UPDATE (June 12): Thank you Stephen Colbert. (CTV owns the Canadian rights to the Colbert Report through the CTV and Comedy networks, so he’s actually being half-serious about licensing the song.)
The fact that politicians are getting involved in this (if only by commenting out loud) really gets me. Yeah, we’re emotionally attached to it, but it’s not as if the Parliamentary Library is burning down here.
UPDATE (June 6): It’s over. Negotiations have fallen through and CBC is launching a $100,000 contest to find a replacement. Good luck with that.
TSN and the NHL have reached a contract extension through 2014, which provides the network with 70 regular-season games, of which 15 involve the Canadiens. That puts us second behind the Leafs (no surprise there). The remaining Canadian teams get 10 games each. (We’re assuming, of course, that there will be some overlap as the teams face each other)
The deal also opens a (slight) possibility of TSN covering a Canadian team during the playoffs. Basically if all three teams in one conference (Leafs/Sens/Habs or Oilers/Flames/Canucks) make it three teams make it to the playoffs, the CBC will pick two and TSN will get the third. If it’s four, CBC gets the fourth pick, then TSN, then CBC, then the last two go to TSN. Previously, CBC had rights to all playoff games involving Canadian teams, as well as the entire Stanley Cup final.
The deal also gives TSN “broadband rights,” which might mean being able to watch some games online. But the media release doesn’t go into detail about that.
Just as the St. John’s Telegram sings his praises (the article is reprinted in today’s Gazette), comes the unconfirmed-but-they’re-really-sure-about-it news from the Globe that the CBC is phasing out veteran play-by-play announcer Bob Cole. This will be his final Stanley Cup broadcast, though he’ll stay on for regular-season games next year.
Listening to tonight’s game, it’s hard to challenge the decision.
I think we should take a step back here. 25% seems large, but only represents about 6,000 actual viewers. CBC Montreal’s news audience is still an order of magnitude smaller than CTV, which has dominated the race since CBC gutted Newswatch.
Though I’m sure Cavallaro has a loyal audience, the numbers probably have more to do with people slowly trickling back to CBC after the network decided to bring back a local one-hour newscast. And the station still has plenty of ground to make up. It needs a new studio (well, actually, it needs its own studio), a graphics department, and other things that only money can buy.
Meanwhile, The Suburban notices that Paul Graif, a victim of Global Quebec’s job cuts, is now at CTV. Another example of why we have one local news program here and two pretend local news programs.
The problem is that the CRTC mandates that RDI be included in all cable and satellite basic lineups, as it does for channels like CPAC, Newsworld and The Weather Network. So unless I (and the CBC) are missing something, Star Choice is violating CRTC regulations. (Then again, it’s not the only company that thinks CRTC rules are just a suggestion — *cough* *cough*)
Meanwhile, Global Quebec is still not available even as an option for Star Choice and ExpressVu customers in Quebec, more than 10 years after the regional network launched. Ditto CBC Saskatchewan.
But hey, God forbid anyone should miss the World Fishing Network for some local news.
Shaw Cable has asked the CRTC for permission to add two new U.S.-based sporting channels to the list of digital cable channels available to Canadian consumers. Because the channels are non-Canadian, they have to show that these channels do not compete with any Canadian-based specialty channel.
The Big Ten Network is a channel that focuses exclusively on U.S. college sports: football, basketball and other sports from Big Ten college athletic conference. Some people might question the need for a TV network devoted exclusively to college sports, but those people would be stupid. Comments on the proposal are due by Friday, May 16.
The Sportsman Channel is devoted to hunting and fishing (so perhaps it would more appropriately be called the Killing Animals For Fun Channel, but I digress). Comments on that proposal are also due by Friday.
Neither channel obviously competes with any Canadian offering.
There are two men out there that get the hearts of teenage girls (at least, people who were teenage girls in the early 90s) pumping with gusto, mostly because of their resemblance to me:
George Stroumboulopoulos* and John Cusack.
Before now, you might have wondered if the two could somehow be combined to form some sort of überhottie (and then merged into me, but that would create a form of hotness that would start fusing hydrogen atoms into helium and create a star that would quickly consume the Earth, so let’s not ponder that).
According to several estimates, there are 1.5 career-ending breakdowns for every 1,000 racing starts in the United States. That’s an average of two per day.
That’s a crazy statistic, but it doesn’t need to be inflated. So no, Don Lemon, 1.5 is not “almost two” as you say. It’s 1.5. Even for extremely large values of 1.5.
And was it really necessary to drag an expert out of his California bed in the middle of the night so he could be interviewed on an east-coast morning show with a pitch-black racetrack behind him? Have you no sympathy?
Regional news will be hardest hit, with just about every newscast outside of Montreal being cut to nothing. The entire news department is being eliminated, with 110% the only locally-produced show left. Here, some newscasts (like the morning Caféine) will be cancelled, and others reduced in length.
The changes are happening over the summer. By fall, TQS will be practically unrecognizable, and will no doubt find ways to suck even more than it already does.
The drastic cuts to local programming will require CRTC approval. But considering the alternative (bankruptcy and the loss of an entire network), a compromise will probably be worked out.
Jean-Luc Mongrain, the only person left at TQS who we can name off the tops of our heads, is calling it quits. Journal de Montréal’s EXCLUSIVE interview generated so much reaction, a whopping four comments, that it’s clear to see how much Mongrain’s work has touched Quebec.
The Montreal Impact (you know, one of our other sports teams) has signed deals with Radio-Canada and The Team 990 to air games this season.
The Team 990 will air all 15 Impact home games throughout the season and all playoff games, with CTV regular Brian Wilde doing the play-by-play. He’ll be joined by former Impact player Grant Needham and The Team’s Noel Butler, who will also host a weekly, one-hour soccer show beginning in May. The same is the case for the 2009 season. The station is the team’s only English broadcaster.
Radio-Canada will air 10 games (9 home games and one away game) on TV, online and on Sirius satellite radio. Play-by-play will be done by Claude Quenneville, with Guillaume Dumas on analysis and Marie-José Turcotte, Marc Durand and Andrea Di Pietrantonio hosting. Radio-Canada is the team’s only television broadcaster, and “could” also air the playoffs.
The Impact’s home opener, which will be covered by both stations, is May 19, playing host to the Vancouver Whitecaps. The first game of the season is Saturday at Vancouver.
Home games are also on CKAC and all games available at USLlive.com (if you’re willing to pay for it)
Remember back in December when we heard about this new outfit that wanted to startup a national, over-the-air HDTV network to compete with Global, CTV and others? And then we found out the suggested programming was crap and involved no local production whatsoever?
Well, surprise surprise, the CRTC has denied the application. In its decision, the commission cites the lack of local programming as the main issue (HDTV amended the application to say they could go with two hours a week), saying the others average about 22 hours a week of local programming (really? In what universe?). It also took issue with its demands to be carried on standard-definition cable systems.
What’s interesting (and went uncovered in the media because it wasn’t in the press release everyone copied from) is that the decision included a rare dissenting opinion from commissioner Len Katz, a Montrealer who used to work for Rogers (ironic since Rogers was an intervenor in this case). He argues that a company willing to invest millions in Canadian television shouldn’t be dismissed so easily:
While I agree with my colleagues that a primary issue relevant to the Commission’s determinations in this proceeding relates to the provision of local programming, I strongly believe the Broadcasting Act is equally clear that the Canadian broadcasting system should encourage the development of Canadian expression and diversity of views.
Though I agree with the CRTC’s decision, Katz’s comment is quite valid. The problem is that once we change the rules for one, it sets a precedent others will demand we follow. Considering local television is a dying breed as it is, this isn’t the direction I’d like to see the CRTC go in.
So for those of you looking forward to the booming 450 Watt Montreal station with no local programming, you’ll have to wait a bit longer.
No to YES
In the same breath, the CRTC also denied an application for YES TV, a Toronto-based HD broadcast station with unrealistic projections of revenue and a programming schedule that relied far too much on user-generated content.
Watching Battlestar Galactica (as I’m sure most of you are right now), it’s interesting to see discussions of how awesome the show is injected with commercials for Stargate Atlantis and Primeval, among others.
Digital TV subscribers across Canada are noticing two new channels that weren’t there before. The CBC has arranged free previews on all the major systems, including Videotron (digital), Bell ExpressVu and Star Choice.
Bold is, near as I can tell, CBC’s answer to Showcase or Bravo. Its programming includes a bunch of second-run drama and comedy shows from CBC’s library, including MVP, The Tudors, Da Vinci’s City Hall, The Border, Intelligence, Dr. Who and a bunch of other shows I’ve never heard of.
It replaces CBC Country Canada, that other cable channel that nobody watches.
Bold can be found on Videotron Illico channel 106 and Bell ExpressVu channel 641.
Documentary is self-explanatory, taking a bunch of stuff from CBC Newsworld and the NFB. It’s basically just a rebranding of The Documentary Channel, which the CBC bought a controlling interest in.
Documentary can be found on Videotron Illico channel 151 and ExpressVu channel 336.
