COMMENTARY: Is conventional TV becoming a loss-leader?

COVERING THE CANADIAN retail scene as a reporter/editor in the 1990s, right about when Wal-Mart bought what was left of Woolco and began its major Canadian push, the concept of a “loss-leader” crept into the mainstream lexicon. Basically, the loss-leader is the carrot on the stick to help get a consumer in the store and hopefully buy more than just the carrot. The ridiculously low-priced items on the front of a flyer and found at the end-cap on store aisles – like 50-cent motor oil or a case of bottled water for two bucks, or the various dirt-cheap thingies IKEA...