2010 Archives
March 26, 2010
So here I sit; it’s been many long months since I’ve posted. The Olympics and the world hae come and gone. And, I have to admit, I actually enjoyed the games on TV. CTV, TSN and Sportsnet did a fantastic job covering the sporting events. You know, I never thought I’d catch myself enjoying curling on TV. It’s a real chess match on the ice. Oh, and I’d love a pair of those pants the Norwegian men’s team wore; I don’t care what you think, they’re awesome!
But, I’m not going to comment on the Olympics or their costs, nor the politics around the games, nor anything relating to them. Today I’m going to talk about TV in general. On June 12, 2009 the FCC in the United States required that ALL television stations broadcasting on analogue channels 2-13, and 14-69 to shut down their analogue transmitters and begin broadcasting on their assigned digital channel. In Canada, that day will come. So far it looks like August 31, 2011. In Vancouver, most of the networks have gone digital; but a few channels are lagging behind.
If you’ve purchased an HDTV, you’ve probably come to the conclusion that you need to have an HD signal to get the full benefit of that investment. That happened with me. The standard satellite receiver just didn’t do justice to that fancy HDTV. So, off to a major retailer to look at HD satellite receivers. Since we switched from Expressvu to Starchoice, we purchased a Starchoice HD PVR receiver for our home theatre setup we had put together a few months earlier.
You might be thinking, where’s he going with this? In the US the cable companies are under FCC Cablecard Mandate; which means that Cable companies cannot use proprietary cable boxes specific to their network. This means that you can buy a third party cable box that could have more features than the cable companies box, and/or be cheaper. The cable company would provide you with a “cablecard” that you insert into the cablecard slot; which is used to decrypt their signal for viewing on your TV. They have control over the service by these cards. Why do I think this is worth discussing? It means if you have a choice of cable providers, or you move house and the cable company is different, you no longer have to buy new hardware to watch TV; or you can choose a third party box that may have different features. It would also stop the cable/satellite companies from arbitrarily pushing down the pipe new firmware for the boxes you’re made to purchase. It happened to me recently, where the satellite company broke some functionality of my receiver all in the name of preventing me from copying the signal. After 13 months of arguing and broken promises, a small claims court filing did the trick; I’m finally getting my money back from them.
So far the cable card mandate isn’t in place for satellite companies, but there are some who are hoping that happens soon. I just wish that we could get at least that much here in Canada. Or even better, not bother encrypting the HD signals that are freely available over the air anyways, or using a standard that already exists; QAM.
My frustrations aren’t limited to just cable TV. In my opinion blu-ray sufferes from some deficiencies that can drive one to the bottle. All in an effort to prevent copying of movies.
I’m tired of farting around with my TV just to get a picture on it. I’m done with buying expensive hardware that the providers still have complete control over. I long for the days of turning your TV on, and just being able to watch. I know it’s not going to happen, but I can hope and wish can’t I?
Tuesday, September 8, 2009 – 7:02
The landscape of television has been changing in Canada for several years… check that, several decades now. The concentration of media ownership is not a new concept. The CRTC, Canada’s radio and TV broadcast regulator, has strict rules for ownership of broadcasters. A single company cannot own more than one TV station in a market; nor can it be more than 49% owned by foreign interests. When a TV station is granted a license; a minimum number of hours of local programming must be produced; usually in the form of local news.
CanWest Global, owners of two TV networks – Global and E! – shelled out a few billion (give or take a few million dollars) for Alliance Atlantis; all while times were still pretty good for TV broadcasters. Advertising, the main source of revenue for CanWest, was still being purchased in their newspapers and on their TV networks – thus paying the bills. Since the meltdown of the global economy, many companies have reduced or eliminated thier advertising budgets; believing that not advertising will help their bottom line (but thats a rant for another day). With the advertising budgets of so many companies being slashed or eliminated; so goes CanWest’s revenue “streams”. All of a sudden, and seemingly catching all of the top executives by surprise, they have no money to make interest payments on this HUGE debt for their buying spree.
There is panic in the corporate boardrooms of CanWest in Winnipeg. How could this be? Here’s my take: If you rack up the credit card bills, then find yourself with a reduced paycheck, or no job at all; what did you think was going to happen? Now I know there are many people who don’t think long term; but I would have thought that the high priced exec’s (again, another rant for anther day) would have a firm grasp on how money works. I understand it – so it can’t be that tough.
So after the panic has subsided, all of a sudden there’s a “fire sale” of assets. Up goes the five station “E!” network for sale. Price? Well, piece meal it out, and two stations in central Canada go for $12… now, was that each or for the pair? Who cares… it means that the costs associated with those stations are no longer the responsability of CanWest. The bean counters are happy. One more of the five is seen as too valuable, so Kelowna’s station is saved by switching to the Global network. That leaves two “unprofitable” stations according to CanWest, since they aquired them. No buyers, no takers, not even a bite. By mid-July with CanWest missing deadline after deadline for the recapitalization of the company, they announce that CHEK and CHCA will be closed on August 31. Two stations that have been on the air for 50+ years each.
I can feel some of you dropping off, but stay with me… The two stations that are slated to be closed have had their production crews reduced down to almost nothing, having most of the production done at Global stations a few hours away. So even if a buyer were found for the stations, they would have to re-equip the studio with modern production equipment and hire staff to run it.
In the end, CHEK TV employees, after some nail biting negotiations finally won their battle to puchase the station from CanWest and will stay on the air; but not so lucky for the employees at CHCA TV in Red Deer; no buyer so no TV station. To add insult to injury, CanWest sent the station off the air at 4AM local time with an infomercial, two adverts, and straight to test pattern. No Canadian National anthem, no thanks for watching, just plain ol’ test pattern. The last two mintues are documented on youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMX9VgJIYxA) check it out, if you dare.
As for media concentration, when so many stations are owned by one guy, a station is bound to get closed when it can’t be sold; becuase the stations are just shells which rely on remote production facilities to function. The CRTC may want to address what actually defines what a TV station is in a market, just a shell may not cut it anymore.
Friday, September 4, 2009 – 14:11
Premier Gordon Campbell, “Gordo” as I like to call him, appeared caught like a deer in the headlights of an oncoming media freight train on TV the other day. Grilled about the Liberals version of the “Fudge it-Budget” he was scrambling to spit out phrases like “$500 million in lost revenue” and not expecting this large a downturn, but appeared to be stumbling over his own words. Okay, Mr. Campbell… er… I mean Gordo, how come the newspaper columnists can get closer to the real deficit numbers than your own cabinet ministers who, by the way have access to treasury information long before the general public? I think that every person in BC, including the NDP should be asking what the hell? What happened to the $495 million??? The NDP’s Carole James should be ready to pop a blood vessel in her head like Gordo was back in the 90’s when the NDP was guilty of their own budget fiasco.
Which brings me to the HST or, as some have called it the Horse sh*t tax. How much did anyone in the government know about this back in May? What was Gordo thinking when he told everyone that the HST is not an option for British Columbian’s? Oh, Ontario is doing it so we need to? Nice one. Just what we need; more of Toronto in Victoria! If that doesn’t make your blood boil, perhaps this will…
When will the BC Rail scandal go away? Well, just get the federal Conservatives to pull the Judge off the case, reassign them, and hope that the new Judge will take so long to get up to speed that we’ll be past the Olympics, counting our gold medals, that everyone will forget that BC Rail had ever existed. Another great coup from a government, that when in opposition was calling for heads to roll at the slightest sniff of a wrong-doing.
Gordo, we’re all adults here, why don’t you just call a spade a spade – you lied about the budget, the HST and BC Rail, and tried to cover it all up, so just come clean. You did it with the drunk driving charge in Hawaii, so — in the famous words of Arnold Schwarzenegger before he was Governor — “Do it… Do it NOW”
We’re 10-10 on the side.
