Another major development which led to the arrival of television in the Canadian North was the ACP or Accelerated Coverage Plan, a special project to provide as quickly as possible unserved or inadequately served areas with CBC or SRC, approved by the Government in February 1974. The original aim was inspired by one of the possibilities offered by satellites that we have mentioned before: service for French communities in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and the Atlantic Provinces (Newfoundland and the Maritimes) as well as for English communities in Quebec. A population of 500 inhabitants was required for the necessary funds (construction of a satellite reception station and local transmitter) to be released. More than 300 communities were involved throughout the years, representing a cost of CAN $ 50,000,000 . The first ACP transmitter was established in La Ronge, SK to serve a French community.
    This system was applied to the North where communities were smaller which is why there were demands for an extension of the ACP to settlements of at least 250 and later even 150 inhabitants. Facing growing demands and federal refusal, the provincial government decided to afford the extra cost so that in the end nearly all settlements were served.

C) Rankin Inlet, 63°N 92°W, joinsthe "Global Village"

    Rankin Inlet (or Kangiqliniq [ka-ner-thlee-neerk]), the most recent community in the Kivalliq region was not founded by the Inuit who seldom frequented the area because of the scarcity of game but by Qablunait. It was created out of nothing as a result of important mining development in the area. Rankin's mineral potential was discovered in the early 1930s by the Cyril Knight Prospecting Company and extensive mining development began in 1953. A few buildings were built, soon joined by a Hudson's Bay Company(12) store, a community hospital, a school and other federal as well as provincial services. Since there were few inhabitants in the region, Inuit from other northern communities came to work in the mines. The most important of them, the North Rankin Nickel Mine operated from 1957 to 1962 and was the first modern mine in the Canadian Arctic particularly because it trained and employed Inuit in almost all facets of the mining operations.
    When the nickel crisis broke out, the mines closed and many Inuit moved to other Arctic mines. In 1964, the population was about 320 inhabitants. After 1962, Rankin developed as an administrative and business centre and gradually recovered. Thus, its modernity and prosperity attracted Inuit workers again. Nowadays, Rankin is quite a busy community which boasts 2,300 inhabitants and is part of Nunavut(13) ("our land" in Inuktitut) a new autonomous territory created on April 1, 1999 containing the former Keewatin and Franklin districts of the Northwest Territories. When television arrived in 1973, 595 individuals lived in Rankin and 520 of them were Inuit that is to say 87% of the population. That is precisely why Rankin Inlet, a young dynamic and mainly Inuit community is an interesting example and was chosen in 1973 by a research team (including Linvill Watson) from the University of Saskatchewan for a field study.
    The Inuit living in Rankin had already surrendered some aspects of their traditional life: they lived in modern houses, would buy most of their foodstuff from the local grocery or supermarket and would read the local bilingual paper. However, social life was exclusively community-centred and relationships with the south were rare. In that sense, they were acquainted with the Qablunait' ways but television remains the greatest catalyst of all in their acculturation.

Anik A's launching in December 1972 was well publicised. To celebrate Canada's first satellite system and the imminent arrival of television in the North, Telesat Canada had invited four Inuit teenagers from the Northwest Territories and Arctic Quebec on a trip to Cape Canaveral to witness the rocket's departure.
    In Rankin Inlet, inaugural television reception was expected in spring 1973 but it was repeatedly postponed for various technical reasons. Nevertheless, Rankin's inhabitants who wished to watch the very first programs began buying TV sets as early as spring. It has to be said that there was a real crave for television and that Rankin's stores were ready to satisfy their customers. The Bay, which was the main store (and the only beer retailer...) exhorted its customers to buy TV sets on credit by posters (see p. 23) in the window and a display of its different models. In this 595 inhabitant community, there were two other retail sources: the Co-op (the other store) and the local electrician. To put it shortly, it had never been easier to buy a TV set! As for Qablunait, they usually preferred to purchase one in the south when they did not already own one. So much so that, on the eve of D-Day, well over one third of Inuit households already had receivers and an equivalent fraction had sets on order. The market would be completely saturated before the end of 1974.
    Perhaps the most obvious sign of the change in the community was the building of the reception station with its huge satellite dish and 100 feet high transmitter in August 1973. From this time on, Rankin's inhabitants got really eager but the different tunings required two more months. It is common knowledge that delayed satisfaction makes a desire stronger; this may account for the wind of expectation which blew on Rankin inlet.

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