PHILADELPHIA – There’s gotta be a way to do this in Canada somehow.
Every year at about this time, Canadian fans of the paid advertisements between plays during the Super Bowl howl long and hard about how those of us living north of the border usually miss all of the nifty new U.S. commercials airing during the big game.
Our simultaneous substitution rules means we see Canadian commercials sold by Canadian rights holder Global Television instead and very few of the expensive (30-second ad spot: US$2.5 million, to say nothing of production costs), buzzworthy, usually entertaining, new ads which debut during the Super Bowl.
(Sure, those of us within the contour of the right U.S. broadcaster could unplug the cable and try to pick up the station over the air, but who knows where those darn rabbit ears are anyway.)
Knowing that the ads are regularly the most-watched part of the show, especially in replay among the PVR set, American MSO Comcast announced Wednesday it will offer the ads to its digital cable customers via its on demand platform.
In Canada, however, the CRTC’s video on demand regulations bar the showing of any advertising via the on demand platform.
Maybe they’d qualify as short films and could air on Movieola?
– Greg O’Brien
