i'll tell you how its an improvement, golf is so borring, so they save us from choking ourself to deathe while watching the boring ol golf channel.What a thoughtful, insightful and truly intelligent reply! You 've convinced me - I will no longer watch golf due to your eloquence. You must be the second coming of Oscar Wilde.

p.s. I think you broke the record for most spelling and grammatical errors in a one sentence post.

One must remember that MTV, and whatever it used to be, have been basic cable for about a decade ...So has The Golf Channel - it has been around since the day all of the analog specialty channels were added before digital cable existed. What did MTV used to be?

So has The Golf Channel - it has been around since the day all of the analog specialty channels were added before digital cable existed. What did MTV used to be?MTV is the new name for TalkTV - and has the same licence according to media reports. And I thought that licence guaranteed it to be basic cable - either analogue or digital based on the status of the cable companies digital availablility on a certain date back in the 1990s. TalkTV and another forgettable channel were Canada's first licensed digital channels if I remember correctly - though in Toronto it ended up being on analogue because they didn't have digital available yet.

Oddly I've been searching the CRTC's website and I can't find either the TalkTV licences or the new MTV licence. Not sure what I'm doing wrong.

Golf channel has been around for a while, but I don't believe, being a foreign channel, that it has any carriage requirements. Rogers could eliminate it entirely as far as the CRTC is concerned.

Nick

Oddly I've been searching the CRTC's website and I can't find either the TalkTV licences or the new MTV licence. Not sure what I'm doing wrong.



This is the license renewal for TalkTV effective March 2004 (valid until August 2010).

http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2004/db2004-26.htm

...there is no "new" MTV license. Bell Globemedia which owns TalkTV (via CTV) simply re-branded the station and continues to operate it under this existing license.

There was more to it than a "re-branding". The programming is quite different. My guess is that Talk didn't have much of an audience and would have been shut down, so they used the license to continue to operate, although with totally different programming.... I don't know the rules behind that sort of thing.

This is the license renewal for TalkTV effective March 2004 (valid until August 2010).

http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2004/db2004-26.htm...Perfect!

Ah "Talk TV" not "TalkTV". Amazing what a space will do in the search engine! And MTV wasn't finding me anything either

Hmm, doesn't get into the carriage requirement for the cable operators. Must be another document for that ... think I know where to look ... but really should do some real work! :-)

Nick

There was more to it than a "re-branding". The programming is quite different. My guess is that Talk didn't have much of an audience and would have been shut down, so they used the license to continue to operate, although with totally different programming.... I don't know the rules behind that sort of thing.As long as they still fulfill the terms of the licence, they can do quite a lot. (Personally, I haven't watched the channel since they dropped Jack Benny).

Some relevent bits from the licence:

The Commission expects the licensee to ensure that the programming aired by Talk TV reflects all Canada’s regions. The Commission also expects the licensee to provide opportunities for producers working outside the major production centres to supply programming for the service.

The licensee shall provide a national English-language specialty television service that is devoted to talk programming providing viewers with the opportunity to participate through telephone, fax or Internet, as well as live television hook-ups, in discussion and debate about topics and issues that interest and affect all Canadians.

1. The licensee shall draw its programming exclusively from the following categories, as set out in section 6 of Schedule I of the Specialty Services Regulations, 1990, as amended from time to time:

2 (a) Analysis and interpretation

(b) Long-form documentary

11 General entertainment and human interest

12 Interstitials

13 Public service announcements

14 Infomercials, promotional and corporate videos

2. In each broadcast year, the licensee shall devote to the exhibition of Canadian programs not less than 68% of the broadcast day and not less than 71% of the evening broadcast period.

5. The licensee shall provide closed captioning for not less than 90% of all programs aired during the broadcast day, beginning not later than 1 September 2004.Presumably the big out they can use is "General entertainment and human interest". I'm sure if CHUM doesn't think they are meeting the requirements of their licence they will file a complaint with the CRTC - in the same manner they complained about MTV Canada, others complained about Country Canada airing live sports, and CBC complained about CTV Newsnet doing live news specials.

Nick

According to Bob Weeks blog, TGC is still in negotiations with Rogers about this move.

http://scoregolf.com/blog/bob-weeks/

Like he said, sort of weird Rogers would already announced it while still in negotiations?

The PGA announced that next year all Thurs/Fri PGA broadcasts would be on The Golf Channel. What I'm still confused about is whether TGC in Canada will carry these broadcasts, or whether TSN will get the rights and black TGC out. Rogers are going to force you to pay separately for TGC and then black out the bulk of its programming? Or is this move and indication that TGC will carry the Thurs/Fri PGA and so they want you to pay for it?

Right now I will drop my Plus TV since the only reason I got it was for TGC, and SPACE to watch Battlestar Galactica. The latter I can get next season on DVD from the US since who knows when SPACE will actually show Season 3.

I don't see how this is an improvement either.

(I read Bob Weeks' column. He says both TSN and TGC will carry the golf. So that's why Rogers is moving it - to steer more people toward TSN. Well I will be dropping TSN to pay for TGC, which has much better quality).

. So that's why Rogers is moving it - to steer more people toward TSN.

It's in Rogers' best interest to steer people *away* from TSN.

TGC is a niche channel - they know the bulk of its viewers will pay for it specifically.

Peronally I will neither miss TGC and I could care even less for MTV. Just wish they could give us a better option than either or them.

It's in Rogers' best interest to steer people *away* from TSN.

TGC is a niche channel - they know the bulk of its viewers will pay for it specifically.Agreed. But ironically, 2007 is the first year that TGC will start getting casual sports fans or fans in general since they will begin covering the first two rounds of PGA events. So on Thurs/Fri we'll get to watch Tiger instead of obscure Europeans or Nationwide players (perhaps in addition to). This would draw in other people and boost the ratings. But as Bob Weeks said, this would split the audience, assuming TSN shows the same thing. So there will be no reason for this casual audience to subscribe to TGC.

Also, one of the reasons that hard core golfers liked TGC was because you could get alternate tour coverage in addition to PGA coverage on ESPN/USA and hence TSN. If TGC cuts back on this and concentrates on PGA coverage, which TSN would also cover, what would be the attraction of paying extra for TGC? Some would; but some wouldn't. It will be in Rogers' best interest if TSN does not carry PGA.

I find the timing curious. They complain about low ratings. TGC gets the rights to PGA events, which should boost the ratings, and Rogers moves it.

Also, it's confusing because in some ways it sounds like you automatically will get TGC if you have digital cable (this is what someone who called Rogers yesterday was told). However, in their flyer it states you have to buy it or subscribe to something like sports theme pack. Of course, we've been getting NFL Network for months, so who knows.

I don't know if this has been mentioned earlier but why not move the preview channel (Y.W.T.W.) from Channel 62 back to 59 where it started and move MTV back to the old position occupied by Talk Tv. This would make moving The Golf Channel unnecessary.

Also You're correct the C.R.T.C couldn't care less if an american channel is displaced to the "nosebleed" section of the dial.

Bell asked specifically to have MTV moved to disassociate itself from TalkTV. Rogers is just taking advantage of it to move more subscirbers to digital.

On the Golf Channel, Rogers is running that a streamer that says that beginning July 6 TGC will be available on channel 410. There's a number to call. But I'm already receiving TGC on 410. This makes it appear as though I have to do nothing.

My Mom called and said she had phoned Rogers and the rep. said that if they switched to digital cable they could get TGC. My Mom asked her if they had to pay extra then, if it was a specialty channel, and the rep. said no. The rep. also blamed TGC for forcing Rogers to move the channel off of analogue, which is not what Bob Weeks said.

I think on July 6 a lot of people are going to lose TGC and be confused. On the other hand, Rogers may let it run as a free preview for a while until customers figure it out. So I don't know whether or not to drop Me TVand pick up TGC now and ask them to implement that change on July 6 or wait until then and see what happens. I mean, I'm still getting NFL Network and not supposed to.

I'd wait until you actually lose it to call. It takes just seconds to activiate a digital channel, so you won't miss anything.

I think on July 6 a lot of people are going to lose TGC and be confused. On the other hand, Rogers may let it run as a free preview for a while until customers figure it out.A free preview won't help you if you don't have digital cable and that will likely be many people who are interested in continuing to get TGC.

Gotta love the webpage from the scrolling text on TGC from rogers. "http://rogers.com/Golf" (yes the G is capitalized), which leads to a 404 error. Lowercase g gives you the right page.

Yes, Im being picky, but Im just typing it in as its advertised... :-)

That's because the "Golf" portion is a search/forward of sorts. I've never found capitalization to be an issue before...

They should perhaps have give the exact web page, which is:

http://www.shoprogers.com/store/cable/ptv/programming/golfchannel.asp and you can capitalize Golf there if you like.

A free preview won't help you if you don't have digital cable and that will likely be many people who are interested in continuing to get TGC.Good point. My parents really don't want to get digital cable. My Dad has trouble seeing and I've got him the world's simplest universal remote! So they'll just lose TGC.

I wonder if any other Rogers reps. are telling customers just to switch to digital without telling them you have to subscribe?

When I added Me TV, a tech had to come out to my appartment building and flip a switch. How will TGC moving to a specialty channel change that? Will they have to go to everybody's home that has Me TV and un-flip a switch for TGC?