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The Official I Hate The CRTC Thread

230K views 593 replies 225 participants last post by  Nora mcloughlin docherty 
#1 · (Edited)
Welcome to The Official I hate the CRTC Thread!

Since so many members take it upon themselves to complain about the CRTC, especially in threads that have nothing to with the CRTC, we thought we would create this thread.

Rules of the Forum say that we delete threads or posts that say this company sucks or that person sucks or the government sucks because they servce no purpose and seldom add any value, however, we are going to wave that rule in this thread!

(Please note that legitimate complaints that actually describe customer service problems and point out potential issues and/or solutions, warn people of legitimate issues, or engage people in meaningful discussion are always welcome in all forums!)

But back to the CRTC.

Here's your chance to let it out! and even say things like "the crtc sucks!"

So here it is, the place to bash the CRTC and not have your post deleted!

(of course the bulk of the rules of this forum still apply here!)

Hope you Enjoy!
 
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#148 ·
Sorry I'was tooooo :mad:

The STB is the Samsung HTB 260 if I'm right?

Because this piece of equipment is not available in the great white north:(

I will have to talk to my land lord to if I can the proper equipment (antenna,pole,wires etc...)
I live in a basement apartment (Warden/Kingston rd) area so hopefully they (land lord) will be OK with this.
 
#150 ·
I forgot..

I'm pretty sure a lot of my friends in Quebec city would be pissed tonight too!

Because a radio station (I listen through the net)was telling everybody to call Videotron cable and ask for the American package (a tech told them they would not simsub these channel) that include all the Seattle channel without simsub:confused:

I'm pretty sure Global did the same down there with the braodcast/simsub
 
#151 ·
It astonishes me how many foreign satellite services the CRTC approves at the simple request of Canada's cable companies, particularly the big ones like Shaw, Rogers and Videotron. Don't get me wrong, I am not a big fan of the Commission, but if they are going to be around, at least they should do their job to ensure that it remains the Canadian broadcasting system.

The Commission's recent decision to approve the foreign satellite service Baby TV is an example of their being unable to see the forest for the trees.

And shame on the big Canadian BDUs for selling out those, like me, who want a strong and growing Canadian broadcasting system. I wonder how they'd feel if I was allowed to buy my cable service from Comcast or Cablevision? Something tells me that they would say that that was not in the best interests of Canada, but they never say this when it is broadcasters that are being negatively impacted.

Unfortunately, I have always suspected that the cable industry has the CRTC in their back pockets. There are just too many senior people who have gone back and forth in their careers between the Commission and the big BDUs to think otherwise. Bring on the Federal Accountability Act, I say.
 
#152 ·
As I crossed the US border on my way to a weekend trip there to watch the Super Bowl the way it was meant to be shown,a telecast without any miserable simsubbing & after first greeting the USA saying it was so nice to return again,I then said SCREW YOU CRTC CREEPS,FOR I AM FREE OF YOU THIS WEEKEND.Unfortunately I had to come back on Monday,but for 2 days
I was able to watch free TV.
 
#153 ·
CRTC is worthless--just another rubber stamp beauracracy with no guts in regard to controlling the ever escalating costs of digital tv; Also what ever happened to the do-not-call legislation that was promised years ago; getting real upset when I view my cable bill with ever increasing service bumps, far surpassing the col; in regard to the do-not-call, I'm sure something can be done about the computer generated random solliciting calls, such as no one there when you canswer a call; then use a last number return call, and you will find the recorded voice says this number is not in service--Bull, Bull.

A grouchy old geezer!
 
#155 · (Edited)
Some people seem to be of the opinion that if the CRTC did not exist that YOU would be in CONTROL (and you'd see better shows for less money etc.)

Don't be silly. Bell and Rogers would be in total control. Think you'd be allowed to watch US satellite? No. Better shows? No - not if they cost more - and they do. Cheaper monthly rates? Ha ha ha.

You will never be in control. The Man is always in control. So pick your Man, but don't pretend by getting rid of one, that you would be in control.
 
#156 ·
I like CRTC

You are right. I would not leave it to greedy businesses to be in control. After all, there are only a handful of competitors in business, and it is not really open competition like a normal merchandise market, which still requires some kind of control like BBB or consumer affairs.

CRTC did control Bell for me. I was forced to leave my pulse dialing to go to Tone Dialing, but CRTC came through, albeit after 10 months, and Bell had to refund all my extra monthly fee. Not much, but it is the principle that counts.
 
#158 ·
actually you don't. the fcc has the same rules as the crtc does here when it comes to television providers.


nem, who is clarifying
 
#159 ·
We have this way in Canada of forgetting the history behind the creation of certain agencies and wishing that we lived in some alternative reality. Do not forget that we are the flea and that we live next to an elephant. If the elephant rolls over. . . The CRTC is only the latest attempt, since 1900, by our governments to ensure that Canada remains a culturally distinct country. I agree with those who say that the big companies would run the show if the CRTC were to vanish.

I also refer you to the recent defence of Canadian broadcasting by the CRTC against the push by some of the big companies to withdraw their required support for the Canadian Television Fund (CTF). If the big cable companies succeed in killing the CTF a great and perhaps mortal blow will have been dealt Canadian cultural content. The CFT exists because our national market is too small to be competitive and needs financial as well as administrative support. If those supports are withdrawn there will be no Canadian content and no Canadian broadcast point of view. Frankly, most informed Americans prefer our television and radio to their own. You might remember that during 9/11, the most sought after broadcasts both radio and TV were those originating in this country. The quality and objectivity of our programming is second to none.

The CRTC bugs me to sometimes however; I am willing to live with its sometimes idiosyncratic rulings. In terms of harmful concentrations of power, look at the print media for a good example of what things would look like without the CRTC.
 
#161 ·
I just moved into a newly built brand new condo that is a town house and of the 30 units there are 17 and I am not kidding 17 "Direct TV" dishes up and 4 "Dish ones" and a couple bell. So it looks to me people are saying "Up Yours" to tjhe crtc, even driving the neighbourhood so many illegal dishes but so many places still sell them still too.

So I guess in a way you have a choice as I never see the RCMP taking them down or arresting people who have these so called illegal dishes.
 
#163 ·
What's with you people. Simulcasting is the only way the TV business can stay viable. If a station buys the rights to show CSI in Vancouver, the producer sells them that right. Namely, if you want to watch CSI in Vancouver, the only place where you can find it is from the station that paid for the right to show it to you. Why do you have such a problem with that? The CRTC is simply protecting the intellectual property rights of the producers of the program by making it possible for them to sell the right to present their program for you to watch. Even though it is technically possible for another station to show CSI to you, there needs to be a way for the true owners of CSI to ensure that you watch the program from the people they sold the rights to.

They do that in the US too. US cable systems substitute signals from neighbouring cities that carry the same program to protect the rights of the program owner.

In fact the broadcasting rules in the states are in some ways stricter than here. They don't allow the concentration of ownership we have. One person is not permitted to own both a newspaper and a TV station in the same market. Contrast that to the situation we have in the GVA, with one company owning 4 of the 5 newspapers on the street corner, plus 2 of the 7 local OTA TV stations.

Because of satellite, internet, tivo etc, the OTA TV business is going in the toilet anyways. Don't be under the illusion that the TV networks are making tons of money. They used to, but they are in deep doodoo now and are worried about the future.
 
#167 ·
What's with you people. Simulcasting is the only way the TV business can stay viable.
The big lie about simsub is that "it's only substituting the commercials". If that were truely the case, people wouldn't complain. The problem is that Canadian broadcasters aren't merely substituting Canadian commercials. The symptoms are...
  • sound is butchered
  • picture for the entire broadcast quality is noticably degraded, and at times unwatchable
  • the untrained monkeys doing the commercial substitution stomp all over the actual program by going to commercial breaks early or coming out of commercial breaks late
  • the trained monkeys will at times deliberately stomp over the first or last couple of minutes of a show with promotions for other shows on the Canadian broadcaster. You may end up seeing promos for an NBC show whilst watching a CBS channel
This is an ongoing problem. Try plowing through the "Faulty Simsub Log" thread at http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=58228 and take a look at the article "Signal Substitution ruins football game for HD fans" http://www.digitalhome.ca/content/view/1691/206/

To summarize, a lot of simsubbed programs have crappy sound and crappy picture, which would cause people to demand their money back if they got the same quality (or lack thereof) on a DVD of the series that they had bought. Plus which the actual content is butchered by late returns from commercial breaks, and the Canadian broadcasters deliberately stomp on the beginning or end of the program with their own program promos. THAT is why people are complaining about simsubbing.
 
#164 ·
CRTC Backs Out

Regardless of simulcasting and closed-captioning, the CRTC has today, by way of lifting all
restrictions on advertising by 2009, paved the way for something that has been
coming all along (you just didn't know it) -- that is, evolution to a scenario where TV is
all advertising with no programming. It has been coming, insidiously, but most of us still
think of TV as a medium where the programming is supported by advertising. This has, of course,
been a misconception that most people have not realized. The truth is, TV is
a medium for advertising where programming is perceived (by broadcasters) as a necessary evil
required to keep people watching. In fact, advertising restrictions have forced it to be that way.

In recent years, testing the waters of non-programming-supported advertising has happened
in the form of "infomercials", which keep you watching 30 or 60 minutes at a time with
none of that pesky "programming" to disturb it. The success of these tests should surely be
enough to demonstrate that mankind -is- spongy enough to continue to watch, even when
the "programming" is eliminated. At that point, only regulatory limits prevent all stations from
testing the open ocean by removing programming altogether.

This will not happen overnight, obviously, as consumers would not stand for it any more than
Canada's voters accepted Joe Clark's 18-cent-per-gallon-all-at-once gas price hikes in the early 1980s.
But it will happen, again insidiously, over a period of time, more like the
50plus-cent-per-gallon-done-2-and-3-cents-at-a-time gas price hike policy that Pierre Trudeau used to
oust Clark and endear himself to so many of the people of Canada at that time, suckers that they are.

Watch for it (pardon the pun). TV driven by 100% advertising with NO "programming" is coming,
and the CRTC unlocked a BIG door on the tunnel to that grave today!
 
#170 ·
Here we go one again!!!!!! the simsub rules screws up TV,the time is
after 8pm atlantic time Sunday evening,Global TV is still being broadcast on the CBS feed,in other words I am unable to watch 60 Minutes again because of a major screw up at the rogers cable office in Saint John.
This is a complete outrage and I lay the blame squarely at the feet of the CRTC mafia and their simsub rule!!!!!!

Television in Canada will continue to suck until both the CRTC and their
anti-american rules are abolished forever.
 
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