast TV episodes on the internet which is great. However, as most of the big popular shows are on US based networks, Canadians are limited once again and cannot view US network TV content this way. We can only do this through Canadian networks. We can watch some US based content through these networks but it is very limited and it is nothing like the full availability they have in the US.

With the capabilities of Smart TV's, streaming media devices, computers and phones - all using the internet, we can now get around this. There are a few streaming media devices like Amazon Firestick, Nvidia Shield, Google Chromecast, Android Boxes, Roku and Apple TV, to name a few, and we can use these to not only organize our own digital media content but stream many Internet based services as well.

There are many providers out on the Internet providing streaming Live TV services. Some media feeds are free and you can use an app to gather all of these random feeds (called "scraping") for you to watch but the more preferred, and reliable method, is using a provider that subscribes to all the available services and rebroadcast these feeds in there own offered service plan. They store theses servers and main infrastructure services in Europe where the laws are quite lax around streaming services so it makes it much harder for these providers to get found.

The next step is to find a solid provider who provides excellent service and TV feeds, then install the app or watch through your internet browser, and you now have over 2,000 channels, from around the world, that you can now watch for as little as $15 a month. Yes, that's right, $15 a month compared to over $400 per month.

Yes, this is pirated TV and yes, it is illegal. But it sure can be tempting when looking at the stark cost differences from the right side of the fence. And, you now might ask - how can you get caught? The provider would be the one in trouble not the end user correct? For the most part, yes, that is correct however, some not so reputable providers, may hand over your information in the event of a lawsuit (as a demand within the lawsuit) and there is a possibility that you will now be investigated and fined as well. But, for the most part, it is the provider they are after, not the end user. However, if your internet provider can prove what you have been doing, they will come after you as well.

Here in Canada, our Internet providers monitor such a type of activity. If they are monitoring your activity and see you are streaming services from an unregistered providers, they will throttle your services and send you a severe warning saying that if you continue, you will be fined and face possible jail time. If you receive such a warning, then you had better stop because they take this very seriously. And rightly so. So, now you are going to ask the big question, how do you minimize the risk of getting caught?

To answer this question I will touch on a point mentioned earlier. Netflix in Canada does not offer the same content as it does to our US neighbours. Their media library has far more titles than we do here in Canada. Again, Canadians were frustrated that they were paying the same fee yet getting access to much less content than US customers.

VPN

So, in order to end this streaming frustration, many use an existing technology, that is very legal, that allows you to form an encrypted tunnel through the Internet called a VPN (Virtual Private Network). This software is almost as old as the internet itself and is used heavily in businesses to provide secure remote access to their infrastructure. Today, with the severe threat of Identity theft and hackers looking at ways to steal your information, many home users are now using VPN's to protect their data and identity. For more information, you can check out our Blog Post "Tech 101 - Do I need to use a VPN" . You have probably seen one of the many advertised products on TV and the internet. And yes, to answer your upcoming question, this is highly recommended for your home network!

One of the abilities of a VPN is that it connects you to any VPN server in the world that you want, making your traffic look like it is coming from that locale. So, if you wanted to use the US Netflix library, you would just run the VPN to one of the listed servers in the US, and presto change-o, you are now showing as a US based client and you have access to the American Netflix.

Of course, Netflix caught onto this after some time and now block access to their service library through VPN...for the most part. As it's very hard to implement this type of blocking (which I won't get into the technical aspect of the why's and how's) it's still possible to do this... or so I have heard anyway 😜.

So, to get back to IPTV services and our Internet provider watching our every move... welcome VPN with a loving embrace. The whole purpose of a VPN is to completely secure and hide all of your data that is being transmitted through the internet. Everything is fully encrypted through this tunnel with a highly secure encryption algorithm that nobody is going to be able to break (nobody has been able to crack it yet in all these years and nobody will). In now implementing a VPN on your home and mobile devices, nobody, including your Internet provider, can see what you are doing. And again, let me reiterate, VPN's are fully legal and encouraged to use for all of your data and devices! I highly recommend them for your everyday computing as identity theft and the robbery of your information is a huge problem for anyone connected to the internet. But, don't get me wrong, I am not telling you to use them for illegal purposes.

Hands Are Tied

If you are living in the US, so many legal IPTV offerings are out there and they are very decently priced - just like their mobile data plans and Internet plans. But here, we have nothing - other than our monopoly, and us paying whatever amount they seem fit to charge. Netflix is a great example as it has increased substantially over the years, with no change in service.

And here is the real kick-in-the-nuts (to put it very bluntly). Sony, Sling (we all see their funny commercials as of late), AT&T Now, CBS All Access, Direct TV Now, Hulu, and many others all offer US customers 30-50+ Live TV streaming channels (with more as add-ons), and movie streaming for a very reasonable cost. None of them are allowed in Canada. No Live TV streaming is allowed in Canada. Now why in the world would that be?

You guessed it...."The Big 3". If that type of streaming is allowed in Canada, they will loose subscribers and therefore loose money. They are fighting this in courts with just that very reason.... and winning! To add more fuel to the fire, back in Steve Jobs' last days with Apple, they were developing the Apple TV. Not the Apple TV we know today...an actual television screen with cable and satellite signal decoding abilities built in. 'Say goodbye for the need of a cable or satellite set-top box' was their proposed slogan. They had thousands made. Implementing this technology would be a huge plus! Who do you think was 1st on the bandwagon to nix that idea, and fast. "The Big 3". Others, even in the US followed suit. Money would be lost for all companies who require you to have a monthly fee (or outright purchase), set-top box to obtain their services. The world never saw the Apple Television. It is evident just how much power the cable monsters have. And we cannot do a damn thing about it. Then they wonder why there is such a strong demand for illegal streaming and spend billions of dollars trying to fight it.

Thank goodness, On-Demand services are being allowed here in Canada. Of course, the big one, Netflix, has been here for a while. But we have others, like Amazon Prime, Crave, You Tube Premium, Discovery+, CBS All access (without the live streaming), and the new Disney+ plus many others. There are many Canadian networks that provide On-Demand as well (again-without live streaming) BUT - guess what? Almost all of them require you to have a cable or satellite subscription to be able to view them. WTF?

Though, this type of restriction isn't just limited to Canada, even some of the US big networks have the restriction to have a current cable provider subscription to view their on-demand content. So it seems, cable providers, all over, need their piece of the action.

Conclusion

Canadians are at the mercy of the "Big 3", for now anyway, and for some time to come no doubt. Whether things change or not... is completely up in the air. You can find some legal IPTV providers and a few independent providers of cable service but you really aren't saving much as they have to pay for all the licensing and for renting off of existing infrastructure. However, if you do some really smart research, you may save at least $20-$50 depending on your needs.

As On-Demand is becoming quite big now, and you are willing to give up viewing shows something as they air, then you could really save just by going with services like Netflix, Disney +, Amazon Prime, Crave, CBS All Access and Hulu, you will be able to watch just about all of your favourite shows, albeit it delayed buy a few hours or couple days. But if you are a sports fan, news fanatic or like watching the Olympics you need a cable/satellite/IPTV provider subscription.

Thankfully, free service providers like Pluto TV, Plex, CBC Gem, Tubi and a few others, do offer some decent free streaming in Canada, but again, it's almost strictly on-demand as well as being dated content. However, it is a great way to watch some classics and older hit shows. But for sports and current shows, you are out of luck.

In reality, you could subscribe to all of these on-demand providers and still be paying less than a "Big 3" cable subscription. Add an HD OTA (Over The Air) antenna (one-time cost at about $70) that plugs right into your TV or computer and you can get about 40-50 live channels including the big network channels and in HD quality. You can even setup your computer to record shows just like a PVR. However, it does become a bit more advanced to setup and configure for the average user. But, if you are willing to learn the setup, it is most certainly worth it for the cost savings you get.

As you can see, here in Canada, Live TV streaming is a big no from the Big 3 that run the country, and it's no wonder why Canadians are turning to pirated TV services to be able to watch whatever they want, from all around the world. However, this in turn then drives up costs for the corporate giants to fight off pirated TV use, which in turn, raises the costs to everyone for legal services. If you ask me... it's a bunch of crap and nothing but money grabbing from corporate giants that line the political party's pockets with gold to ensure they get exclusivity for those services within Canada. It's absolutely criminal... yet we are the ones that get our hands slapped.

And now, with the CRTC close to implementing their Online Streaming Act which also enforces the Broadcasting Act to online content providers, out of country providers such as Hulu, Disney+, Netflix, etc, will need to provide Canadian content, for the content they currently offer, to stay active in Canada. Do you think there is 30% Canadian content available for them to offer?

Just recently, the CRTC ordered all foreign online providers that generate more than $10million dollars in broadcasting revenue must register their business within Canada. If the CRTC starts enforcing all sorts of restrictions on them, why would they continue to offer their services in Canada? It will cost them more to do so than what they bring in from Canadian revenue. The CRTC's national director told the National Post that

"These providers have an impact on the broadcasting system... and we pose the question, how and should they contribute to the attainment of the act?" - Scott Shortliffe

As you have probably already been able to tell, this is a very sensitive topic for me. It's absolutely absurd how Canada is handling things in this regard and how they let the Big 3 control the country. I am a proud Canadian and I respect many aspects of Canadian government and policy, but this certainly is one (amongst a few others) that is a red flag to me. I am all for "Canadian Made" and I do what I can to fully support local business but to not allow outside Live Streaming services into the country only benefits 3 corporate giants... and a few extra yachts and summer homes to the powers that be. Is there even 30% purely Canadian content offered by Canadian broadcast companies on Cable TV? I'm not actually sure but the shows offered sure seem mostly US based. We are not going to loose ourselves as Canadians by offering Worldwide or even just American Live TV streaming.

I'd love to hear your opinion on the matter in the comments and what you think should be allowed. Have you cut the cord?