What this country needs is a Good Western Channel

[Test Pattern]

Ever since Canwest moephed Lonestar into Movietime...Canada hasn't had a Western Channel ever since and I always hear alot of Rants and Raves from those I know who tell me that they miss out on that since they revamped that...when shows like Gunsmoke, Bat Masterson, Bonanza and Western Movies disappeared off the airwaves after morphing into Movietime!!! Then from my understanding the now defunct Craig Media was going to launch a Channel called Stampede and it never did launch!!!

Too bad they couldn't make Encore westerns available on Canadian Soil!!! After all it would be nice if This Country could see an all Western Channel again airing shows like Bonanza, Gunsmoke, and perhaps even Little House on the Prairie, Father Murphy, Dallas, the Beverley Hillbillies, Gren Acres and Peticoat Junction!!!

[InMontreal]

Interesting, but there's problem: there's little to no new content on this topic nowadays.

Sure a company can launch a western channel, but once the announcement is made, big companies will exclusive-secure their western-related catalog so it'll become unavailable to their new competition. After the station aired all TV series theme-related and all western movies from various studios within a year, they can't propose something new. Another question, will advertisers spend money on this?

Shaw Media could schedule a night theme-related on Action, but they're afraid to lose customers because they're too mainstream. DéjaView could be used but their licence is for TV shows, not movies, and their focus is unfortunately based solely on comedies. TVtropolis could also be used but it's a dump for Global with realities and comedies.

[CDN Viewer]

Astral & Canwest (before Shaw purchased them) applied for an Action/Adventure channel that will also air western theme content according to the nature of service. Here is the description of each channel:

TV-Time, a national, English-language Category 2 specialty programming undertaking devoted to action and adventure programming from contemporary action and adventure films and series to classical westerns, rodeo and western horse shows.

http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2010/2010-231.htm (Astral Media)

Specialty A, a national, English-language Category 2 specialty programming undertaking that would be devoted to action and adventure programming, from contemporary “popcorn” action and adventure films and series to classical westerns, rodeos and western horse shows.

http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2010/2010-769.htm (Shaw Media)


Notice anything similar- both channels have essentially the SAME nature of service and the reason for that is that Canwest applied for their channel after Astral. It looks like they were copying them by applying for the same type of channel, rather pathetic if you ask me since Canwest had a western channel but decided to re-brand it.


Your best bet at seeing a western channel IMO is Astral and frankly they are the better choice. I have been waiting and hoping to see if they launch any of the channels they got approval for in 2010 (they have 4 licenses) as all the current specialty movie channels (Shaw owned) are CRAP! Also, through their ownership of TMN, Astral has deals with all the major movie studios which means if this channel launches at some point they should be able to put together a good schedule.

One final note: Astral applied for an HD feed of their channel so if it launches it will be available in HD as well, while the Shaw channel is SD only.

[mckwa49]

r family loved metv. esp. rawhide & gunsmoke. other good fam shows. then it's yanked out from under us n replaced w/ another spanish
speaking programming. wth?

[Faye]

Ever since Canwest moephed Lonestar into Movietime...Canada hasn't had a Western Channel ever since and I always hear alot of Rants and Raves from those I know who tell me that they miss out on that since they revamped that...when shows like Gunsmoke, Bat Masterson, Bonanza and Western Movies disappeared off the airwaves after morphing into Movietime!!! Then from my understanding the now defunct Craig Media was going to launch a Channel called Stampede and it never did launch!!!

Too bad they couldn't make Encore westerns available on Canadian Soil!!! After all it would be nice if This Country could see an all Western Channel again airing shows like Bonanza, Gunsmoke, and perhaps even Little House on the Prairie, Father Murphy, Dallas, the Beverley Hillbillies, Gren Acres and Peticoat Junction!!!

I think this is a brilliant idea! It's true there isn't much as far as newer stuff goes, but the older stuff is great too. Maybe if there was a western channel and it did well, there would be motivation to produce some new western programs and films. I have been considering subscribing to dish tv in hopes that I will be able to watch more of the type of programming that I like to watch. I am a little hesitant though, because I feel nervous about signing a contract and being committed whether I am happy with the service or not. What do you guys think, is it worth the risk? Do you think that I might regret it if I do it? Thank you for your input on this!

[Realitycheck]

CDN Viewer - you may want to look at the Lonestar/Movietime licence. It looks like Shaw Media copied their own licence for Specialty A - not Astrals.