This is drifting a bit from the original topic, but at least in the US, people have the option of hooking up their cable line directly to their TV and use the QAM Clear (digital tuner) inside their TV to get the local networks in HD. Here in Canada, we get nothing on QAM (except a few music channels) so we are forced to use their boxes. Again, CRTC doesn't care about the consumers...
Back to the /A\ Channel discussion, this is actually great news!!! I can't stand watching American shows Simsubbed on Cdn networks, so lately, I either record the Seatle feeds to watch OTA. Now, I will be able to watch it live!