Canadian digital TV was switched on in 2001 with 45 new subscriber channels. It’s hardly been a success. “How do you market in a mass way when more than half of the country still doesn’t have digital service? How do you persuade people to add the channel once they’ve already chosen their core package? But for a channel that will always earn 90 per cent of its revenue from subscribers – as opposed to advertisers – it’s a problem that has to be solved.”