Local TV hates cable, cable hates local TV, that’s what I get from all these ads running from both sides on every channel around here. I go to Ottawa for a week, and it’s all over radio too. No canadian can escape it. When I saw an ad today featuring a certain musician with a broken Taylor guitar, that was it. Whatever side ends up being right, in the end, we’re gonna pay more anyways because these two sides blew a shitload of advertising dollars. I wouldn’t be surprised if the ad time cost more than the legislation change would have cost either side. The money is really flowing to the ad agencies, my money at that.
Tell you both what. Either get off my TV with your fussing and feuding and actually bug the CRTC yourself, or run ads that simply say,
FUCK YOU CABLE!
FUCK YOU LOCAL TV!
ETC! for 30 seconds. Message across, much less money wasted. Guaranteed the CRTC will take action much sooner too if option B is picked.
—PDG
This article appears in Oct 15-21, 2009.
What I’m wondering is — cable’s been doing this since it came to Canada and local TV is just bitching about this NOW? Cable’s been here for 30+ years!
And, I’ll start caring about this once local TV stops simulcasting. They get extra ad revenue by simulcasting over american stations when the same show is on at the same time on both american and canadian stations. They do this during the superbowl and it’s ANNOYING because the commercials are the best fucking thing about the superbowl.
The other night I wanted to watch a show on CBS but CTV fucked up and forgot to fuck off with the simulcasting and desperate housewives was being broadcast on CBS. I called CTV and asked if they could quit broadcasting over the show I wanted to watch. They did — 20 minutes later. Thankfully I have a PVR and time shifting, because UGH.
Anyway, my point is, local tv gets revenue from advertising over american stations…but you never hear about THAT. They just talk about how they’re being fucked up the ass by cable. They’re using this whole “we want regulated cable rates” line to gain support. Blatant scuzzy PR move. Regulated cable rates would likely mean shitty cable and no effing chance for new stations. I like my cable and I don’t mind paying what I pay for it….
i only watch corrie st. and thats 10 months behind so give over you feckin bunch a pillocks…but oops thats the cbc so a whole different kettle o fish
I don’t bother with TV anymore. I watch my CBC shows on CBC.ca and the rest streaming online. No commercials, no cable bill, no problem. I don’t watch much tv anyway, and I’d rather watch it when I have time, not schedule my life around when How I Met Your Mother is going to be on.
C.B.C. = Can’t Bloody Compete – it’s time they closed this station down and its French counterpart and gave the money to the street bums – yes, I’m joking
Or we could give the CBC more money so they can go back to producing quality shows like the Beachcombers and Fraggle Rock.
Was Danger Bay on CBC? Mmm Nicole. Bring back The Edison Twins, too!
Hey, I’d buy the whole local programming bullshit if they, in fact, produced local TV. The fact is, they don’t. The local newscast does not count as local programming. That’s a newscast. It’s a cop out. If you read the legislation they are proposing to the CRTC, the local programming requirement that they would commit is fully realized by newscast in each market. In some markets, they would exceed the amount of “Local Programming” in newscasts alone. Halifax is one of them. So, it would be business as usual for CTV et al. and they would get more revenue (due to legislation). Sounds kinda funny to me.
One of the most recent ads states that cable companies spend more than 300 million a year to import broadcasting. Isn’t that a bit hypocritical? Last time I looked, CTV’s most watched programs are American, not Canadian. In fact, I would hazard a guess the highest rated Canadian show they produce (outside of newscasts) is So You Think You Can Dance Canada and that’s probably just barely in the top ten in terms of numbers watching. I don’t mind having to pay a little extra if they in fact, produce local shows (something produced in the Halifax area, or anywhere for that matter) much like the CBC does, who has a mandate to produce local programming. CTV (who is wholly owned under Bell Globe Media, a subsidiary of BCE, who owns, suspiciously enough, Bell, who runs a very successful satellite TV operation) and Global (who is owned by CanWest, who just filed for bankruptcy protection) will not do anything unless it creates a profit. Which is fair, given they are a business. Everything was all fine and dandy when CTV (anyone remember ATV before CTV) and Global (MITV, anyone?) were buying up LOCAL Stations 15-20 years ago when they were just a doing TV. Now the market for TV and media in general has gone to pot, mostly because many people either buy the DVD box set (circumventing the whole commercials problem, and you can watch whenever you want) or watch it online. You don’t get to by-pass commercials, but there is significantly less ad revenue from the websites, and it’s really only beneficial if you can rely on reliable bandwidth, which is not provided by either ISP in this market (surprise, surprise, Bell again!). It’s not my fault that BCE and CanWest are spread way too thin and are now trying anything they can to produce income.
I just want to be able to legally pay for Dish network or some other American satellite company and just cut out the BS – I never really watch local TV except for CBC and that is an OTA transmission, and will be OTA in HDTV – hopefully – in 2011.
Blame the CRTC for our fucked up state of affairs when it comes to yet another scope of over-regulation in this country – the Canadian content debacle.
Won’t matter soon enough anyway, and for many it already doesn’t – BitTorrent to the rescue.
Ok ok I do miss the Edison Twins! Wow haven’t though about that show in Ages!! Thanks for the warm fuzzies Cranky 🙂
No wonder most people just download their shows now.
Has anyone found a Canadian who is content with Canadian content – translation; any Canadian made show/movie has more people involved in making it than actually watch the shite. CBC is a parking place for useless tossers, or artsy shitbags.
I get two OTA channels, and everything else is watched online via a DVI cable to my t.v.
Dr. Fever, how come a local newscast doesn’t count as local programming? I for one think it would be really sad if all we had were combined, national newscasts. My guess is they would be pretty Toronto-centric. Ever watch the late night national news? Sometimes you can go weeks without ever seeing a Nova Scotia-based story. I like knowing what’s going on in my own backyard.
I don’t watch much TV, but off the top of my head I can think of a number of Canadian shows – Canadian Idol, Being Erica, Corner Gas, Flashpoint, So You Think You Can Dance Canada, This Hour Has 22 Minutes, The Rick Mercer Report…
Sure, that’s no where near the amount of programming their American counterparts produce, but I’m guessing most of our stations operate on a fraction of the budget the American networks do.
Jennie– Having a local TV station without a newscast is like having a sandwich with no bread. Also, have you ever watched a newscast produced by our so-called local station? You still can go days without seeing a story about Halifax, or even Nova Scotia for that matter. It’s usually some low-budget fluff piece about how a Moncton high school has a kid in a science fair. It might as well be a big, combined newscast, because I get better news from the 24-hour Canadian news variants that are available.
Secondly, of all the shows you mention, 1 is canceled (Canadian Idol), another is no longer on the air and was produced by a cable channel (The Comedy Network) and only one of those shows is produced locally. Also, 3 of those shows are produced by the CBC, who is legislated to produce Canadian TV. Most are shot in Toronto, and while they are Canadian shows, they are certainly not local.
Bah, Bloor West Village is practically our backyard(Being Erica). Sure, its ‘local’. ha ha.
Well, how many local shows do you think Halifax could support? Of course most of the Canadian content shows are going to be set and filmed elsewhere.
I’d love to see more Canadian programming and I often prefer it to American shows. TVO’s “The Agenda”, which I have to watch online here, is one of the last bastions of relevant and balanced discourse of current affairs on Television. Canadian investigative journalism shows (Fifth estate) and consumer awareness programming (Marketplace) are usually quite interesting. Canadian comedies (22minutes, Corner Gas, Little Mosque, RMR), Dramas (Flashpoint, Heartland, Being Erica) are refreshingly wholesome and entertaining.
I like American programming too, but it lacks the originality of Canadian programming. How many hospital dramas and criminal investigation shows can you possibly air. Not to mention the million-strong boring-ass reality shows and aggrevating 24hour sensationalized news networks. Sometimes I think american TV should be classed as airwave pollution. In my humble opinion, the only quality american TV is coming from HBO and Showcase and maybe Tina Fey.
Unfortunately, the majority doesn’t seem to mind that crap. So I say, promote and legislate Canadian Content as much as possible. It will be better for us in the long run, whether we like it or not.
I only caught a few minutes of the news tonight, but I did see a story about the NSCC strike (local), a woman in Dartmouth who was killed in her apartment over the weekend (local), a pastor who is accused of a sex-related crime (can’t remember exactly where it was, but it was within HRM – local) the lastest on the Hyde inquiry (local)…
Unless they were actually doing stories from my backyard, I don’t know how it could get any more local than that.
Oh, and I forgot the stories about Guns ‘n Roses coming to Halifax (local) and a new downtown Library for Halifax (local).
Funny, I didn’t see any stories about science fairs in Moncton…
Cable is going to fight on-demand internet viewing tooth and nail but hopefully we (the consumers) come out ahead. Right now I’ve got 2 eps of Californication waiting in my computer for me to watch. At the beginning of Season Two I purposely got Cable and UPGRADED to Showcase or time or whatever the fuck it was so I could watch Californication and Dexter and what not without feeling guilty. Fuck sakes, they go and change the channel its on, “M” or something and I have to UPGRADE even more! Fuck that and fuck them.
There used to be a lot more film and television being produced here in NS, but thanks to our government, the industry is now suffering greatly, both here and on a national level. Unlike our American counterparts, much of the film and television that gets made here relies heavily on public money, in the form of loans, grants, or tax credits. Cutbacks to the CBC have resulted in cancellation of all kinds of programming, including excellent shows like The Lens. Just losing The Lens means that there are at least 10 quality Canadian documentaries per year that won’t get made. CBC Maritimes has also tightened its belt and can no longer invest in local programming like it used to, meaning a lot of local film and television folks are forced to try and seek out funding elsewhere, often unsuccessfully.
The closure of Electropolis here in town was also a major blow to the local industry, as it was Halifax’s only soundstage, and the largest film production centre in Eastern Canada. Not only was the studio used to produce numerous local films and television, like children’s shows and animation, it also made Halifax a more attractive destination for come-from-away productions, which help to employ hundreds of Nova Scotians.
Like many, I long for the halcyon days when our airwaves were full of fantastic Canadian shows, like Beachcombers, The Friendly Giant, and Danger Bay. I think as Nova Scotians, and Canadians in general, we’re capable of making watchable programming that speaks to the Canadian culture and sensibility, and is entertaining to boot. It’s too bad our government doesn’t seem to share that belief.
Nobody who has gotten informed about this issue believes that CTV and Canwest will do anything with the money they get from cablecos (assuming that comes to pass) except use it to line their pockets. It will do nothing to stave off the inevitable decline of local stations. The marketplace has changed and people do not watch one of three local stations as was the case 30 years ago. The market is fragmented.
I would have more sympathy for the local’s cause if not for their addiction to simsubs. They spend gazillions to buy rights to US programs, then program them at identical times and demand that cablecos insert their signal over that of the US stations we are paying for. You benefited from that despicable practice for decades; now, the chickens have come home to roost. Too bad, Canwest and CTV.
The CRTC could do us all a favor by requiring cablecos to unbundle their channels and let us buy only the ones we want to watch, and by eliminating simsubs.
Random comments: “most people” do not watch shows online. It is too much of a pain and the restrictions on things like Hulu here in Canada make it a hassle.
Also, that certain musician with his broken guitar has lost all credibility and respect in my book for siding with Canwest on this.
As someone who works in the TV/ movie industry…Electropolis was better than nothing, & that’s not saying much ! As a sound stage it SUCKED.
The power in that building was up & down like a whores drawers & our lighting equipment blew bulbs like there was no tomorrow ! THere was no shop facilities so the Carps would be filling the set with MDF dust, the Painters filling the air with toxic fumes while were all tripping over each other trying to light the sets. Lets not even get into the nightmare which was parking…good riddence.
Paying the amount of money you pay for cable is a sure sign just how many suckers are born each minute !
I hear it constantly about how many channels there are & there’s NOTHING ON..stupid reality TV (like there’s actually anything real there). 50 versions of CSI or watered down versions of the same lame sitcomes.
I miss TV not at all, & when I had the displeasure to see one on last week there was a bozo with feathers in his hair a mullet down to his ass drawing a take down for his a half dozen tattooed losers , about to ambush a little crack whore …I lasted watching it for almost 2 minutes, shut it off & picked up a book. Bark bark…they should relabel the show to Puke the bounty hunter.
Do yourselves all a favor, get everyone you know, friends ,family, co workers, to drop your cable subscriptions on the same week, enough of you band together & I’ll bet you my house on the lake, that the price for that will come down even faster than a whore’s pants when you flash her a couple of hundreds !
Jennie– you seem to be missing my point. Beyond the newscast, there is nothing local about what the big companies produce. Nothing. Did you read my first post? Everything was all fine and dandy when CTV and Global were buying local stations some 15 years ago. Nobody was whining about saving local TV then, when it was actually local! Why should we pay the price for predatory business practices on behalf of CTV and Global? The cable companies aren’t to blame for that.
Me0W– While I agree that the CBC cutbacks are significant, I’ll admit that they’re doing quite well with what they’re given. I think that more should be given to them, but given the economic climate and the political climate, that is extremely unlikely.
You folks do realize the big three (CTV, CBC, and Global) all own cable channels. So they are WWE wrestling in the hopes they can fool us into giving more money. Vince McMahon they ain’t.
Most of you posters are either completly missing the point here or just ignorent and don’t know how the industry works. As someone who works in local TV I’ll give my 2 cents.
The Canadian networks have been complaining for years about lost reveue due to cable not paying for the rights to air our signals, but nothing was done because the CRTC does not actually do what they are supposed to and they are in the pokets on the cable companys. The situation came to a head now because the money to keep local TV going just is not there anymore, with an increasing population that want to have everything for free and the state of the economy money is dwindling.
For simulcasting, we pay for the rights to air programming from other countrys, it happens in every other country as well, it’s how the business works. If your watching Flaspoint on CBS in the states do you think they are watching Canadian commercials? I don’t think so. We also don’t get extra revenue from simulcasting, the comercials are already paid for to air on the Canadian station. And as far as problems with simulcasting at the wrong times, that has nothing to do with local stations, we don’t have access to mess with programming other than our own station, your cable company would be at fault here for not doing their job properly, I’ve dealt with people calling in and complaining many times and because most people just don’t listen, instead of listening to some old betty complain we fix it by calling said cable company ourselves and tell them to smarten up.
The local newscasts are the local programming, these are why there are local stations, this is where the money made from advertising goes to pay the hard working people who produce it. Sure it would be great to have more local shows produced but unfortunatly it probably wont happen because A) There is no money with advertising not being what it used to and the government cutbacks to film/Tv. B) The majority of people don’t care about quality or “Canadian” shows anymore, all people want is reality shows, and even they are a risk, Canadian Idol was the highest rated show in Canada but had to be cancled because the main sponser Ford pulled out after their downfall, there was just no way to produce it anymore.
CTV is not owned by BCE, they have stakes in the comapny but not do not own it. If anyone “owns” CTV it’s the teachers union, who have the biggest stakes.
The whole point of all of this is local news, if the staions shut down many people, including myself lose their jobs and News as we know it is gone. There will still be a National News but as Jennie mentioned it will be Toronto centric. It would be easy enough to fix the whole situation if the cable companys would give everyone the option to choose what channels they want, than the ultimate decision would come down to the Canadian people to choose to support their country or become even more “Americanized”.
It’s already too late to start the evil “Americanization” argument shadowplay, it has already happened.
As consumers we see what people receive from cable and/or satellite south of the border for their hard earned money, and of course many are outraged!
220 channels + _80_ HD channels, for $47.99 a month from Dish? How can any Canadian satellite companies or cable companies compete? That’s right they can’t, or choose not to. You are lucky to get 30 HD channels here in Canada (let alone the more than 170 they have down there to choose from), and you have to pay over $100 for the “privilege”.
So what does the CRTC do, via the government? Make it Illegal to watch American TV broadcast directly from the states, instead we have to subscribe to inferior Canadian programming, from inferior Canadian broadcasters/content providers at ridiculously inflated prices with severely unimpressive channel lineups.
Why does the Nanny state think they have the right to tell me what I can and can’t watch on TV, that I have to watch Canadian content and commercials? If I am spending my money on entertainment, it is going to be for what I want to watch – and the “evil Americans” aren’t going to brainwash me into hating this place more than I already do.
No wonder people here think there is nothing on TV – they’ve got seventeen CTV stations if they subscribe to satellite to choose from, or 10 channels in HD on cable.
I think everyone who has relatives in the states or who has a mailing address down there should buy a Dish Network box and give a Big F U to both the CRTC and the cable satellite companies here.
A big F U to our Canadian communist media empire!
I’m sorry, did you just call the Canadian media communist? Isn’t it the capitalist attitudes between the media giants the real problem here?
Also, it’s not being a nanny state to regulate what goes over our airwaves. Of course they should show Canadian ads! Are you really needing to call Jim Shapiro for your legal problems? Or are you going to go down to the Detroit factory outlet? Most people would rather hear about how much a big mac costs in Canadian dollars.
If Canadian programming is inferior it’s because it’s underfunded. TV also isn’t just about entertainment. It’s a medium for forming our cultural identity. That’s why it’s important to have Canadian content…and you can’t really argue that the Canadian content laws are shoving too much CanCon down our throats. I only get basic cable and watch CBC, CTV and Global most of the time and the majority of the shows I watch are American. More CanCon would be refreshing…unless you like cop dramas and reality shows.
If you even bothered to read that paragraph dartmouthy instead of jumping on the last word you would reliaze I said choice would fix the situation. I’d be free to pick the 5 or so Canadian channels that interest me and you could have your 300 plus American channels, instead of having all this bundle bullshit.
If you hate it here so much why don’t you just leave, then you can get all the FOX programming your brain can handle.
Miles, your spot on with your comments.
Oh and dartmouthy, about yor eariler comment about “BitTorrent to the rescue”, do you actually think that programming will even be produced at all if everyone is just going to steal it anyway, keep dreaming. And your calling others commies, best look in the mirror.
Shadowplay— BCE wholly owns Bell Globe Media, who owns CTV. As a public company, yes, the owners are indeed the majority stakeholders (i.e.: The Ontario Teacher’s Pension) but the bottom line is that they’ve been conducting these predatory business practices for years, and now that it’s blown up in their face, they’re crying about it. The market changed and they refused to change with it. They continued to buy up dying assets (as was the case of CanWest buying newspapers) and conducted poor business practices, and not seeing the coming wave. Besides all of that, the local news, as a whole is a situation that is resolved by internet, free newspapers such as the Coast, and our publicly funded enterprises such as the CBC. It’s been years since I’ve seen a decent, in depth, story done by CTV or Global. I know there are time restraints and money has always been an issue, but I’m sure if people were watching, there would be advertising revenue. Again, what is your response to the query of CTV and Global buying up local stations years ago, and in many of the smaller markets, local stations were either shut down and put into centralized locations or just disappeared altogether. It happened to many of the local stations in Ontario, in many of the smaller markets like Sudbury and Timmins. Want someone to blame? Blame poor business practice.
Dr. Fever, first off, Bell Globe Media does not even exist anymore. BCE has 15% share in CTV Globe Media, The Teachers have 25%. So how can BCE wholly own CTV?
I will agree that the corporations buying up locals stations years ago was shady business, this was before my time so I honestly don’t have an answer, what kind of stations were they? Are we talking quality stations or run of the mill community cable stations?
The problem with news on the internet is anyone can do it, say whatever they want and who’s accountable? As far as the coast for news, you have to be joking, half the time they don’t even get their facts straight, let alone give an unbiased opinion.
CBC has plenty of in-depth news, CTV has W5, can’t speak for Global, never had any interest.
I would love to leave Shadowplay but they don’t offer green cards to Canadians anymore… boo hoo for me. So I can marry up or maybe score an H1B… I’m trying.
Communist in that the government has reduced the choices to nearly zero through ridiculous policies in regards to media (the CRTC).
The CBC is good enough for local programming in my mind, the others (CTV is fluffy New Brunswick centered crap) and Global (filmed in a studio in Ontario where they don’t know the proper pronunciation of Antigonish) can’t even be considered local, to me anyway.
BitTorrent is the only way I can actually watch certain programs – Bill Maher for example – isn’t even broadcast in Canada, and if it is it is on some crazy premium must pay $100 to get it along with a whole bunch of other crap I’d never want to watch package, as you described as well.
Television _is_ just entertainment to me Miles, and if you need television to help you form a Canadian identity, or to figure out what a Canadian identity is, then you need a lot more help than I thought.
Television plays no role in my cultural identity, says the man who wants to move to America…..
I think people are missing my point entirely (I’m the OP). Why are the two sides blowing cash on ads? TV stations are not only paying for the ads, but when they run, they displace ads that could be actually making them money. Cable is just plain blowing money on ads. They also both wasted money putting ads on the radio, a medium not even involved in the debate. It has gotten to the point where the two sides are trying to one-up each other, like an election almost (but election ads make revenue for the stations).
When this is all over, someone has to foot the bill for this useless ad spending, and that someone will be us somehow. That’s what grinds my gears.
Exactly how much and what kind of help did you think I needed to begin with? 🙂
Whether you like it or not, TV DOES contribute to our cultural identity. It is also a venue for expressing that identity. Even if you watch TV just for entertainment, it is still a reflection of the culture that is producing it. As Canadians who consume a lot of American TV, we are absorbing that culture into our own. That’s not necessarily a bad thing except when you really look at the content we are consuming you have to wonder about the overall value of it. Although we have a lot in common with our American neighbours, Canadians have their own perspective on the world and TV is just one of the artistic media they can use to communicate that perspective. I think that is important.
OP, I wouldn’t worry about these spots displacing money making ones, shows are rarely filled to time these days with money making ads, which is part of the problem. What they are doing is trying to get people involved, it’s unfortunate that they are all terrible. Essentially, the ones supporting the stations do not cost much because the cable co. is paying the stations to run theirs as well.
Correction dartmouthy, Global news is done in a virtual studio in Burnside with all the lights, cameras, etc. controlled from a crew in Vancouver.
It only works if Canadians are actually watching Canadian television. I don’t know how many times I have heard a Canadian say, “Our president…”.
In fact, how Canadian is the Canadian identity, anyway? We watch mostly American TV, listen to a considerable amount of American music, read mostly American authors, etc., and all of this input does influence our creative and decision-making processes. Outside of a few shows like Corner Gas and This Hour Has 22 Minutes, it seems that most strive to replicate American shows.
Even in the recent coverage of federal elections, I heard everyone discussing Obama but no one speaking of Prime Minister what-his-name.
Well, HKM, that’s where CanCon comes in.
Part of the reason we consume American media is because we identify with American culture on a lot of levels. We aren’t all that different, but we are different. I’m OK with some Canadian programs trying to emulate successful American shows. CSI Winnipeg or Law and Order Ottawa would be good shows to air. Maybe then Canadians would inadvertently get some civics lessons and could distinguish between President and Prime Minister and Charter Rights vs constitutional rights. Although I like a lot of the original stuff Canada produces, I like cookie-cutter programs too. No reason why Canadians shouldn’t produce some crappy sit-coms and hospital dramas of our own. Maybe we could get some Americans making a slip about their “Prime Minister” some day 🙂
“Maybe we could get some Americans making a slip about their “Prime Minister” some day :)”
I have never even considered that a possibility. We seem to be rearing presidential wannabes. Is it just me or is Trudeau the last leader we have had that possessed originality and charisma?
I do notice that Americans are quick to claim many successful Canadians (who cross the border to work) as their own.
Oh, Cancon=Canadian Content.
So, regulations in media require 25 to 30% be Canadian. They say that this is to protect the Canadian identity and to keep talented Canadians from peddling their wares elsewhere. But, without ample funding for the arts, the only thing that Canada seems to be doing here is calling dibs on talent that the Americans/Europeans supported and funded. I mean, from what I understand, it doesn’t have to be about anything Canadian as long as the performer, writer, producer, etc. is Canadian. I mean, it appears that we can claim Jeopardy as Canadian content due to Alex Trebek hosting the show.
Speaking of Corner Gas, Americans love it (but they are still not going to confuse our PM with their President = ):
“The show has been widely praised by U.S. critics, with newspaper giant Gannett News Service calling it “one of the season’s best new shows,” while, in an odd turn of phrase, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says it’s the fall’s “best, least objectionable comedy series.” The San Jose Mercury News labels it a “delightful Canadian comedy,” while the McClatchy News Service writes “the funniest show coming to television this fall is not The Big Bang Theory or Chuck… the knock-down winner is an obscure little show from Canada called Corner Gas.” ~Marise Strauss
Yes Meow, it must be the lack of quality Canadian content on television that is to blame…
Why Shadowplay, if it is filmed in Burnside, have they trucked in people obviously not from the area who can’t pronounce local communities names properly? Anti – go – nish? Come on!! lol 🙂
Good question dartmouthy, you’d have to ask the jokers that run Global to answer that.
Something else that says how ridiculous they are, I have a friend who worked over there before it tanked and he was telling me a couple of years ago Global sent a national reporter from Vancouver to cover a story here, that was fine, but then his producer from BC calls and says theres a breaking story in Newfoundland, a snowstorm or something, could you swing on over and cover it for the evening news, reporter says sure and proceeds to ask the people in Burnside how to get there, this was a couple of hours before broadcast.
Shawdow play…just give them some directions !
You just head northeast…until you run out of road , then hop on the ferry they come every couple of minutes, when you get to Port aux Basques, follow the highway to St. John’s ,won’t take you long at all 😉
I love the irony of seeing the cable version of the “people on the street” ad being aired on the local TV stations. Why would Global/CTV choose to air that?
Shadowplay, in response to your many points: the reason Canadian networks/stations are not paid by cablecos for airing their signals is the same reason that I do not pay for the right to stick an antenna out the window and watch your signals: your business model does not call for that. If you encrypted your signals and required each viewer to pay something to allow that to be decrypted, then we are talking a different story. But you do not, because your business model relies on ad sales to fund the station. Your business model is broken; you propose to fix it by breaking another business model.
Incidentally I find it curious that the station formerly known as ASN is included in this, as it has never been OTA and the owners knowingly established it on the premise that it would be carried only by cablecos. Free of charge.
As for your defense of simsubs: they used to be far less of a factor because in the past local stations would program the US programs at different times that suited the local market. The comedy block used to air starting at 7:30 or 8PM so the kids who made up a large part of the audience could watch them. Now almost all US programming is slotted to get simsubs wherever possible. I am not paying to watch L&O on CTV, especially in HD with commercials for Toronto news. I am paying for NBC Boston. In the words of Yosemite Sam: “I paid to see the high-diving act, and I’m a goin’ to see the high-diving act!” Kaboom.
You defend local news as the local programming we are trying to protect, and admit that there is not going to be anything else produced locally regardless. In that case I would suggest that we are all better off if either (a) local news is ceded to CBC only, since we are already paying taxes to get that, or (b) that the CRTC require cablecos to beef up their community channels like Eastlink 10 to produce a quality local slate, including regular news programs, and you guys can just be repeater stations for your simsubs out of Toronto as you are 95% of the time anyway. Really, it would save everyone a lot of money and avoid a counterproductive tax regime that nobody except CTV and Canwest want, since they would be the beneficiary at the expense of the viewer. I really don’t need to see NB or PEI “local” news, thankyouverymuch. And I can live without Maria and Jayson.
If I were given the choice of what channels I want, I would buy a Direct TV dish to get the US nets and channels like ESPN and HBO, and have a set of rabbit ears for CBHT when I wanted to see local news at 6PM. I suspect the takeup rate for local Canadian channels would be very low on a a la carte basis if there was a monthly fee associated with each. I cannot remember the last time I willingly watched anything on the local Global station. And CTV is not far ahead of that. Nobody I know is watching that Canadian faux-reality stuff. That applies to both our OTA stations and to the Canadian specialty channels. It’s all crap.
We’ve seen what CTV and Canwest do to their local stations – they gut them and do the bare minimum necessary to keep their license. There is no reason to perpetuate that failed business model.
Wow well said Bo Gus. I don’t blame shadowplay of course, but the networks should be left to sink or swim, I’m done subsidizing more than one network, the CBC is enough.