Talk:Television in Quebec

Disputed
OK, my main contention is the first paragraph which overstates the role and influence of teleromans in Quebec culture, and grossly exaggerates how many people watch or care about them. The rest, especially the last paragraph with its dubious reference and comparison to advertising from France, is just badly written.--Boffob 18:44, 7 March 2007 (UTC)

As a Quebeccer, I can tell you every year is a year with new soap operas/tv-dramas. I personnaly believe, with the quantity of TV I watch, that nothing is exaggerated in this arcticle. There is something for everyone, and it ranges from humor to drama. Everyone in Quebec, even the "TV-jaded" ones, has at least ONE favorite soap operas/TV-drama show.-- Bigcitygas (talk) 10:31, 3 October 2008 (UTC)

Minor issues with Quebec-France comparison
I have two issues with the paragraph comparing television in Quebec and France. Here is the entire paragraph:

Although broadcast in French, la télévision québécoise has little relationship to its gallic cousin; it's decidedly North American in its approach: a 30-minute programming grid, commercials, local stations, along with the distinction between broadcast television formed around networks of stations—which is freely available to anyone with a TV within their broadcast area—and cable television channels—which requires a subscription to receive.

And here are my issues:

1.) The mention of commercials as a key difference between TV in Quebec and its French counterpart implies that there are no commercials on French TV. While it's true that French public TV no longer airs commercials in prime time, most French TV stations do air commercials, albeit subject to pan-European restrictions on the number of breaks per hour. In other words, the presence of commercials alone cannot be an example of Quebec TV being different from French TV. The number of commercial breaks, on the other hand, is a different story, but if this is what was meant here, it needs to be spelled out more clearly.

2.) The distinction between over-the-air TV services and pay-TV services (i.e. channels that require a subscription to receive) exists in France as well. The only difference is that cable is considerably more widespread in Quebec, whereas DBS (satellite) is more popular in France (see CanalSat). Still, France also has a number of cable operators. --WorldWide Update (talk) 21:25, 12 April 2009 (UTC)