Comments on: CRTC Roundup: They saved local TV!

By: LightningRod

LightningRod — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 18:52:08 +0000

"Resistance Is Fertile"
All this Big Media back biting is just prepositioning to pillage and strip small media markets again... the crtc is again selling out canadians in an intensifying transnational corporate mono-cultural takeover. The transnationals have been dumping into small markets on all fronts for ages, Canada isn't special. It doesn't matter because TV is just so last century anyway, i am putting my money on a better fatter wireless internest connection and already canceled my cable anyway. Try and dominate that from your cozy little private jet. We the little people will watch what we want, when we want and when we want to pay for it . Be Free Be Wireless!

By: Fagstein

Fagstein — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 05:27:53 +0000

The illico box isn't just a digital tuner. It decodes the television channels (they're encrypted to prevent you from accessing those you haven't subscribed to) and does video on demand. It would still be needed regardless of what kind of television you have.

By: Marc

Marc — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 02:31:21 +0000

As far as I know, analog cable is going to be history around the time of the big switch to digital. However, if all they offer is digital cable, and if you have a new TV, you technically shouldn't need an Illico box because the new TV's have digital tuners. You should be able to hook up directly as you do now with analog. But the Illico boxes could prove to be a cash cow for Baby Péladeau.

By: Norman Brandt

Norman Brandt — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 00:35:16 +0000

I wonder what profits for OTA operations would be if debt incurred for acquiring the so called "money losing" operations was factored out for the likes of CTV and Global. It would likely be a big fat profit. Also, I have to wonder what profits would look like if the newly acquired money losing operations were factored out. It's just a shell game for most businesses. They create a financial "crisis" by using leveraged buyouts (instead of general revenues) to acquire previously profitable operations. They then start squeezing everyone in the process by factoring the buyout costs into financial statements. OTA broadcasters are in no more financial straits than any other business that expanded as rapidly in recent times. They just see an opportunity to squeeze more money out of the public purse and have presented distorted figures to justify it. CTV and Canwest made 20% profit on their specialty channel operations. That doesn't make Rogers and Shaw look so fat. Also, consider that Rogers and Shaw are making huge, ongoing capital investments to increase network capacity, develop new technology and provide new services. The bulk of CTV and Global expenditures are for foreign programming while investing relatively little in the way of Canadian programming and new technical services. If Shaw and Rogers were run the way CTV and Canwest runs their networks, 90% of Canada would not have access to digital TV or high speed Internet. It's well known that Canwest's problems are due to its high debt. CTV is not far behind due to their badly conceived acquisition of Chum that left them with the A stations. If you don't know how leveraged buyouts work, I suggest you look into it. It's quite true that consumers pay for capital improvements in cable operations. It's not altruistic because consumers will pay for the added services. In contrast, OTA broadcasters are in trouble because nobody wants to watch, or pay for, stripped down services that are no longer relevant to the communities they serve. Maybe if they produced better programming and converted to digital, that would change. Digital TV has produced a surge in interest about OTA TV in the US and Canadian cities that have it, why not the rest of Canada too? It appears to me that CTV and Canwest want to force Canadians to support a product that many of them no longer want or need, a product that has seen no improvements and a lot of neglect for many years. OTA broadcasting is a dying industry in Canada, largely due to changing markets but also due to the actions (or lack of action) by broadcasters and the CRTC. I'm not sure that taxes and subsidies to support private broadcasters are even legal, let alone in the public interest.

By: Fagstein

Fagstein — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 16:13:00 +0000

They are. Either your telemarketer is confused, is lying, or Videotron plans to discontinue basic cable.

By: C

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 13:53:36 +0000

got a telemarketer call from videotron yesterday telling me I might need an illico box eventually. I thought people with cable TV were okay for the big switch?? He offered me an illico box half-price.

By: princess iveylocks

princess iveylocks — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 03:32:14 +0000

"Corus is rebranding its SCREAM! horror channel to DUSK, and expanding its niche to include “paranormal” and “supernatural” stuff that might not be so scary."

Dude that stuff is CREEPIER. They should re-run "Unsolved Mysteries" so I can relive my childhood nightmares.