Canadian television providers who use Boston as the source for U.S. TV networks have replaced WHDH with WBTS (NBC Boston) on their systems.
Canadian television providers who use Boston as the source for U.S. TV networks have replaced WHDH with WBTS (NBC Boston) on their systems.
Several Canadian TV providers use Boston as their eastern source for U.S. stations, particularly in Atlantic Canada.
Bell Canada submitted an application for the addition of WBTS-LD Boston to the List of non-Canadian programming services and stations authorized for distribution on November 17, 2016. Television stations and networks from the United States need government approval before being added to Canadian cable systems.
The move was approved by the Canadian Radio-Television Telecommunications Commission (Canada's version of the FCC) on December 20, 2016.
WHDH was subsequently dropped by Bell Canada when WBTS took over the NBC affiliation on January 1, 2017.
Under Canadian law, only the "big 4" television stations in any given market are carried by Canadian cable providers - independent stations are not carried unless they are granted a "super station" status (like WGN Chicago or WSBK Boston), and then allowed on a higher tier of cable.
Affected Canadian providers:
- Bell satellite (nationally)
- Bell Aliant (Atlantic Canada)
- Eastlink (Atlantic Canada and Ontario)
- Rogers (N.B. & N.L.)
- SaskTel (Saskatchewan)
- Telus (nationally)
- Zazeen (nationally)
- Along with some other smaller providers
