Yeah, I was a bit cranky this morning - not enough sleep. Pretty warm up here, too.
Actually, I thought of this after I posted earlier, when the FTA between Canada and the US was negotiated, an exemption for the cultural industry was one of the things Canada fought for and got. So, we are within our rights under the FTA (and now NAFTA) to do this sort of thing, even if it is wrong-headed, which I would agree it is.
Since Fox themselves has no interest in producing a Canadian version of the programming it is debatable how much benefit they would get from the, probably at best, couple-few extra million viewers they would have up here, as most US advertisers aren't really interested in getting Canadian eyeballs. A lot of the products and services advertised on US networks are just not available in this country. Local broadcasters in the border areas, Buffalo for example, do carry some advertising from Canadian companies, though.
Here in New Zealand, the US version of Fox News is broadcasted for free on Prime overnight. If anyone - presumably most Kiwis - can't stand them, fine, there is a BBC World newsfeed over at the government-owned TV1 or Deutsche Welle at the various regional TV channels. No one really cares if Fox has any NZ-specific programmes.
The Canadian Left can't have their cake and eat it too - if the US is a foreign country with different culture, then in the name of diversity they can't deny the possibility of broadcasting foreign TV comments. If Fox is considered too resembling the majority-Canada culture, then why are these Canadian leftists screaming loudly "we are culturally different from those Americans!"?