US border stations and American channels Canadians actually watch
Ask anyone who grew up in Windsor, Vancouver, Toronto, or anywhere along the border: American network television is part of Canadian culture. The Super Bowl with the real American commercials, the Thanksgiving NFL games, the Oscars, prime-time dramas on the big four networks, and late-night shows have always come to Canadians through ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX. SMARTSGI carries the full US local-station versions of these networks, not watered-down national feeds, along with the entire American cable lineup: ESPN and ESPN2, FS1, TNT, TBS, USA Network, AMC, HGTV, CNN, and the rest.
This matters more than people realize for sports specifically. NFL Sunday means the full slate on CBS and FOX regional feeds, plus NFL RedZone for the channel-flipping crowd. NBA, MLB, and college football and basketball run across ESPN, TNT, ABC, and the conference networks. When a Canadian viewer says they want US channels, this deep bench is usually what they mean, and it is all included rather than sold as a premium add-on tier.
The practical advantage over Canadian cable here is completeness. Canadian providers carry a limited selection of US stations, and the simsub rules mean your American broadcast often gets swapped for a Canadian feed mid-program. With direct access to the US stations themselves, you watch the original broadcast as aired, commercials and all. For events like the Super Bowl, where the ads are half the show, that alone settles the argument for a lot of viewers.