GATINEAU – The next hearing into whether or not we’re going to adopt a new revenue model for conventional television broadcasters begins Monday and judging from the very few of the nearly 200,000 submissions we’ve read, Canadians are, well, ticked off.
Some are mad at their TV broadcasters, some at their cable or satellite companies. Some are mad at the Commission. Many are mad at any combination of them. Not many of them want to pay more for TV.
So at BNC 2009-614, the hearing into value for signal (yes, we hear you folks sticking to the “fee-for-carriage” terminology getting grouchy) ordered by federal cabinet, expect to hear a laundry list of complaints about the Canadian television system.
While the agenda hasn’t yet officially been released (it’s been a huge exercise for CRTC staffers to whittle down who really wants to speak to the Commission out of the 4,000-plus who said they would when they filed their submissions), this hearing will be different than others in that consumers and consumer groups will go first and not the big media companies. Those are to be sprinkled through the planned 7-day proceeding. (And yup, Cartt.ca will be there. Sigh.)
And if you had any doubt Canadians aren’t the happiest bunch when it comes to their TV (and often espouse conflicting opinions within a single paragraph), it’s worth noting that the Commission’s new web portal launched Monday to gather online opinion has already logged close to 5,000 new comments – and that’s with little promotion and the site being down for much of Monday.
For example:
“I to will cancel my Shaw Direct service, and re-commission my US Sat service that offers 10X more sports, and over a 100 HD channels. We rae geeting ripped off up here and the CRTC better wake up to real life. We don’t have a bottomless pit. If the local TV station can’t cut, than they should just go dark. we have all been asked to tighten our belts and now its their turn. Suck it up,” writes jpfirminger.
“Local television is important to me because I’m a bit of a news junkie, and I think the cable and satalitte companies should carry it for free. I also subscribe to a major newspaper, but the news is a day behind. I am very upset that Bell Expressview has already started charging me a monthly fee to support local television. Nothing hsa been resolved and this is just outright theft! It is also ridiculous that I have to pay Shaw for a basic cable TV package, when all I want is a internet hookup! I had my Bell in the country where I couldn’t get cable and now am being screwed by two large companies! It’s time to deregulate and open up the air waves to American providers and get some actual competition where there is none right now!” adds deanpm.
“I am not happy with the way in which programming is ‘packaged’. I many cases I have to buy a whole package just to watch 1 station. I would much prefer to be able to put together my own ‘package’ with just the stations that I watch. When I choose a US station I would like to receive that station, not the feed from a Canadian station which is carrying the same program as they tend to be long and loud on their commercial breaks, often cutting off portions of the programs,” writes Ivan Woodburne.
It doesn’t really matter who these folks are or that they sport some spotty grammar and are just plain wrong about a few things.
People are mad (and boy, do they EVER say they want a-la-carte, a LOT) and the industry is about to get a long, loud earful starting Monday.
– Greg O’Brien
