Ontario Ads on Buffalo OTA Stations - Good business?

[Jase88]

I'm sure this has been mentioned, but I'd like to ask the staff at WNGS to begin socializing that plenty of Canadians are hoping to get their signal. And come the Canadian DTV transition date, it will be possible for WNGS to put in a request for a technical parameter change to improve ERP and contour for Canadian viewers.

The Canadian population nearby in Southern Ontario is bigger than that within the coverage area of WNY. Lots of Canadian advertising $$$ flows south to Buffalo-area stations. And we're not likely to see WNGS on Canadian cable or satellite services anytime soon.

A business case could easily be made to show the benefits to WNGS viewership and consequently, revenue.

Just sayin'....

[rob50312]

WNGS is the only Buffalo area station not reaching the GTA.Lots of Canadian advertising on WUTV and WNYO.Without a strong signal into the GTA Rogers would have no case for permission for WNGS to be on cable.

[El Gran Chico]

For the sake of argument, let's say that the 10% OTA usage is a good estimate and that there are 5,000,000 people in the Niagara peninsula, Hamilton and Toronto areas. That would mean a potential 500,000 OTA viewership in Ontario. I'm sure this is fairly sizable addition to the number of Western New York viewers.

Just looking at the Nielsen Rankings of television markets (which doesn't include Ontario), Buffalo ranks 52. Add in this 500,000 and it shoots up to the mid 30s.

[tvlurker]

Originally Posted by Jase88

I'm sure this has been mentioned, but I'd like to ask the staff at WNGS to begin socializing that plenty of Canadians are hoping to get their signal. And come the Canadian DTV transition date, it will be possible for WNGS to put in a request for a technical parameter change to improve ERP and contour for Canadian viewers.

The Canadian population nearby in Southern Ontario is bigger than that within the coverage area of WNY. Lots of Canadian advertising $$$ flows south to Buffalo-area stations. And we're not likely to see WNGS on Canadian cable or satellite services anytime soon.

A business case could easily be made to show the benefits to WNGS viewership and consequently, revenue.

Just sayin'....

In the event that Rogers would get CRTC approval to cary WNGS (and if it did, it would only be on digital cable, not analog basic), a condition of license would probably be that WNGS would not be able to directly solicit advertising in Canada.

[HWP]

If I recall correctly, WNLO and WNYO are on channels 166 and 167 respectively on Rogers in Toronto. Those two channels are digital-only and I think they both feature Canadian advertising. I could be wrong here.

[GeorgeMx]

Originally Posted by tvlurker

In the event that Rogers would get CRTC approval to cary WNGS (and if it did, it would only be on digital cable, not analog basic), a condition of license would probably be that WNGS would not be able to directly solicit advertising in Canada.

The CRTC has no regulatory authority over WNGS so they could not impose the condition you suggest. The Canadian tax code already includes provisions to deny Canadian companies advertising on US stations certain tax deductions allowed for advertising on Canadian stations. As previously noted, WNGS doesn't put a signal over the GTA so it would not qualify for cable carriage in a large part of the Golden Horseshoe. WNGS might qualify for carriage in parts of the Niagara penninsula.

WNLO and WNYO are carried on Rogers in SD digital. The HD versions are not carried. The CW network is carried in HD from several large US markets so adding WNLO-HD would not add much new HD programming. WNGS would need some really interesting programming that is not available elsewhere to get carried on cable.

[thenewdc]

I see no reason why WNGS wouldn't get approved for carriage. Both WNLO and WNYO are carried on Rogers throughout Ontario in areas where they are not recievable OTA. This was approved by the CRTC some time ago. WNGS should get approved, but I doubt Rogers has any plans to apply for it. They haven't even applied for WPXJ or WNYB, and I can recieve WPXJ 24/7 at my location.

[goforit]

Originally Posted by GeorgeMx

The CRTC has no regulatory authority over WNGS so they could not impose the condition you suggest. The Canadian tax code already includes provisions to deny Canadian companies advertising on US stations certain tax deductions allowed for advertising on Canadian stations. As previously noted, WNGS doesn't put a signal over the GTA so it would not qualify for cable carriage in a large part of the Golden Horseshoe. WNGS might qualify for carriage in parts of the Niagara penninsula.

WNLO and WNYO are carried on Rogers in SD digital. The HD versions are not carried. The CW network is carried in HD from several large US markets so adding WNLO-HD would not add much new HD programming. WNGS would need some really interesting programming that is not available elsewhere to get carried on cable.

No Canadian ads on US stations?

Why do I always see "Brick" ads on WUTV (via OTA)?

[Vuarra]

I doubt The Brick need help with their taxes, and they also know there are a lot of Canadians watching "Fox 29".

[Jase88]

There are definitely Canadian ads on the 4 main networks (FOX, ABC, CBS, NBC) plus CW out of Buffalo. And this isn't a simsub situation, as I've seen the ads myself OTA.

[majortom]

As an example, all summer long you'll see them Marineland commercials with the jingle. darn, now it's in my head
Then of course ya have the Casino commercials.
Another example might be that Wood flooring joint near Font Hill. Haven't seen that one in a while though.

[ota_canuck]

Oh yes those catchy Canadian marineland ads are on all buffalo, toronto, hamilton and I think even erie stations. Even on radio stations.

Here's a montage of all of the different ads the adds: [just for majortom]
http://il.youtube.com/watch?v=mnUNOr...eature=related

[tvlurker]

Originally Posted by GeorgeMx

The CRTC has no regulatory authority over WNGS so they could not impose the condition you suggest. The Canadian tax code already includes provisions to deny Canadian companies advertising on US stations certain tax deductions allowed for advertising on Canadian stations. As previously noted, WNGS doesn't put a signal over the GTA so it would not qualify for cable carriage in a large part of the Golden Horseshoe. WNGS might qualify for carriage in parts of the Niagara penninsula.

WNLO and WNYO are carried on Rogers in SD digital. The HD versions are not carried. The CW network is carried in HD from several large US markets so adding WNLO-HD would not add much new HD programming. WNGS would need some really interesting programming that is not available elsewhere to get carried on cable.

I agree, but the CRTC in the past has imposed conditions of (C-O-Ls)on BDUs that allow them to carry new American stations onlyon the condition that t he American station does not solicit advertising in Canada. (That doesn't mean they can't carry Canadian advertising, just that they can't open a sales office and/or make cold calls. )Of course, this never applied to grandfathered stations like 2/4/7 Buffalo or 3/5/8 from New England and upstate New York.

I'd have to dig back in my records to see which stations this applied to. In general, it would apply to any station that started broadcasting after about 1986, but a cursory look at recent BDU licenses doesn't show any of thse C-O-Ls.

So the regulatory burden was on the Canadian BDU, not on the American broadcaster.

[WZ1]

The numbers are a lot larger than 500,000 - From Oshawa in the East to Milton in the West and Hamilton/Niagara in the south there are 7,900,000 people accordiong to the places to grow report by the Ontario government. This number is expected to grow to 12,000,000 by 2020. If 10% was the number (and growing daily!) then currently there are 790,000 potential viewers with that number growing to 1,200,000 by 2020 assuming it stayed at 10%. I know for a fact that more and more people are going to OTA every day as the economy has been bad a prices rising with HST and elecrticity rates etc.

[GeorgeMx]

Originally Posted by WZ1

....I know for a fact that more and more people are going to OTA every day as the economy has been bad a prices rising with HST and elecrticity rates etc.

Even if you are in the business of selling OTA gear and therefore in a position to count the sales it doesn't mean the percentage of OTA is actually increasing across the country. Lots of new homes are still being sold and occupied which can offset the conversions from cable/satellite to OTA. The net gain for OTA may be slight.

Further, you record your location as Durham which is an excellent place for Canadian and US DTV reception. I have a relative who lives in Clarington and gets lots of DTV from Toronto, Hamilton, Buffalo and Rochester. I don't think the Durham situation can be extrapolated to many other places particularly where DTV is not available or is limited to a handfull of Canadian channels. I am not surprised that economic hardship is driving some OTA activity in Durham with the GM Oshawa economic conditions. I don't doubt that OTA is showing life in your area but I don't think it is statistically significant over a larger area.