What Grinds My Gears!!

Now I know that I may be "sampling" the title from a few sources including another blogger but in a case like this I think that it is not only warranted but may even be embraced.

You know what Grinds My Gears? You CBC and CRTC ... F#^% You - When the Toronto based CBC shows a crappy Leafs Game in HD and not the Ottawa-Montreal game I get a bad taste in my mouth.

The Montreal Canadians are playing the Ottawa Senators on a Saturday Night. This is good, after all it is Hockey Night in Canada. What is better then the most successful team in NHL history versus another great Canadian team from our Nations Capital? I can tell you what it should be and that is the availability of the game being shown in HD. This is the most ridiculous thing I have seen in some time. What game does the CBC decide to show...the NY Rangers and the WINLESS Toronto Maple Leafs.

So when you have 2 Canadian teams facing off that are not only divisional rivals but separated by a mere 200 or so kilometers on a Saturday night, on a Canadian network and you show a winless team who is in such a bad place right now that their practices now consist of playing dodge ball on the ice with tennis balls.

What just made things worse, just this second... they were just interviewing Tomáš Plekanec and it was Cassie Campbell conducting the interview. Yeah, I was just robbed of seeing Cassie in High Def.

Ok, sorry, back to the issue at hand. I was recently notified by Bell that I am now going to be charged monthly for a local television fee. First off there is no "local tv" they don't even have the Ottawa CTV on my satellite, I get the news and like Regional Contact or something on some alternate channel. All the other "local programming" is simulcast programs from American networks. That is a far cry from local. If I am going to be charged for local programming, which I am already paying for I would think that a Senators-Canadians game should apply. I don't think that is too much to ask. I have had a big issue with the CRTC and how limited the options are when watching sports and getting sports channels and it is just getting worse. It is just like having games blacked out. I know that that is partly the sports leagues bylaws but I still think that if I am paying for Sportsnet West and there is a Flames-Oilers game I should have the right to watch it.

AND THAT IS WHAT REALLY GRINDS MY GEARS

Changing Channels Not An Option In Canada

After my last post it has lead me to make a comment on the state of TV in Canada and the US as it relates to sports. Now I have little problems with Canada’s existing sports specific channels, those being TSN (The Sports Network), Rogers Sportsnet and to a lesser extent The Score but I want more. Being a Bell Express Vu subscriber I have a respectable selection of live sporting events to choose from. Now that TSN has come out with TSN 2 allowing for both the ability to show 2 live sporting events at the same time (in the winter usually either 2 hockey games or a hockey game and an NBA game or perhaps tennis, maybe even curling) nationally as well the ability for time shifting showing programming on a 3 hour delay to allow you to watch the complete games of both matches if you so choose or if you missed the original broadcast...a nice option o have. Sportsnet does well with regional hockey but shows far less live games as it used to when it held the rights to broadcast NBA games but makes up for that with most Jays games during baseball season.

Now where I have an issue again is with the CRTC and the fact that there is no way that I can get everything that I want. Sure I could pay in excess of $100 for different packages covering sports like NHL Center Ice, NFL Sunday Ticket, NASCAR Hotpass, MLB Extra Innings or the NCAA package but that adds up pretty quick and there is a lot of overlap of crappy games that I wouldn’t want anyway. No, what I want is more choice, more options and most of all more variety. I guess in an effort to preserve Canadian content there is no way to legally get the programming that I want and what I want shouldn’t be that tough to get. Give me the option of having ESPN(s), some of the Fox SportsNet channels, NESN, Versus, YES Network TNT among others. As a fan of watching volleyball I would like to have the option of watching some matches. NBC will show 1 match a week of the AVP tour but the rest of the tournament is not shown, nor are any NCAA indoor games. I understand why Canadian programming doesn’t pick up these games as it is a very niche market but if the games are being televised I would like to have the option to watch them. I don’t need it on a Pay Per View basis just let me purchase the entire channel as I would if it were a specialty channel in Canada. If it comes to a case of matching the numbers in a total package of Canadian to US programming so be it, I may be willing to taking on some crappy Canadian channels in order to keep the ratio where it needs to be. All I am asking for is the ability to choose, ability to watch what I want , and ability to get some different perspectives. The only channels made available in Canada show nothing but crap. They try to fool people with ESPN Classic Canada, but not ESPN Classics so we get Classic CFL games (if there is more of an oxymoron title i’d like to hear it) Matches on Fox Sports World shows Footy (soccer), rugby, Aussie rules football and things of that nature....not entertaining and a weak effort to show “World Sports”.

I want Wednesday Night Baseball in the summer, weekly NBA games, Volleyball games. It is being broadcast, I don’t think it too much to ask that I have a chance to enjoy it, whether I live in Canada or the USA.

My TV Was Hijacked By Canadian Government Pirates

So the Super Bowl is over for another year, the TV event of the year is over, but there is still an issue that needs to be touched upon and that is the TV coverage itself. Being in Canada there is an issue that arises and it is usually forgotten not long after the big game and that is the CRTC regulations that switch the feed that we get here. The game was shown in the US by NBC, the pregame started early on the network and continued through until the end, however what we got was NBC via CTV. CTV is a fine network but if I want to watch NBC I should be able to watch NBC. I have a satellite dish and even pay extra to have a second NBC western NBC and to not be able to watch it is annoying at best.

Part of the fun of the Super Bowl is getting to watch the new commercials that command in excess of $2.5-$2.9 million dollars for a 30 second spot. When, because of the switch of the feed we in Canada miss out on a good portion of them. One redeeming factor is that with the internet now we can see these online after but that is a minor victory. When I am watching the game on a clear TV maybe I don’t want to watch these commercials on a smaller computer screen at a lower quality later on. Maybe I don’t want to search to find this content and there is a pretty good chance that without a list I don’t know what to look for, which companies are advertising and where I can find the best quality ones.
Possibly the most aggravating issue is that the Canadian commercials that we get are Canadian Tire and Tim Hortons on a continuous loop. When they aren’t good in the beginning, repetition doesn’t make them better.

We were able to avoid this issue with the Olympics because CBC and NBC had in dependant coverage and their own crews (I understand the economics of the simulcast but it is all about choice) so it was separate and we were better for it as we had more choice

This isn’t just a Super Bowl issue as it happens not only for simulcast sporting events but for drama’s and sitcoms that are shown at the same time on both the US and Canadian channels. It is good that there are standards to keep Canadian culture and content on the airways but when you are paying for one thing having at least a choice would be nice.