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These comments are taken from Canadian Freedom Of Choice Webpage
ExpressVu Inc.'s Role
The year is 1994 and the US service Directv® begins service in the United States. Canadian DTH Company ExpressVu Announces that they too will have a service available by the summer of 1994. Canadians are excited about the prospect of finally having an alternative to cablevision. Expressvu begin to distribute dealership territories to satellite dealers in Canada. Many dealers are excited and begin to spend money on advertising, showroom improvements etc.
Summer 1994 Expressvu announces that it will not be able to meet its original deadline and moves its launch date up to December 1994. Dealers are disappointed, but still continue to spend money on the prospect of this exciting new opportunity. Afterall its backed by BCE, one of Canadas' largest corporations. Customers begin to get tired of waiting and begin to purchase "grey market" satellite systems and services from Directv® and USSB®. A much heated debate begins in Canada regarding the legality of the US services in Canada.
Winter 1994 Expressvu again announces it will not be meeting its deadline. By now several thousand US "grey market" dishes have emerged. Expressvu begins seeking intervention to stop the importation of the US dishes into Canada.
Winter 1995 Over a year from the date of original scheduled launch and Canada still had no DBS service. By Now over 100 000 US dishes were estimated to exist in Canada.
Winter 1996, Over 2 years later and still no Canadian service. Now over 250 000 US dishes are estimated to exist. ExpressVu has also files several injunctions and restraining orders against some of the larger distributors in Canada in an effort to curb the flow of US dishes into Canada. Canadians become excited again when it is announced that another company Starchoice, will be offering a service within 6 months to Canadians. Expressvu issues a plea to Canadians to wait for them to launch while filing with the CRTC to block the licensing of Starchoice, further resulting in un-necessary delays for a Canadian service.
Spring 1997, 2 1/2 years after ExpressVu first promised a service, Starchoice launches a test service. Shortly after, the decision to merge with Shaw Communications is made. Shaw will merge, transferring the Homestar transponders to Starchoice. AlphaStar Canada receives a licence also and promptly begins a Canadian service called AlphaStar Canada. Starchoice launches a limited service in Summer 1997. Two months later, AlphaStar goes into receivership, and then goes off the air, resulting in several thousand people losing money on equipment and prepaid programming.
Fall 1997, 3 years after first promising a service, Expressvu launches and promptly begins a campaign to "get even" and begins to pull out the stops suing dealers and distributors selling the US services.
Winter 1998, ExpressVu drops out of the law suits due to dealer and consumers launching a nationwide boycott against them. WIC and ohers coninue to pursue it.
CRTC's Part
The CRTC is also largely responsible for the mess we are all in. The CRTC has always been hungry for power. In the late 1970's when the first Big Dish systems started emerging into Canada, The CRTC one day decided that they were illegal. Yes you can't watch TV on Satellite, you have to have Cable vision. If you didn't have access to cable tough, you can't watch anything. Well a lot of people didn't agree with their ruling. Who were they to tell people what they could watch on TV. So the CRTC decided to get a bunch of ole' boys together and round up these self proclaimed "illegal" dishes. After all its OK to steal other people property as long as the goverment does it right? So these boys went around looking for dishes, when they found one, they would casually sashay into the yard and make off with peoples satellite equipment. This turned into a much heated debate. One day the "legal thieves" were bravely dismantling a fellows dish, preparing to take it away when the owner came home, mistook them for "illegal thieves" and shot them dead. The CRTC had their hand slapped and it was decided that they were not a law enforcement agency and had no right to violate peoples property and seize equipment. Now here we go with round two;
We as Canadians, live in a country where citizens are free to believe in whatever they want to and they can come here from virtually anywhere in the world and be welcomed, and yet the goverment and large corporations are working hard to insure that we are restricted in what we can watch in the privacy of our own homes. The enemy?: American Television! The CRTC and goverments have taken it apon themselves to decide what is okay for you to watch and what you can't. The CRTC's so called "white list" contains all the American and International channels that can be distributed in Canada. And all the other channels that aren't on it are forbidden to you as we as Canadians are obviously considered too dumb by our goverment to choose for ourselves what we should watch and so the decision is made for us like we are a bunch of preschoolers. The channels that are on the "white list" are the ones that are available on cablevision. There are literally hundreds of channels that our goverments say are "illegal" to watch and discourage us from disobeying them by slapping our wrists and delaring that Canadians watching "grey market" TV are lawbreakers and we dealers that are giving access to US television are likened to "Dopepushers" The simple fact of the matter is THEY SCREWED UP! And now they are trying to fix their little boo boo by SCREWING US! If I have the ability to watch a program on television (With satellite)and I want to watch it in the privacy of my own home, then I should be able to do so! Without any goverments or corporations declaring me a lawbreaker! I can't seem to recall the last time that someone was convicted of watching television that they are subscribing to and legally paying for! Silly me I was also under the impression that we lived in a free country, but that also is proving to be a falacy. The goverment and CRTC Screwed up in 1995 by declaring that no company shall be granted a DBS licence unless they carry a ludicrious 50% Canadian content on their service. I agree that we do need a voice, but a 50% edict is far too much. Especially considering that cable companies are only required to carry 35%. (Favoritism or what!) At the same time as they are doing this they are also working to shut down the CBC and further limit our Canadian choices. This tactic can be likened to shooting yourself in the foot and while you are bandaging it, you are shooting yourself in the other foot with the other hand! Absolute nonsense! Canada for some reason seems to favor monopolies and biopolies. Competition in many sectors is discouraged. Major telephone companies in Canada held monopolies for over 100 years until deregulation in 1992. Hydro in Canada is monopolized. Cellular phone service is a biopoly between Cantel and the major phone companies. And so on. I agree with the fact that Canadian companies have paid big money to aquire the broadcasting rights of some of the American companies, but the last time I checked, viewership was a privilage not a right, and if these Cdn. companies want us to watch their programming instead, then they should do so by making it worth watching! And not because we are forced to! Our goverments are trying to shelter us from an invisible enemy. I for one am sick of it and I don't need protecting...thank-you very much!! Anyone of reasonable intelligence is quite capable of deciding what to watch on television, be it a documentry, nature show or a good movie (or a crappy one for that matter) This "Big Brother" attitude must be curbed here! Or it will set a precedent for other things! If this continues one day it may be illegal to read anything other than Canadian magazines. (Sound like nonsense? What if I was to tell you 5 years ago that it would be considered illegal to watch non-Canadian tv? You would probably have laughed and said it could never happen!) Well it is happening people and we need to wake up and make sure it ends here! These Cdn. companies have it made! Why put up with competition when our gullable goverment can make competition illegal!!!! We are already one of the most heavily taxed countries in the world! We can't allow to be dubbed "most restricted" also. A recent court decision in May that declared US satellite services "legal" in Canada can be viewed Here! However another one a month later reversed it and declared the US services "illegal" That can also be viewed Here! Another factor to consider is they seem to be ignoring completely the Supreme law of Canada, The Canadian Constitution!!
from the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms:
Section 52 The Constitution is the supreme law of canada, and any law that is inconsistant with the provisions of the constitution is, to the extent of the inconsistency, of no force or effect.
Section 2 2. Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms:
(a)Freedom of conscience and religion;
(b)Freedom of thought, belief opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other means of communication;
(c)Freedom of peaceful assembly; and
(d)Freedom of association.
Perhaps our goverment feels that they are not subject to constitutional provisions. You be the judge. Clearly they are trying to discourage International competition, protecting the cable monopolies and hiding it behind "Canadian Culture" excuses. I wonder if the fact that the CRTC is funded by Canadian Broadcasters has anything to do with it? (Hmmm...)
This Article was fount on CFACT SITE
Submitted By: D. Smith and J. Schaeffer, Kitchener, ON.
In 1994, Mr. Keith Spicer, then chairman of the CRTC,was interviewed by Pamela Wallin on the CBC's Prime Time Magazine, with respect to the new small Satellite Systems that had just been introduced to the American people. The following are some excerpts from that interview:
MS. WALLIN: "And how about those consumers that are going over the border in this country, buying their little satellite dishes and saying "a pox on your houses, this is how I'm going to do it?"
MR. SPICER: "Absolutely, they're right. They should do whatever they think is right. Whatever they want to do."
MS. WALLIN: "So you won't be clamping down on them?"
MR. SPICER: "Absolutely no. We have spent, this country and the western world has spent 40 years telling the Russians it was immoral to block broadcasts. We're certainly not going to start doing that in Canada. Canadians are free people and they should act freely."
The above comments are from "The SCAC Report" written by Guy Skipworth, as published in a late 1994, or early 1995 issue of Signal Magazine, which at that time was "The Voice of Canada's Satellite Industry".
We assume that since Mr. Spicer was interviewed by Ms. Wallin in his role as Chairman of the CRTC, and not as a private individual, that his comments reflected the position of the CRTC. We find it amusing, that our governments position changed so dramatically once the "big dollar lobbying activities" of corporate giants such as BCE and Shaw got to Industry Canada's Mr. John Manley and the new regime at the CRTC.
We are very much in support of the notion that the "Canadian Charter of Rights" should guarantee the right of all Canadians to be free to select the information and communication they deem to be correct for their own personal situation.
Special note to Mr. Manley: The only people who should be allowed to influence the educational and entertainment programming that our family and we are able to receive in the privacy of our home, are our family and ourselves. In today's democratic society, we totally resent any intrusion by our government or our courts to intervene in the communication and information that we feel is correct for, and have selected for, our family. We further feel that Mr. Spicer very clearly supported our position.
Submitted by: D. Smith and J. Schaeffer, Kitchener, ON.
This Article is from www.dr7.com.
As mentioned the Stormtroopers(RCMP + U.S customs) also visit Discount Satellite and begin seizing stuff, they seize no DSS hardware but do seize cash, cards, personal jewelry? A Harley Davidson? What the fuck does a mans gold have to do with satellite? What does a Harley Davidson, Guitar Amp and stereo speakers have to do with Satellite TV? Yet a Bigscreen TV and DSS receivers are left in the theater room like they mean nothing!!
It seems the RCMP are trying to push their weight and are violating the Charter of Rights granted to Canadians...In Russia if this was to happen you would have a choice, "Sir! Will you stop providing piracy? NO!!! Bang Bang Bang!!!!" bullet to the head its all over quick and next guy asked will likely say he will change after seeing another dealers brains flying...In Canada shooting a satellite dealer in the head might draw too much media attention so instead our government tries to take down other dealers and instead seizes property hoping they will scare other dealers and let them think that if they cant blow out your brains they will do their best to ruin you financially while the whole time violating your rights, we all seen this happen months back with Reggie AKA Vcipher Technologies and the same kinda stuff happened when personal property/money was seized yet no criminal charges were laid...This must worry many citizens thinking at anytime our trusted RCMP can legally enter our homes with a search warrant and seize anything of ours and we must fight to get it back even if we are not criminally charged...this is not Freedom its fucking Communism and what's gonna come next? Don't be surprised if they pull this off that in years coming they try to tell us we may only have Canadian content food, Canadian content toilet paper, Canadian women, Canadian beer, Canadian Condoms, Canadian pet breeds or some other form of Communism, As always my position never remains unchanged and the way I see it I'LL WATCH WHAT I WANT WHEN I WANT IN THE PRIVACY OF MY HOME AND WILL BE PROTECTED BY THE CHARTER OF RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS, Intimidation and bullying tactics by RCMP should be ignored by everyone and instead we need this too reach the media so they can get involved and show the rest of our country what is really happening in a country we claim to be so FREE!!! FREEDOM ended in Canada when they decided they would enforce/rape citizens and dealers of legally purchased DSS systems with GST paid on them when entering Canada, seems very odd they try to make out DSS content to be illegal when really its a freedom of choice that we are granted by the Charter of Rights, seems even more odd Customs officials allow DSS systems to enter Canada and collect GST yet later make them out to be illegal devices? Do they also do the same with drugs coming into Canada or are drugs not the same kind of ILLEGAL!!!
The point is everyone the RCMP in Canada are carrying out a severe injustice on Canadians when it is widely known many RCMP officers as well as city police officers in ever Major city of Canada have DSS systems and have had them for years, Don't doubt for a second that many Canadian MLA's are also watching DSS because I assure you they are and also have been for years and many dealers maybe not publicly but in private would be able to provide lists of many prominent citizens of Canada that own and have used DSS for years.
One more good Article from TJ's Site.
4/17/99
Even more evidence surfacing to support the fact that the RCMP is illegally working for DirecTV instead of looking out for the best interest of Canadian citizens. Back in 1996, DirecTV failed to meet the broadcast license requirements of the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), and therefore, it became ILLEGAL for DirecTV to sell programming services to Canadian citizens. So even if DirecTV is selling their services to just one Canadian, DirecTV would be considered a criminal operation.
Yet, DirecTV continues to sell subscription to Canadians as long as the subscribers have forwarding US addresses or mail boxes. They make up over 15 million US dollars in annual revenue, especially with the lucrative Pay Per View purchases. DirecTV tolerates and even accommodates these customers. A Canadian can buy a full DSS system from an AUTHORIZED DirecTV dealer using a Canadian credit card or a check drafted from a Canadian bank, as long as the payment is converted to US dollars. One Canadian subscriber even claims he use to paid his monthly bill to DirecTV with his Canadian checking account. Why does DirecTV offers customer service telephone numbers that accept calls from Canada? This may be an organized operation, but it is still a crime. So who is protecting the interests of this organized crime?
The RCMP knows it is illegal for DirecTV to be operating their business in Canada and has publicly admitted that fact. But recent evidence shows RCMP is intentionally working to directly protect DirecTV's illegal profits in Canada. After realizing they can't uphold the charges of satellite dealers violating the Radiocommunication Act, the RCMP is now trying for a conviction on fraud under the Criminal Code of Canada. They are naming DirecTV and USSB as the victims of these alleged frauds. So does this mean the RCMP is intentionally and knowingly working to protect an illegal operation? Trying to protect a US company for illegally broadcasting a satellite signal into our Canadian air space? and then helping them protect their illegal sales revenue which DirecTV do not pay Canadian business tax for that income. I believe the law makers has a term for people that is selling satellite services illegally without the proper licenses or paying the proper income tax. They call it "satellite piracy". So it appears that any organized crime operation can buy RCMP's service and protection as long as the RCMP gets "compensated" for their time.
DirecTV spends millions of dollars going after test card dealers that's cutting into their profits, but they do not go after the illegal but paying subscribers in Canada, nor have they ever asked the US authorities to help shut down the mail box companies that forwards their monthly bills to Canadian subscribers. Perhaps DirecTV realize that would be admitting guilt for using the United States Postal Service to collect payment on illegal activities. That would be a federal offense, under Title 18, United States Code, Section 1341, mail fraud.
It's funny how DirecTV has no legal license to be in Canada at all, and yet has so much control and influence over our RCMP and their enforcement of the satellite dish laws. One of our readers TR wrote in after noticing a very amusing and blatant lie from DirecTV's own website. "DIRECTV does not participate in disputes between dish owners and a governmental body or homeowners association." This has GOT to be the biggest bullshit hypocrisy we have seen on the net since Bill Clinton's statement of "not really" having sex with Monica. That statement from DirecTV is at http://www.directv.com/general/tips/fcc.html
Multiple dealers have reported physical abuse by the RCMP during last month's raids, some took place in the dealers' homes while their young children were present. These business owners were restrained by physical force and one incident even got violent. Is this police brutality really necessary on citizens who just sells plastic cards so people can watch the TV of their choice? Does the RCMP feel it is more important that they go after TV watchers using satellite dish than the more hardened criminals? Do we see our MP put as much effort in fighting the more serious crimes? It is very sad to see our tax money funding RCMP's mercenary agendas while our schools are infested with drug dealers and real violent criminals walk our streets.
So are you happy that your hard earn tax dollars are paying for RCMP to make you a criminal because they disagree with your TV watching habits? and then spending all their time protecting the REAL criminals that sends down those wonderful ECMs?
To take part in your own Canadian government bashing or criticism, try these fun sites : )
These comment where taken from the Discount Satellite site, and are the words of "JD" there...
THe RCMP will be busy across Canada once
again in an effort to forcefeed the Canadian public 2nd rate
products and inferior program content. In the USA, you can still
purchase MuchMusic, but it is still a felon in our
"FREE" country to purchase MTV.
After my somewhat longwinded rebuttal on the past days events,
read what our boys in blue are getting paid to do now.Click here for
the bad news. What it boils down to is that we can
look forward to more costly court fees, for the simple offence of
wanting DECENT TV. The Radiocommunication act regulates the scene
in canada and these are the sections they claim we are
contavening. Sections 9.(1), c and d.
"9.
(1) No person shall
(c)
decode an encrypted subscription programming signal or encrypted
network feed otherwise than under and in accordance with an
authorization from the lawful distributor of the signal
or feed;
(d)
operate a radio apparatus so as to receive an encrypted
subscription programming signal or encrypted network feed that
has been decoded in contravention of paragraph (c); "
What
does it all mean? well it means if you can buy it, DONT STEAL
IT!. Sounds fair, I wouldnt want to be robbed either. In order to
convict, we would have to be taking the feed or signal from the
lawful provider. Of which there IS NONE!!. DTV, NDC, NDS, USSB,
GM and Hughes aircraft Co. have no liscence to broadcast their
signal into Canada. You cant pay the subscription without lying
about your location (which was outlawed in canada under Bill c40)
so where do we stand?
Here
is another 2 sections from the same act..
"(2.3)
No person who decodes an encrypted subscription programming
signal in contravention of paragraph 9(1)(c) shall be convicted
of an offence under that paragraph if the lawful distributor had
the lawful right to make the signal available, on payment of a
subscription fee or other charge, to persons in the area where
the signal was decoded but had not made the signal readily
available to those persons."
"(2.5)
No person shall be convicted of an offence under paragraph
9(1)(c), (d) or (e) if the person exercised all due diligence to
prevent the commission of the offence."
In
2.3 there are the words again, "lawful distributor"
this paragraph is odd as the lawful provider is not a Canadian
one. They make the signal available to us yet our gov't doesn't
want us to use it. In section 2.5, we have all wanted due
diligence all along! Pay a fair price for good product. They took
our option for due diligence away with bill c40 when they
outlawed our ability to pay for the signal. It all boils down to
Wasted RCMP man hours, extended Court times all based on greed
from our Canadian providers who refuse to offer us similar
quality. I have been a MAJOR factor in the Satellite industry for
17 years now, and to date, only about 2 percent of people would
purchase the Canadian system over the Us Based DSS systems when
they see them side by side. But our gov't and Police force want
us blind and bovine, Not knowing what is available to you outside
of their cold tight grips on your tax dollar. The website the
RCMP put up regarding this is clearly a toughman tactic to scare
the masses. It is pro CDN system for one reason only. Lets face
it, After so many succesful court decisions in our favor, and
only ONE on theirs, (which by the way I have yet to see) This is
obviously driven by Corporate Canada and their new hired thugs,
the RCMP. I, personally am disgusted, we will see another court
date, we will see another win and they will be back. Be kind to
your local pirate as these are a few of teh prices he pays when
you are at home, warm and comfy watching Dennis Miller swear on
HBO .When you should be watching the artistic CRAP on our CDN
niche channels. Thanks for reading, more later, ( probably from
the courtroom) :o).....
4/5/99
This artical is taken from TJ's Site
We have received many concern emails from TCUP visitors who feel the RCMP has made us overnight criminals without justification or due process. Don't sit around and bitch and moan about it, action speaks louder than words. Start by getting informed of the actual printed law, not RCMP's interpretation. They are just the enforcer of the law, their interpretation means very little in the courts, that's why there are numerous court over rulings. Arm yourself with knowledge of the law, so you know what your rights are. For the copy of the Radiocommunication Act or other published Canadian regulations, go to http://strategis.ic.gc.ca or click on the Adobe PDF version of Radiocommunication Act. If you need the Adobe Acrobat plug-in for your browser, go to this Adobe link. Print and read the ENTIRE document so you can fully understand what the law is and what all your protection and rights are, including the rules for any search and seizure in your home or business. For those lazy readers, it's page 12 to 15 for the good stuff. (We spend a bit more time on this than our Playboy/Spice research, make use of the information.) The only way you will stop RCMP's abuse of power is to voice out your views and outrage to your elected officials and law makers. The greedy politicians may be corrupted, but they still work for you. Your tax dollars pay their base salary, you are their boss, you can put them out of a job and power. They FEAR you, make them work for it. If you sit around and wait for other people to fight for your rights, it will be too late after your freedom is lost.
There has been more evidence surfaced further proving that the corrupted RCMP is acting not on their own autonomy (like they should) but on the influence or bribes of the greedy Canadian Motion Picture Distributors Association. Their name may say Canadian, but they are just a puppet for the Motion Picture Association of America, corporate thugs in the United States. Two months ago, the RCMP attended a meeting in Canada with American attorneys, American investigators, American film vendors, American satellite corporate thugs (including DirecTV and News Data Systems) to decide what they should do about the lost of Pay Per View revenues in Canada. If the Canadian government are so worry about protecting us from American influences on our TV and movies, why are they asking all these Americans to tell them what to do?!?!?
During last week's RCMP raids and seizures on Canadian retail stores, American corporate thugs, NDS, were present. In the interest of protecting ONLY DirecTV's financial lost, they told RCMP what to seize, DSS access cards. One retailer stated the RCMP did not seize the Echostar test cards and systems which were sitting right NEXT to the DSS devices. Perhaps RCMP is still waiting to receive Echostar's bribe payment before they will do their bidding. This is a clear sign that the RCMP is not interested in real justice or absolute law enforcement. Their arbitrary decisions on which American company's property to protect is evidence that they are mere lackeys for the American corporate tyrants.
Oh yeah, one last thing, if you are a dealer in Vancouver, watch out! You're next.
This Artical was found on the FORCE 1 web site
Jan 7 /1998 By now you have probably heard of the 300 million dollar lawsuit that has been filed. Its what we in the industry call corporate bullying. Heres how it works. You harvest a load of hard working Canadians, start them working for you say, way back in 1982 or so. Give them the entrepreneurial spirit and allow what we now call "the Satellite Industry" to flourish. this generates thousands of jobs, feeds REAL Families, and pays the Gov't REAL taxes. Now you close your eyes and allow it to pick up momentum not unlike a freight train. Let those poor souls build a large client base, let hundreds of thousands of Canadians gain dependence on the dealers. and sit back. Sooner or later you have the stage set to rape the masses. Instantly outlaw close to a million Canadians entertainment of preference in a clear-cut effort to force them into an inferior risky product. Here are the facts.
So.. Here is a novel suggestion. If they cant offer you what they want, why should you Buy it?? Heres an analogy,, You go to the car lot. Your going buy that caddy you have always dreamed of, but the twit in front of you is adamant on selling you that Pinto in the corner. What are you going to do?? I'll tell you, Your going to walk off the Lot. I suggest you do the same here. WALK OFF THE LOT!! Boycott the Canadian Satellite dishes if you feel that they can do better. Guess what my fellow viewers, there is a reason you see fast food franchises side by side... 2 or 3 Gas stations on a given corner. Its an age old Philosophy... COMPETE .... OR DIE!!. And lets face it.. With one down and 2 more to go, I am one person who will not risk my money on those odds.. If you look at the facts, you will see the same. So stay tuned, More Raids to Follow, More Lawyers getting rich, And more RCMP strangling your entire business with nothing to offer you than a cold " tell it to the Judge" statement. I wonder how the Press will feel the day the Gov't starts telling them what they can and cant show their readers?? Hmm... Friggen Scary thought!! Any way, cuddle up with that remote kids.. and when your not using it, hide it with your illegal guns, or your illicit drugs, or with a hooker, as it will be in the same category sooner than you think.
This Artical was Fonud on Direct Test web site.
April 8, 1999.
Attention Bell ExpressVU Canada:
Instead of spending hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to stop American TV in Canada why not direct all that time and money towards allowing the dealers to actually make a living from your product? Maybe then they will not waste their time in the testcard business? The dealers - you know the ones who sell YOUR PRODUCT and offer support to your customers, etc? They are not asking for much, just the bare minimum. They just want to survive and earn a living, without losing money every day. Hey - just a thought.
