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NBC and Superbowl Commercials

9K views 34 replies 20 participants last post by  downbeat 
#1 ·
OK i know this is much talked about every year,

But we have Shaw cable with HD here in Langley, BC (Superbowl is on NBC this year)
I know channel 202 is NBC west and CTV takes over and puts there logo ontop. So it will have the canadian commercials... BUT the east feed here is channel 207 and we get a Detroit feed.... ALL the commercials daily is from detroit so will the Superbowl commercials come in too????
 
#5 ·
The last few years, the East Coast HD feed (channel 207 this year) has shown the full American broadcast and has not been simsubbed. I don't know for sure if it will continue this year, but it likely will, as all NFL games this season have shown American feeds (and not been simsubbed).
 
#7 ·
Like I said, I don't know if it will be done this year, but I watch the Super Bowl every year, and I have always received the American feed (and commercials) on the East Coast HD feed (whether it is Fox, CBS, or NBC). All other SD and HD feeds have been simsubbed though.

Here is one of the posts from last year: http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showpost.php?p=1218779&postcount=74. I'm in BC, and I believe the West Coast HD feeds were simsubbed here, although I can't be certain. The East Coast ones definitely showed the full American feed.
 
#8 ·
mungar,
you may not be in the lower mainland because that may have something to do with it, but in the greater vancouver area, all NFL playoff games have been simsubbed on all feeds, east and west, hd and sd, for at least 3 seasons on Shaw cable. This includes this season, as all 4 games were simsubbed on all feeds last weekend. The only game that will not be is the sunday late afternoon game between the giants and packers as that game is on TSN, not CTV.
 
#12 ·
Last year they had not yet done the simsub for SuperBowl in Winnipeg, but I am certain it will happen this year as all the playoffs have had simsubs going on every US channel East and West. The simsub usually switches off just as the second game starts in the tv schedule.

Other than the lousy commercials, it ticks me off as there seems to be a lot of sound dropouts and the occasional picture drop on the Winnipeg CTV feed that is simsubbed in. I don't know if anyone else is seeing those issues or if it is just me.
 
#13 ·
Other than the lousy commercials, it ticks me off as there seems to be a lot of sound dropouts and the occasional picture drop on the Winnipeg CTV feed that is simsubbed in. I don't know if anyone else is seeing those issues or if it is just me.
Now that you mention it I too have been noticing sound dropouts on CTV Winnipeg over the last 3 weeks or so while watching the news. So any simulcasting off this station likely will be plagued with them or at least be more frequent the one would like to tolerate especially during a big event such as the Superbowl.

Oh and a FYI for me as well the audio dropouts are accompanied by small video glitches.
 
#16 ·
One of the benefits of living in Edmonton the last 5 years was that CTV didn't have an OTA station in HD their (I think they might now), so it meant the superbowl broadcasts weren't simsubbed. So now I'm used to superbowl's with the US commericials.....

Now I'm in Victoria, so I'm wondering if Victoria is considered to be in the broadcast range of CTV Vancouver. Back in the day you could barely get CTV via analog and it looked like crap. So I'm guessing without some kind of super antenna, Victoria is a bit out of range for digital signals. This should mean we're not considered to be the CTV Vancouver broadcast area, which hopefully means the superbowl isn't simsubbed here.

Anyone from Victoria on this message board, was it simsubbed last year?
 
#17 ·
Since the OTA change to digital in the fall, most providers are simsubbing just about everything. It will be the rare area that will not be simsubbed for the Super Bowl this year. Past experience will not apply.

A good hint this year would be if the playoff games are currently being simsubbed. If they are, then the Super Bowl will be subbed. If not, then the Super Bowl may not be subbed.
 
#19 ·
I don't think its the digital transition that's doing it. The SD channels have been simsubbed for years. It's the HD channels that haven't been. I think its CTV's expansion of HD OTA thats removing the ability to watch the US feed. Sort of mutually exclusive from the digital upgrade (sort of).
 
#20 ·
It's not mutually exclusive because when broadcasters went digital, they went HD (mostly). As mentioned there are some rare areas, typically smaller markets, that didn't. With the (forced) change to digital (HD mostly) there are a lot more HD channels which has had a huge effect, since most markets now have access to HD and therefore the provider must simsub if the broadcaster requests it in those markets. Sometimes the provider is unable to (or it's prohibitively expensive to) "separate" certain markets and will simsub everywhere.
 
#23 ·
Non of the the US channels are in the Canadian market?

Your local cable company is required to simsub when a local channel is airing the exact same thing as the American channel. It happens with primetime tv all the time, its not just sports.

I think its pretty lame. All this content is already available on US network channels. All the Canadian channels do is air the same thing with their own commercials. Seems like a waste of money to me?

But yah the rules are, if the Canadian channel is airing the same thing as the US channel, then the Canadian feed is supposed to be dumped over the US one.

The last bunch of superbowl's (and nfl playoffs) got around it because CTV wasn't OTA in alot of places yet. So their was no HD feed to simsub. Over the last 1-2 years CTV really expanded their OTA HD feeds, so most of the major cities now have an OTA CTV HD station, which means the local cableco is required to simsub, because a Canadian station is airing the exact same thing as a US station.
 
#24 ·
How does the CRTC define broadcast area?

With the superbowl today I'm trying to figure out if it will be simsubbed in my area. I'm now living in Victoria (was in Edmonton the past few years where it wasn't simsubbed due to no OTA ctv station).

Before digital OTA, you could sort of get CTV, but it looked bad, almost like when they used to scramble cable specialty channels. The signal from Vancouver isn't strong enough for most people in Victoria to pick it up.

We're far enough away from vancouver that CFL blackouts don't apply to us.

I know back in the day when the superbowl was on global, the sd channel here would be simsubbed. However the Shaw has much better tech now, to offer different simsub/blackout options here over vancouver.

I hope its not simsubbed. The Canadian commercials are usually annoying.
 
#25 ·
CTV owns the Canadian broadcast rights for Super Bowl 46, and as a result Shaw is required to substitute their local feed over the American broadcast. In previous years, CTV did not have local HD transmitters in all major markets. Since there was no HD feed to substitute over the American feed, select markets were still able to watch the game on NBC HD’s normal feed. As of Fall 2011 CTV now has HD transmitters in all major areas.
 
#27 ·
It kind of sucks here in Victoria. The closest OTA tower for CTV is in the Vancouver area. In order to get CTV ota here you need a pretty decent outdoor antenna. You're average joe with an indoor antenna can't pick it up.

I would think Victoria is far enough away that shaw shouldn't have to simsub it, but unfortunately they are simsubbing it.

It kind of sucks as I got used to the US commercials the last 4 years while living in Edmonton (allthough it looks like CTV has gone OTA in HD in Edmonton now, so they're screwed too).

Maybe I'll send a complaint to the CRTC tomorrow asking why shaw is simsubbing where theres no local transmittor.
 
#31 ·
It's actually pretty simple. If Shaw in Victoria is carrying the CTV Vancouver HD channel then I'm pretty sure they have to simsub the Vancouver signal over the American signal. As I recall, the rule is that if there is a Canadian station in your time zone and which is carried by your local cable carrier, the cable carrier is required to simsub that signal. It has to be the same format of course - you can't simsub an SD signal over an HD signal, but other than that, as long as the station is in the same time zone as your city and is carrying a program at the same time it will be simsubbed.
 
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