I am getting so sick of hearing about hockey on TSN. Just because I, as a Canadian am "supposed" to live, breathe, and sleep hockey doesn't mean I do. "Oh my god! John Tavares ate a plate of Pasta before getting a hat trick!". DSGamby no offence, but please get of your hockey high horse and see things from other peoples perspectives. If you want to watch Hockey 24/7 then go ahead but don't justify that for mediocre coverage of other sports on our national "sports" network (more like national sport network).

For the record, I watch and enjoy hockey but I find the coverage on TSN quite excessive. On the other hand I think ESPN has way too little hockey coverage and way too much NFL/NBA/MLB coverage. That is why I think allowing people to watch both networks is the best option as it allows people to get exposed to all the major sports.
I am with you, it is possible to be Canadian and not love hockey!

CRTC is an appaling organisation. Yes we ought to have easy access to everything available internationally.
My elderly neighbour pays for a lot of programming by Rogers, for eg. but she can't watch most of the baseball games that she would like.

I personally wish the CRTC would keep it's nose out of telling us what we can & can't watch. Now for OTA stuff, obviously you need someone to regulate frequency usage, but they've gone too far in enforcing Canadian content...if Canadian content is good enough it will exist on its own merit. They should allocate bandwidth and then stay out of our faces!

I hope they don't decide that they should regulate IPTV sometime down the road -that should forever remain non of their business!

edit: Oh yeah I forgot - if we want US satellites, that should also be our business. As long as the US (or wherever) satellite boxes we might buy aren't emitting all sorts of crazy EM interference or something it shouldn't be their business what we buy and who we pay.
agreed. sometimes U.S. programming is better. we should be able to "dish" it out

peano
You are right. It should not be illegal to use foreign signals. However , are we heading for an election? Allowing broadcasters ease in broadcasting lies, unless death results, is insulting, and perhaps readiness for U.S. style attack ads.

Keep in mind the current government has had a minority those five years. It took 13 years of majority Liberal rule to get the broadcasters fully protected and the CRTC shaped to do their bidding. They also lobbied heavily to make it a criminal act to watch foreign signals and were successful.

Its hard to undo 13 years of manipulation to ensure the media favours your political party and the broadcasters.

Now the television providers own most of the networks and local stations (thanks to the CRTC).

If the Conservatives tried to reform the CRTC and/or allow foreign competition the BDU owned media would crucify them. The opposition parties would jump on board and force an election.

We need a majority Conservative government to ever see change. Otherwise our television and internet choices will continue to be severely limited with ever increasing prices.

It's hard to imagine any government supporting free choice in broadcasting if there is no organized force in favour of it. On the one side, you have the broadcasters, the cable companies and the producers. On the other side you have nothing to back you up. Media consumers clearly need some kind of organization to stand up to the special interests.

The group could also lobby in cases like the discussions over music streaming at the Copyright Board. Pandora is an amazing service, but Canadians can't use it because our government doesn't have a pro-consumer orientation and hasn't taken the steps necessary to allow for those kind of sites to thrive here.

I personally couldn't be involved because I work in the media industry and would get fired.
To be honest with you... anybody that wants the US channels bad enough have them, including myself!

For the rest of the 32.1 million Canadians, I don't think they really care that much anymore. 10 years ago when Dish Network & Directv piracy was running rampant and every other house had those dishes then maybe there was enough people to cry for better channels up here. But Canadian channels have since improved enough that the masses really don't care if they're watching Dexter on Movie Central or Showtime... they just want their local news/sports and US shows, and for the most part, they get exactly that on Canadian television.

I'd join that group in a heartbeat... but I think we are a minority of people that give a s*** anymore.

For the rest of the 32.1 million Canadians, I don't think they really care that much anymore

inmy case it's worst getting so much tired of the canadian system that i dont watch tv or listen radio anymore

as for the consumer services in multrimedia canada is like the USA'S retarded little brother

when i see sites like hulu .com
not available in canada because of copyright issues
pandora not beoing available
and just looking at the HD packages of Dish Netwirk and Direct TV VS Shaw Direct and Bell ( dish network biggest packagge is 250 channels)

I think the lobby guys doesnt want dish and direct tv being available here because they would be loosers and they know it

Huh? Is that last post in English?

I like how "Wayne" is questioning "gretzky". What are the chances of that?

I like how "Wayne" is questioning "gretzky". What are the chances of that?

LOL one in a million
at least we're part of a great hockey player i guess LOL

I like how "Wayne" is questioning "gretzky". What are the chances of that?My hockey skills resemble Wayne Campbell more than Wayne Gretzky.
http://cdn.bleacherreport.net/images_root/slides/photos/000/114/016/RackMultipart.24330.0_display_image.jpg?1257646234

My hockey skills resemble Wayne Campbell more than Wayne Gretzky.
he still plays hockey at least

what a waste

The yearly BS message from the CRTC about the Super Bowl is once again posted on their webpage.These idiots dont have a shred of decency left
in them.They just continue to pour salt onto the open wounds of
Canadian TV viewers by posting their annual patheic garbage.

The CRTC website makes it seem like every Canadian will be watching endless Global commercials during the SuperBowl. That simply is not true. All Bell customers, like me, will have to endure them.

I wonder what effect a petition would have in forcing the CRTC, through the government, to allow US competition in the form of DirecTV and Dish Network into Canada? It may be futile, but it could prove worthwhile as well. In this day and age, we can all access whatever information we need. I have a VPN that allows me to watch anything I want.

The restrictions that we face in Canada when it comes to entertainment media is nothing short of Draconian.

An article from the Globe and Mail...
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-notebook/crtc-appointment-smacks-of-cronyism-ndp-says/article1895426/

i don't have global in my area im on shaw direct and the way they works
subscription works with postal codes so i will be watching the american feed so their BS message doesnt apply to everyone (i tink they would like to...)

customers, like me, will have to endure them.

I wonder what effect a petition would have in forcing the CRTC, through the government, to allow US competition in the form of DirecTV and Dish Network into Canada? It may be futile, but it could prove worthwhile as well. In this day and age, we can all access whatever information we need. I have a VPN that allows me to watch anything I want.It would have no effect as this is a very different issue than UBB. DirecTV and Dish are not licensed to sell service to Canadians and many of the channels that they carry are not approved for coverage in Canada. In addition in many instances the Canadian rights for the content are owned by Canadian channels and/or networks and should be blacked out in Canada - but that is not easy to do with satellite services. For example any show on ESPN that TSN has the rights for would be blacked out on ESPN. The same thing with the SuperBowl - since Global owns the Canadian rights it should be blacked out for Canadians on the US network, unless the US network chose not to sell Canadian rights to a Canadian network and chose to retain the Canadian rights.

In many ways this is as much a commercial issue as it is a regulatory issue, not unlike NBC.com not allowing Canadians to view videos for their web site.

They just continue to pour salt onto the open wounds of
Canadian TV viewers by posting their annual patheic garbage.

What about the time shift channels? I've, on occasion, watched a Seattle station and there was no simsub, even though the same show was on a Vancouver channel. I'll have to compare CFTO (Toronto) with KCPQ (Seattle) today.

I'm on Rogers in Mississauga. I get 5 Seattle and 3 Vancouver stations, all in HD.

It would have no effect as this is a very different issue than UBB. DirecTV and Dish are not licensed to sell service to Canadians and many of the channels that they carry are not approved for coverage in Canada. In addition in many instances the Canadian rights for the content are owned by Canadian channels and/or networks and should be blacked out in Canada - but that is not easy to do with satellite services. For example any show on ESPN that TSN has the rights for would be blacked out on ESPN. The same thing with the SuperBowl - since Global owns the Canadian rights it should be blacked out for Canadians on the US network, unless the US network chose not to sell Canadian rights to a Canadian network and chose to retain the Canadian rights.

In many ways this is as much a commercial issue as it is a regulatory issue, not unlike NBC.com not allowing Canadians to view videos for their web site.

I understand that DirecTV is not licensed for Canada, and I guess that is my point. It should be. I also know about CTV and Global purchasing rights to various American TV shows, but I tend to have a disagreement with that.

In my Bell package, there is an extra charge applied so I can "receive" the American channels (ABC, NBC, Fox, etc). When I want to watch a show, it is usually simsubbed by one of our Canadian icons. What was the purpose of me paying extra for Fox if I can't watch Fox?

CTV and Global are not putting any effort into quality cancon entertainment. They are doing just enough to keep in line with the requirement. They are, by and large, just a rebroadcaster of US programming. I would be much happier, and I think a lot of others as well, with the actual DirecTV and Dish Network feeds, which are then overwritten with cancon. For example when Fox news comes on in Rochester, override it with your local news.

It's not a huge issue for me, as I can receive the American programming I want through subscription, but I should be able to go to any friends house and watch History Channel or god forbid, the Superbowl without watching endless "Greys Anatomy" commercials! LOL