This has always been a huge issue in the U.S. as local stations are permitted to charge cable companies a monthly fee to carry their signal which gets passed on to the customer. Naturally, when the contract ends the station and cable company blame each other for the soon to be carriage fee increase. While the bickering continues, the station is withdrawn from the cable lineup and the consumer is literally left in the dark. Fortunately, that doesn't happen in Canada because of CRTC's mandatory must carry rule for local stations. However, there are carriage fees for all of the imported U.S. channels like A&E, CNN. FOXNews etc. I have often wondered if the fees are the same as south of the border or does Bell and Rogers negotiate directly. Since Rogers has started charging for the Buffalo channels now, I suspect they are paying for the reception. My theory is back in the analog days, Rogers used an antenna system like everyone else and plucked crystal clear signals from Buffalo. In the digital era, the signals don't travel as far so perhaps Rogers antenna system can no longer guarantee reliable reception. Maybe Rogers has to microwave the signals now and the Buffalo stations can demand a monthly fee for that?  I am no techy, but does my theory sound likely?