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In Canada, cable television also provides viewers with access
to American commercial networks that otherwise cannot be received
(save for a limited number of communities located close to
the U.S. border).
When cable tv was introduced to the country in the 1970s,
local broadcasters attempted to stop it, fearing loss of advertising
revenue and ratings. As a result, simultaneous substitution
was introduced.
As it pertains to Canadian cable broadcasts, whenever an
American network program is scheduled to run at the same time
as an identical program originating from a Canadian broadcaster,
the cable tv Canadian signal (including all local advertisements
and station identification) replaces the cable tv American
signal for the duration of the program.
There have also been occasions where cable tv scheduled programming
on an American broadcaster has been "blacked out" or replaced
with different programming. This has occurred when still-active
criminal cases in Canada have been made the basis of made-for-TV
films or television series episodes in the United States,
or when a broadcast violates a licensing agreement.
(For example, in the spring of 2004, Spike TV, an American
broadcaster, aired a series of James Bond films. Canadian
viewers, however, saw substituted programming as a domestic
broadcaster held exclusive rights to air those films in Canada.)
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