Here are five things I would like to see happen in 2009:

Cheaper cell-phone plans
Considering we get our fair share of American TV, it's obvious to anyone with a cell phone that Canadians are paying way more for voice and data plans than our neighbours down south.

According to a recent report, the average cell bill in Canada is a third higher than it is in the United States and the highest of 30 countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. We may have access to the latest Blackberry devices and you may see a ton of iPhones around, but we are still paying through the nose to make calls, download, stream and surf. Especially with multimedia-driven devices such as the Blackberry Storm and the ubiquitous iPhone, it's essential that users have unlimited data plans or they run the risk of huge overages. This is where the companies make their profits, just as video stores once did with late fees for movies. Although the fact you can move your existing number to any company has created a bit of competition between carriers, Canadian cell plans are still in the Dark Ages.

Over the next year it would be nice to see companies introduce reasonably priced unlimited data plans for all smart phones, as well as free long distance and the ability to roll over any unused talk minutes to the next month.

Better online TV streams and on-demand programming
It may have gotten a bit better since last year, but Canadian TV viewers still don't have access to the same amount of online digital content that those living in the U.S. can see. You can blame pesky licensing agreements for most of the problems. While Canadian networks have stepped up their games and stream some of TV's most popular programs (Grey's Anatomy, Prison Break, The Hills) on demand, we are still light years behind what American channel surfers can get through the major networks, and video portals such as Hulu.com and Sling.com.

Netflix comes to Canada
Although there are homegrown alternatives such as Cinemail and national outfits such as Zip, if you want to avoid heading down to the movie store when it's -30 out, it would be nice if Netflix would set up shop in Canada. No late fees and getting your movies in the mail is nice, but what really sets Netflix apart is its on-demand video service that lets you stream movies on your computer or through your Xbox 360 to your TV. It probably won't be too long before you'll be able to stream content directly to your hand-held device or download compressed versions to watch when you don't have a 3G connection or Wi-Fi access.

CFL streams all games for free
While it has been a nice change to have TSN cover every game, with such a limited weekly schedule - and with Canadian football surging in popularity - it's a no-brainer that the network or the league should start streaming games on the web for free.

The Return of Sunfest (or something like it) Fairweather hippies have Folk Fest and party-hearty country fans can head to Dauphin every July, but since the demise of Gimli's SunFest, there hasn't really been a multi-day rock event that's taken its place. Although there is a lot of risk involved in throwing these big rock shows, let's hope someone steps up to the plate this summer and makes the drive to Pemberton seem superfluous.

Anthony Augustine is a freelance music, technology and pop culture writer. He can be heard every Tuesday morning at 8:55 a.m. on Hot 103 chatting about the web. Got a site you think he should see? E-mail him at anthony.alloneword@gmail.com.