Wayne,

For the past 2.5 years I have had an HDTV and a HDPVR in Winnipeg - to this point the experience has been phenomenal as there has been no sim-subbing.

Prior to my foray into HD, I was at the mercy of simsubbing on the SD channels. Superbowl commercials aside, the way,way,way more problematic issue(s) of sim-subbing is the resulting impact to quality of the viewing experience in the form of poor audio (loss of 5.1, massive shifts in volume between show and commercials), the inability of the Canadian networks to cut in and out of the programming without missing actual content due to poor timing/staff execution or letting the "sim"sub continue past the end of a show, making viewers miss the first minute or more of the next one where they don't have the rights to hijack the signal.

The whole experience is inferior. We pay lots of $ for our entertainment and the technical abilities of the CTV/Global to deliver a product that is untainted has never proven to achievable in my experience.

Every night I'm subjected to SIMSUB blunders. I either miss the beginning of a show or the end is chopped off.

I have a PVR so it doens't matter whose commercials I'm not watching but don't chop my show. I agree simsub wouldnt be so bad if they could do it correctly and on time. I find the dialogue is always just a bit "off" with the lips in a subbed program.

I sent a scathing letter to Shaw about the quality of their simsub for the Superbowl (same 4 commercials, poor lip sync, late cut in's) as AFAIK this was the first ABC-CTV simsub of a major sporting event and it was a disaster IMO.
Here's the copy of what Shaw sent me when I complained about it
Thank you for your email.
Signal substitution most often involves substituting a Canadian signal for an American one. As a result, the viewer will see the program in its entirety but from a Canadian source.

During the Super Bowl, for example, Canadian broadcasters sell advertising time to be included in the Canadian feed of the program and replace the ads Americans see at home. This permits Canadian stations that buy the exclusive rights to air the Super Bowl in Canada, to benefit from the sale of commercial advertising during the airing of the program.
In many cases, the ads for a given product aired in Canada and in the U.S. are the same. Reasons for those that aren't being aired in Canada include: the American advertisers not purchasing commercial air-time from Canadian stations who have purchased the rights to air the Super Bowl.
Signal substitution is done to bring millions of advertising dollars back into the Canadian broadcasting system. Advertising revenues are also what enable Canadian broadcasters to bring you programming such as the Super Bowl.

When broadcasters buy programs from American and Canadian producers or networks, they pay for exclusive distribution rights in their home markets. The simultaneous substitution regulation, set out in the CRTC's Cable Regulations, is designed to protect those rights. These regulations permit Canadian broadcasters who purchase American programming, to use signal substitution as a means to earn advertising dollars. The CRTC has a duty, under the Broadcasting Act, to foster a strong and financially viable domestic industry.
The CTV owns the rights to the 2009 Super Bowl. At the request of the Network all digital channels featuring the Super Bowl will have simultaneous signal substitution in place. The analog channels have always had simultaneous signal substitution in place.

Satellite service was affected the same as they are subject to CRTC regulations as well.

Complaints about the Super bowl simultaneous simulcasting of CTV may call the CRTC at:

1-877-249-2782I havnt done it yet, but I plan to complain to the CRTC, depsite the fact it'll likely be upon deaf ears.
WOT

Last week was an example of why I hate SimSub, Watching lost on Bell and in the last 2 Min's of the program they drop the feed back to the original and it's friggin commercial 30 sec's later they switch back the feed and it's 10 sec's left and the pivotal part of the show's cliffhanger gone because of stupidity.

To relieve simsub frustration the CRTC should limit Canadian networks to 1 hour of American programming in the 3 hour primetime block. Give the networks 2 years to get ready. The CRTC simsub regulations need a complete overhaul.

Just imagine if everyone was like CTV and Global in this world - just hijacking works / materials. Imagine if scientists hijacked each other's work, students hijacked each others assignments, corporations hijacked each other strategies and ideas, and they didn't come up with their own thoughts and ideas - we would be nowhere as advanced in society as we are today. Thank heavens everyone else is not like the scums at CTV or Global. What a pathetic bunch of thwarts.

Those "thwarts" are very good at manipulating governments and making easy fortunes.

corporations hijacked each other strategies and ideas

it's done everydays it's called free market HAHAHAHAH

This past week I came SO CLOSE to cancelling my Bell Account because of the CRTC simsub's. Im getting closer to accepting my Uncle & Aunts offer to send me two HD Dish Net 722's and then share the bill

I could care less if CTV goes broke. As far as I'm concerned the Superbowl shouldn't even be 'auctioned' to Canadian broadcasters. They need to start putting Canadian content on the air besides commercials. We can watch American content and commercials on American channels. Or if I want to watch a Toronto station, I'd watch local content and commercials. Or St.John's Newfoundland for that matter.

The thing that never ceases to amazing me is the double standard that is conducted by
the CRTC.

They claim to be protecting Canadian culture by limiting to amount of
US channels that can be seen here and to foster home grown Canadian
made and produced programming.Yet at the same time they continue to permit CBC,CTV and Global, 3 Canadian channels to buy the rights to American made programing,whether its the Super Bowl or some other
US program and rebroadcast them on their stations.This certainly isnt
doing anything to help foster the creation of new Canadian made shows.

The networks should be ordered to end all US shows and create quality Canadian programming that people in Canada would watch,yet the CRTC
will not enforce their own broadcasting regulations.To me that is nothing
but a pure double standard that they are getting away with.

I think they recognize that the Canadian networks are not economically viable without the advertising revenue from selling ads on American programming. They're trying to strike a balance, but obviously that doesn't sit well with the haters in this thread. :p

one thing i don't get is why the CRTC don't block the broadcast of american programs on canadian channels and force canadian channels to do canadian content and open the borders to all the channels (american and international ones) why do we need to suffer again and again from the ''i'm a poor canadian small and i can't do good tv'' syndrome ?

Because the Canadian networks would go out of business. You may or may not care about that.

Well, it's all about competition. I read an interesting point elsewhere. How come Joe's Little Canadian Hardware Store isn't offered the same kind of protectionism against Home Depot? Joe has to compete head to head whether that means surviving or not.

Because the selling of hardware hasn't been determined by the government to be of significant importance to our cultural heritage.

And hey, I'm not saying I agree, I'm saying that's the mentality and the reality as to why it's that way.

But the problem is that Canadian networks are not using simsubbing to increase Canadian content production whatsoever. In fact, one could argue that it has led to less Canadian productions over the years.

Our lazy networks just purchase cheap rights to US networks knowing full-well that mostly all cable/satellite subscribers will be forced to watch their network over the competing US provider, and then use most of the revenues to purchase more and more rights to US programs.

I'm not at all angry toward the CRTC for this mess—in my opinion their original intent with simultaneous substitution was indeed to encourage Canadian content production... but CTV and Global have f@#^ed that up royally. They ought to have their broadcast licensed revoked in my view. But since they won't, I'd be plenty satisfied if CRTC only allowed them 1 simsub hour per primetime viewing period (8 pm - 11 pm EST).

Because the Canadian networks would go out of business. You may or may not care about that.
I don't care it ain't my business and the CRTC gives them a mandate to do canadian tv if the owners of tv stations can't compete with other channels
(and bigger ones american ones and international ones) then it's just too bad for them.
everything here is a quality content issue and I don't think canadian tv is on the right way I really hope it would be

Please don't start with this cultural heritage stuff. Airing Tim Horton's ads during American Idol doesn't enhance me culturally whatsoever.

It's not my stuff. Someone asked why it is the way it is, and that's the answer. Buy into it if you want, rant about it if you want, doesn't really matter because it ain't gonna change. ;)

This evening the fine people at Shaw simsubbed an SD version of CSI Miami over the CBS HD signal from CBS Detroit. This practice should be illegal and there should be massive fines like in the tens of millions for this kind of mistake. The basic problem is there is no consequence when Shaw or BEV or whomever makes a simsub mistake so they do it constantly and don't seem to care. Until they are made to pay for their mistakes this will never change.

I don't see how they can do any simsubbing expect those that are broadcast in the local market which this was most definitely not.

I am filing a CRTC complaint for all the good that will do.