CRTC To Force US Commercials For Superbowl

[The Unknown Poster]

Bell Media has suffered a setback in its bid to keep U.S. commercials off Canadian televisions during the Super Bowl, but says it will continue its fight to appeal a regulatory policy on the issue.

The Federal Court of Appeal on Friday dismissed Bell’s appeal of a Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) policy that will bar broadcasters from swapping their own signals and ads into U.S. channels carrying the National Football League’s championship game as of 2017.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/court-rules-against-bells-attempt-to-swap-super-bowl-commercials/article31722299/

Basically, the CRTC says Simsub (substitution Canadian commercials on simulcast programs) is key to Canadian broadcasting, but the Superbowl is an exception due to the interest in seeing the US commercials.  Obviously, this would cost the rights holder (Bell) millions of dollars.  Interesting decision by the CRTC.

[tacklewasher]

1 hour ago, The Unknown Poster said:

Interesting Stupid decision by the CRTC.

Fixed it for you.

I know we all love the great US commercials, but Bell is in the business of selling advertising. The Super Bowl gives them the viewership in Canada to be able to sell commercials for a big chunk of money. The CRTC is simply restricting Bell's ability to carry out it's business. Without the commercial revenue, why would Bell carry the game?

And I see the: " “The court dismissed this appeal because the CRTC hadn’t yet issued its formal order to ban Super Bowl simsub, despite announcing its ban a year and a half ago. It’s been an extraordinary delay by the CRTC,” Mr. Langton said. "

So the dismissal was not based on facts of the case, just that the CRTC has not finalized it's policy and so the policy can't be challenged in court.

The CRTC needs to be given a whack on the nose for this one.

[basslicker]

Meh, commercials are commercials.  They suck no matter where they originate.

[FrostyWinnipeg]

Bad decision IMHO. A lot of the commercials are on youtube literally the moment they air on the superbowl and on tv for the next month. I'm not sure how much of a problem sim-subbing is anymore anyway.

 

[17to85]

yeah it's dumb, let the canadian channels keep their commercial time, this is how the business operates right, you can see the commercials online if you really need to. 

[iso_55]

For one game, I like it. Unless you want to watch the same Canadian commercials we've seen since the start of the NFL season played back to back 25 times during the game. Or the same CTV promos with people looking serious, comedic, sideways, up, down, whatever.

[The Unknown Poster]

It could be a slippery slope. What if other major events become exceptions?  

I think they are approaching this the wrong way. They should be encouraging Canadian companies to create better and more interesting commercials. 

[tacklewasher]

1 hour ago, iso_55 said:

For one game, I like it. Unless you want to watch the same Canadian commercials we've seen since the start of the NFL season played back to back 25 times during the game. Or the same CTV promos with people looking serious, comedic, sideways, up, down, whatever.

Are you willing to pay to watch the Super Bowl? Because, without that revenue, it becomes pay per view.

[Rich]

3 minutes ago, tacklewasher said:

Are you willing to pay to watch the Super Bowl? Because, without that revenue, it becomes pay per view.

No, the Canadian channels wouldn't pay for the rights, but we'd still see the game on the American channels.  

You are basically taking revenue away from the Canadian stations.

[The Unknown Poster]

Well...if no Canadian broadcaster was willing to pay, does the NFL have the option of blacking it out in Canada and forcing it to be PPV?

 

[iso_55]

It's one game, people. Not an entire season. Canadian advertisers put very little extra money into Canadian commercials on Super Bowl Sunday. We see the same dumb or unimaginative ads we've seen a hundred times over during the season on SB Sunday. Maybe the odd new one but usually that's an overlap of  American companies that do business here & in the United States so we actually do see some SB ads during the game. Like say, Pepsi for example. Maybe Canadian advertisers have to come up big spending wise on the Super Bowl & not piggy back  off the American broadcast. Go earn their advertising dollars like their American counterparts that day & things will change.

Edited September 8, 2016 by iso_55

[iHeart]

listen, this is technically good news for me, because I like to watch those ads live, and at least I won't have to fight the spam on first row sports just to find a decent feed