CTV and CBC helped iTunes Canada launch their new television store today. I guess I can download shows for $1.99 onto my computer or iPod now. That’s great, except that doesn’t really help me get it onto my TV where I want to watch it…unless someone wants to dish out $349 to buy me an Apple TV.

Oh, and every show in iTunes is available for free online. For once, I’m not even talking about Bittorrent or usenet. Every one of these shows can be streamed for free on the “broadband” players of these TV stations.

Here are some sites where you can watch all these shows online for free:

• Degrassi: The Next Generation^*
• Dragon’s Den
• The Hills
• Instant Star^*
• Little Mosque on the Prairie
• The Sarah Silverman Program^*
• South Park^*

If you can’t use the video players for the shows with asterisks (*), I can promise you that very shortly you are going to have a much better experience in those players. *hint*

For now, I think I’ll just keep streaming the online episodes to either my Xbox Media Center ($100 for a used Xbox Classic + free software) or just plug the TV-out of my Mac to my TV. If you can’t hack and Xbox, or you don’t have an HDMI cable, or you don’t know how to use The Pirate Bay, I guess iTunes Canada might be for you

P.S. I do have to give kudos to all the people at Digital that made this happen. We had to start somewhere, and despite my general dislike for DRM, hopefully this will push the TV market in the right direction