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Did This Ever Actually Happen On Local Toronto TV Stations?
I stumbled across this announcement in an old file on my computer, but I have to confess I have no idea where it came from. I obviously saved it from somewhere. In essence, it orders all cable companies in Southern Ontario and Vancouver to delete commercials from U.S. signals carried in Canada and replace them with "suitable material" (whatever that means.)
Obviously this was almost completely obviated when simultaneous substitution became the norm and not only were the spots taken out, but the entire station was overridden with the Canadian signal.
This was supposed to start in either 1976 or 1977 (the document says they were to "report" on it by the end of '75.) But I can't quite recall if this policy ever actually went into effect. Did this really happen? It sounds like a logistical nightmare, especially considering the equipment available at that time.
I'm guessing it was part of the CRTC responding to broadcaster complaints about border stations siphoning off Canadian advertisers, which was a big problem for local outlets here in the 1970s. (For those who don't remember, many spots on Buffalo stations at the time were for businesses in Toronto.)
But really, is there anything more frightening than a government ordering the building of something called "deletion facilities?" It sounds like something out of a sci fi novel.
By the way, I love the last part about "without disruption to the service now being provided to customers." That's laughable since all these years later, simsub is still hit and miss when it comes to properly rejoining a live show without missing anything from the originating U.S. network.
- Radiowiz
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Re: Did This Ever Actually Happen On Local Toronto TV Stations?
I think this version of a deletion system is still around today if you watch certain American channels.
Game Show Network (GSN) is one example, along with CNN.
Watching on Rogers means that select American ad time is replaced with ads for Rogers services etc, then it switches back to some American ads after that. It is NOT however, a sim sub.
ie There is no Canadian CNN and Game TV Canada does not carry the same gameshows as GSN.
RadioWiz & RadioQuiz are NOT the same person.
RadioWiz & THE Wiz are NOT the same person.
- mike marshall
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Re: Did This Ever Actually Happen On Local Toronto TV Stations?
Cogeco does this, has for years, but only on certain American cable channels
They don't do it on CNN. Can't remember whether they did at one time, in the early 2000s, but back then, they substituted public service spots and also promos for Canadian radio and TV stations.
The Canadian radio and TV promos were sold for ridiculously low prices. I heard something like $40 per American cable channel per month and your promo rotation depended on the number of radio/TV buyers on that channel that month. If nobody else was in on the buy, your spots ran more often.
When we were doing Smooth Jazz before Kirk flipped it to Country, the station bought a few of the more popular American cable channels (if memory serves, things like CNN, A&E, etc). Probably did the same thing on Rogers.
Kirk's Hamilton Country station and 92.9 The Grand still buy Cogeco. We see their stuff during radio ratings periods on MSNBC.
The spot substitution on MSNBC is an irritant for us. We watch the channel quite a bit. The Cogeco subs come in the latter parts of the stop sets and they've been running a lot of the same PSAs for years, over and over. They do, though, seem to be running more of their own plugs lately, for their On Demand movies and Cogeco 'feel good' Corporate things.
If I've got this right, Cogeco substitutes on fewer American cable channels these days, or we're just watching the wrong ones. As one example, we don't watch anything on A&E now. If Cogeco is subbing some of its own promos on the channel, we can't comment.
Val believes one thing is for sure: If Cogeco has been running the same public service spots in to the ground for years, they have to be ignoring a hell of a lot of newer, worthy material that comes in every month.
Last edited by mike marshall (March 6, 2019 1:38 am)
- Fitz
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Re: Did This Ever Actually Happen On Local Toronto TV Stations?
as MM mentions above the Canadian ads on US stations has been going on for years. They are called "ad avails." Rogers still does it on CNN and MSNBC.
This from the CRTC web site:
Local promotions on US channelsYou may see a promotion for a Canadian show on a US TV station. Both US and Canadian stations set aside some advertising time (1 to 2 minutes per hour) for “local availabilities.” Distributors use this time for their own purposes, and Canadian distributors air promotions for Canadian broadcasting services.
Last edited by Fitz (March 6, 2019 7:57 am)
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