What a shocker. Gee, I hope the CRTC didn’t pay much for this study.
The research, which is about six months old now, shows that between 52 and 80 per cent of American prime-time (non-news) shows are available online, compared to only 24 per cent from CTV and just 15 per cent from Global.
But these numbers can be pretty misleading, especially when you stop to think that only about 15 per cent of Global’s programming overall might actually be Canadian. It’s not a surprise that if you can watch Big Brother at CBS’s website, that you might not also be able to download it from Global.
The problem isn’t that Canadian broadcasters aren’t putting material online, but that the American networks continue to geo-block fans north of the border. And until that situation is sorted out (read: never), TV fans up here will continue to get their shows however they can.
I’m one of the few TV fans left who doesn’t download anything. Yes, I’m a freak. Some say it’s thanks to weird, misplaced ethics, but it’s mostly just because I’m a lazy Luddite. I need to set some limits for myself, or I’ll be watching ancient episodes of Bewitched instead of doing actual work on the computer.
What can I say? I’m one in a million.
Also last week, Canada’s largest telecommunications company, BCE Ltd. (owners of CTV and Bell ExpressVu, among other broadcasting companies), agreed on a sticker price of $51.7 billion, to be paid by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.
Yes, if you haven’t already heard about this, Canada’s largest private broadcaster is going to be owned in part by my niece’s Grade 4 teacher in Waterloo. Weird. This is clearly a financial grab by the Pension Fund, but what does it mean for programming? Hopefully nothing, as most creative development positions are expected to stay in the same classroom instead of skipping a grade.
It’s likely a better buy than hedge funds or pork bellies. According to the CRTC, cable revenues went up 16.1 per cent last year, and satellite revenues increased by 11.4 per cent. Pre-tax profits for satellite and wireless operators (such as Bell ExpressVu) bloomed by 153.6 per cent in 2007, compared to the $32 million loss posted in 2006.
Hey, those who can’t do, teach. And retire early, apparently.
In L.A. this week is the semi-annual Television Critics Association press tour, where TV critics and journalists get to corner network execs and showrunners and grill them about the upcoming season. Unfortunately, I am not a member, and SEE doesn’t have the shekels to send me to L.A. to bask in celebrity.
But I’m curious to see how it goes this year. We just finished one of the most awkward, stunted seasons in history, and the effects of the writers’ strike are still rippling through the industry. Only 16 new series are being premiered this fall by the major networks, about half the number we’d normally see. And we’re still facing the prospect of an actors’ strike later this summer, which could put everything on the back burner yet again.
So the TCA press junket will probably involve a lot of “I dunno” and “No comment” responses to sincere journalistic questions. That’s in between the drinking and field trips to the sets of Mad Men and Dollhouse. No, I’m not jealous, not at all. Okay, fine, I’d kill to see the set dec at Sterling Cooper.
And, as usual, the shows that critics are buzzing about are on cable networks we Canadians don’t have access to, such as Burn Notice (which airs on the USA Network) and Generation Kill (which is David Simon’s new show for HBO).
But if we’re lucky, we’ll all get to download them soon.
