Round Two on the CRTC's TV Policy

IT'S CALLED THE "kick it to the curb" hour -- where you announce stuff that's going to be unpopular just before the weekend, especially before a long weekend, and this is one they're really going to want to kick to the curb.

The CRTC's decision over the new TV policy continues to cause ripples a week later.  Jim Henshaw has his own patented (and pessimistic) view of the proceedings here.

One of the less talked about provisions in the new policy is the idea that Canadian broadcasters will now be able to demand blackouts on U.S. nets for programs where they own the Canadian rights, if they're not able to show in simulcast. This creates somewhat of a technological problem for the cable and satellite companies, who'd need to hire more people just to keep track of the blue bars all over the schedule.

Simultaneous substitution, of course, is the thing that the Canadian private networks built their fortunes on -- being able to piggyback on U.S. net publicity and show their bought & borrowed shows on two channels at once.

Well, in the spirit of last year's duelling commercials fight, Canada's top two cablers aren't going to make it that easy.  They're set to announce by end of business that they're pulling all U.S. network feeds from the cable packages in sixty days.  This will predictably cause outrage and hate from customers, which the companies will blame entirely on the networks, saying that pulling the U.S. signals was the only way that they could keep people's bills by going up by more than 10 bucks a month.  

"Don't blame us, blame the networks" is going to be the new mantra.

This pretty scorched earth policy was made clear in a press release that leaked a little early over Canada Newswire this morning.

The networks aren't down and out themselves, either.  The WGC is apparently learning that petitions to the CMF and the CRTC will seek to re-define as CanCon any program in which somebody tells somebody else "I'm sorry."

What a stupid fucking industry.