ANALYSIS: Why the Super Bowl simsub decision is the beginning of the end of the system, and of vertical integration

THERE WAS TOO MUCH symbolism to ignore with the choice of London, Ont., as the place where CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais chose to begin dismantling simultaneous substitution and to shift the ground under Canadian TV companies, forcing the vertically integrated behemoths to ask themselves this question: “Why do we need to own media companies?”Blais spoke in London a week ago to make three announcements, two of which were decisions from the Commission’s Let’s Talk TV hearing held in September 2014.London is generally acknowledged as the first city in Canada to get cable over 60 years ago and as many know...