Angus - the more specific that you are the more likley you will be to get a response. You should specifically mention which rulings that you think are outrageous - people that don't follow this closely may not have any idea which rulings you mean. And it may not just be the CRTC - I don't remember the exact details but I don't think that the "criminalization" of US satellite TV services had anything to do with the CRTC.

I doubt the PM actually reads every e-mail...

That is a waste of time. Nothing will be done about it.

Subscribe to DirecTV. Just about anyone in Canada can receive the signal. If you have a way to do it, I suggest you do. I'm not saying DirecTV is fantastic (the HD service is pretty darn good though, with over 90 channels as of this post), but you won't have to watch any Canadian commercials and it's cheaper than Canadian television (you can have 4 receivers with HD for about $120 a month).

The problem with the CRTC is that they're irrelevant. They claim to be protecting Canadian broadcasters and sim-subbing provides more money to make quality Canadian shows. The issue I take with that, is that very few Canadian shows (and there are a lot of good ones) ever make it to prime time viewing slots. The reason? Because there are more popular U.S. shows that will draw more viewers and bring in more sim-subbing revenue.

If I wanted to watch American programming with Canadian commercials and missed scenes coming in and out of those commercials (plus always missing the "next week's episode" spot at the end), then I would watch that programming on CTV or Global. When I choose NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX, CW, etc..., it's because I WANT to watch the program on that channel. CTV & Global only exist because of local news and sim-subbing. I posit that sim-subbing should be eliminated and these channels should stand on their own. If nobody watches CTV or Global, so be it. It's not like many people only have OTA TV anymore and can't receive the US networks because they're not close to the border. Just about every household has access to the U.S. networks these days, so why do they need CTV or Global, save for local news?

Why do the Canadian broadcasters need to be saved at my expense? They're not protecting Canadian culture, because they relegate the Canadian content to times when nobody is watching, then reap huge sim-sub payments when viewers are actually tuned in to a different channel anyway (the U.S. networks).

Don't even get me started on sim-subbing for sporting events. I'm sure I'm not the only one who gets a little annoyed when 60 Minutes begins even though the 4:15 NFL game is in overtime. Remember Super Bowl XLII? I sure can't forget what happened in Mayerthorpe, but I do know that CTV was going to be showing something called Dexter, and something called Jericho (I only saw the commercials once or twice ;) ). Funny thing though, CTV sim-subbed Jericho for two weeks (I was watching on CBS) before giving up and showing re-runs of Law & Order: SVU. Two weeks! They showed about 50 commercials during the Super Bowl and stuck with it for two weeks. I wasn't complaining because the sim-subbing stopped and I was able to enjoy Jericho for the remainder of its run, but I pity people that were trying to catch up on SVU.

As for carriage fees; if the CRTC want to impose carriage fees for local broadcasters, I'm fine with that... as long as my cable company offers me the choice of programming. I pay for about 150 channels, and watch about 30. Unfortunately for me, the channels I watch are all premium programming so I pay through the nose to get HD channels, TMN, and the Super Sports Pack (I'm with Cogeco). The basic digital package I subscribe to offers about 70 channels, but I probably watch a dozen of those. There's no "a la carte" option for the basic channels, yet I pay $50 and really only watch the channels I can get over the air anyway. Yet I need those channels to get the HD versions, plus I have to have a basic package to get TMN and other programming I pay extra for. It's a huge cash grab, and now CTV & Global want the CRTC to force the cablecos to pay carriage fees, which the cablecos will simply pass on to the consumers.

The only problem is if you are a fan of Canadian sports - you will then want/need channels like TSN, RSN, etc. But on everything else I agree with you (except Canadian commercials - I kind of prefer Canadian commercials to the tacky Buffalo commercials I grew up on - the Super Bowl being the one exception but I have an OTA tuner in my HTPC so I can watch US OTA channels from Buffalo if I want).

I'm not suggesting TSN disappear, nor should Sportsnet and The Score, but those channels are filling their schedules with U.S. programming also. I'd much rather watch ESPN MNF on ESPN when they can actually come back from commercial without missing game action (TSN can't do that). It's pitiful. You want to throw Canadian commercials in? Fine, but no hijacking the logo and you better not screw up the actual program. If they could get it right, I wouldn't be so upset about it, but they've proven time and again that they can't get it right. I don't watch the commercials anyway.

For the people that don't see the big deal about ESPN, I watch a TON of U.S. College Football and College Basketball. ESPN shows a plethora of those games, and I'm happy to take what I can get on the Super Sports Pack, but I'd love more and I'd love for Cogeco/Rogers to not screw those channels up so much (the worst part is when they lie about it - prove me wrong, Mods).

I have been subbing to DirecTV for 8 years and have never looked back.

The CRTC is crazy and forces Canadians to suffer and miss shows in the name of "Canadian content". Give me a break!

Do your self a favour, find a friend in the U.S. and hook it up.

who is this Canadian content advisory group or whatever is it that attended this CRTC hearing?

Because apperntly they brought a petition that was signed my many people that were for more Canadian content on TV.....

who are these people that want that good gosh.........

I hope there is a good chance we could get some american channels here because this "canadian content" stuff is crap

I have been subbing to DirecTV for 8 years and have never looked back.

The CRTC is crazy and forces Canadians to suffer and miss shows in the name of "Canadian content". Give me a break!

Do your self a favour, find a friend in the U.S. and hook it up.If there are people where I live that help people get DirecTV subs I would jump on that in a heart beat

Because apperntly they brought a petition that was signed my many people that were for more Canadian content on TV.....

who are these people that want that good gosh.........

it's easy just ask every actors, actress, musicians and all the people hired by canadian channels to sign and they will do (i can't blame them they protect ther jobs) but have everyday people signed this i'm not sure
so are some facts biased id say yes

who are these people that want that good gosh.........

I hope there is a good chance we could get some american channels here because this "canadian content" stuff is crap

I would love to see more Canadian content on TV, provided that it is good. There is nothing stopping Canadian broadcasters from producing high quality Canadian content, except that they are too cheap to do it. And they are too addicted to simsubs to program their own content in good time slots.

When we play the Americans in hockey... Do we play with a net thats half the size of theirs?

We need to, as a country. Learn how to play on an even field, not learn how to play the game with more pads than the other guy

When we play the Americans in hockey... Do we play with a net thats half the size of theirs?

We need to, as a country. Learn how to play on an even field, not learn how to play the game with more pads than the other guyThe problem with this analogy is that Canadians don't play much field hockey. :)

I asked the CRTC why I can't have SKYPE-IN ?!, that was 2 years ago. Why are we paying taxes to these people ? -I mean who are they ? CRTC ia a useless waste of my hard-earned tax dollars.
Shame on our present Canadian government for using the CRTC to NOT let us have the "freedom" that we're paying for, to chose our own /Radio/Satellite/Cable/Phone/Cellular/... providers.
Canadian Telecommunications used to be the envy of the world. Now its just seems an "illegal" burden slung on the shoulders of all Canadian taxpayers'.

CRTC ?, I say down with it.

What does the CRTC have to do with you not getting Skype-IN?

Other VOIP providers have local numbers in Canada... so maybe Skype just hasn't seen enough demand in Canada to support it?

The CRTC's hearings on "new media" broadcasting scare me. One day, I'll try to play a Youtube video...

The DNS request for youtube.com will be intercepted and re-directed to youtube.ca
the actual video will be preceded by a Canadian Tire commercial
instead of the high-res original youtube.com video, I'll see a brutally recompressed, grainy, macro-blocky, low-bandwidth version with a Global bug on the bottom right-hand corner
the first and last 30 seconds will be missing due to being overwritten with promos for upcoming Global programs

Idea from a posting by JF Mezei on another forum

The CRTC's hearings on "new media" broadcasting scare me. One day, I'll try to play a Youtube video...
Scary. Thank god there are open proxies. ;)

Requests to the open proxies will be intercepted as well :p
And there will be new type of sites - wwww - WATCH WHAT WE WANT :o

WBR, Victor.

if the CRTC ever regulate teh internet and block proxies i'll pull the plug to internet because it will become an object of canadian propaganda

Why is it that Canada seems to take its media policy from the People's Republic of China and not other free nations? I sincerely think that if they try to regulate the internet, they will have a fight on their hands. I, for one, will emigrate and renounce my citizenship ASAP. Imagine when you're not able to even access a simple forum hosted outside Canada because it doesn't "uphold the Canadian idenity" and instead being directed to the Tim Horton's website. Disgusting. As the rest of the world begins to catch on to the "Great firewall of Canada" we become less and less important in the electronic age. Anyone want to bet that, like grey-market satellite, using grey market internet will result in jail-time?

In their announcement (http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/NEWS/RELEASES/2008/r080515.htm) of the "New Media" hearings, the CRTC said "Our intention is not to regulate new media". So rather than blocking and redirecting, I think a more likely scenario is a tax on ISP services with the proceeds going toward the development of Canadian content.

Also included in the announcement was a link to an official site (http://newmedia.crtc.econsultation.ca/) for online comments on the issue.