I noticed in this morning's Globe & Mail that the Television honchos and the Cable/Satellite guys are in competition to see who can spend the most money trying to influence the CRTC.
The issue is trying to decide if the distribution companies should have to actually pay for the content they distribute or, should they simply be able to help themselves for free, the way they have been doing for years. Why this is becoming an issue now after all these years is a mystery to all of us but, after about 40 years of helping themselves, the cable companies are a bit miffed.
On the upside, I am all for seeing the corporate media guys helping to subsidize the G & M to the tune of $150,000 or so every time both sides decide to take out adds.
The cable guys might be the more honest than the TV execs in their ads. If the CRTC rules that the distribution companies have to pay into the programming fund, they will simply pass all of that extra cost on to the consumer. The fact that in Canada we already pay more than most people do for cable won't be a big deal. For most Canadians, no price is too high to be able to have unfettered access to Fox-News, CNN and NBC.
What gets under my skin is the absolute hypocrisy of the television companies spinning this as a threat to Local programming. What a load of bull. The Television corporations, including the CBC gave up on local programming years ago. To now characterize the completely inadequate local news coverage they now give to communities as "local programming" is beyond the pale.
On behalf of all the journalists, producers, writers and technicians who used to work in the Canadian television industry, producing local programming, before these guys cut it to the bone. Let's call a spade a spade. They are hypocrites. It makes me feel ill.
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