cable television companies to carry "three-plus-one" from a nearby American city: the three commercial networks plus PBS. Cable companies further from the border, if they could offer this, had to use microwave, while many more could not afford to do so at all. In 1982, CANCOM proposed adding additional radio signals and four additional television stations, originating in the United States, in order to bring the American "three-plus-one" package to all Canadians. The CRTC approved and, on 1 September 1983, CANCOM began transmitting the four Detroit affiliates of the three major commercial networks and PBS: WJBK-TV, WDIV-TV, WXYZ-TV and WTVS. Cancom was a world leader with its pioneering technical expertise (including the first commercial and consumer applications of digital encryption for satellite TV distribution), and the first carrier to offer consumers direct broadcast satellite (DBS) services. Cancom's services proved popular in the US as well. In 1985, senior vice president Steven D. Comrie struck a controversial deal with US cable operators to deliver Cancom's Detroit signals to remote villages and communities across Alaska. Despite objections from various US copyright holders, Comrie and a group of Alaska cable operators led by Gordon Rock of Seattle, WA, won federal approval for statewide distribution of Cancom's Detroit channels. However, Cancom's foray into the US was stalled when Canadian trade officials were reportedly warned by US authorities that no such exemption would be considered for the lower 48 states. Comrie later left Cancom to join Rock and US cellular industry pioneer Craig McCaw to co-found Netlink USA, and the Kirkland WA-based company launched its DBS lineup of Denver's ABC, CBS, and NBC affiliates, plus PBS and independents at the Western Cable Show in Anaheim, CA in December 1986. In later years, Netlink was sold to the largest US cable operator at the time, TCI. Cancom later picked up additional stations including Seattle's KING (NBC) and KOMO (ABC) to offer a greater diversity of time zone feeds for its primary Canadian market, as alternatives to WXYZ and WDIV. Shaw Broadcast Shaw Broadcast (originally CANCOM Broadcast) distributes both specialty cable channels and regular broadcast network affiliates via one of North America's largest full-service commercial signal distribution networks. It distributes affiliates of all the major Canadian commercial networks, along with several independent services. The company also distributes a limited number of American network affiliates from markets such as Boston, Rochester, Buffalo, Detroit, Minneapolis, Spokane and Seattle. Some