HALIFAX – Now this… this is bold.
Media outlets down east are covering a complaint by a Halifax man over his desire to have a satellite dish hookup in the apartment he and his family live in – which he has taken to the Human Rights Commission – according to a large story in yesterday’s Halifax Chronicle Herald.
As is common among building owners, the man’s landlord doesn’t allow individual tenants to have their own dishes (and most don’t let tenants hang anything other than Christmas decorations outside their apartments). The thinking is that if individual dishes are allowed, it could lead to a bunch of dishes on balconies and out of windows, which can be a safety concern, especially in winter. Plus, for the building owner, it’s not all that attractive either. Most landlords, if they go dish, make a deal with ExpressVu or Star Choice or a re-seller and put one on the roof to serve everyone inside.
But, since the man wants access to Arabic programming he can’t get in Halifax, he feels its his right to have the dish for his family, says the story.
But here’s where it gets interesting, from a TV policy point of view – and something the newspaper report didn’t pick up on. The man says this dish of his provides him with 19 Arabic language channels. Of course, neither ExpressVu nor Star Choice carry that many Arabic language channels. By my count, ExpressVu has 22 channels that aren’t English of French. Star Choice has even fewer third language channels.
Of course I don’t know if he has some sort of hacked system or if he’s paying a subscription fee somehow, but he clearly has an illegal dish. He is asking the Human Rights Commission to say (sort of) that an illegal dish is his right in Canada.
Like I said. Bold.
Now whether or not he and his family should be able to get those 19 Arabic channels legally in Canada is a story for another day.
