51 Replies to “Not Watching For The Asteroid”

  2. Good riddance.
    In all that time, they never once asked. They just imposed their values and those of the elites and the intellectuals and the stars.

  4. A well explained journey of forteiting quality of life for advancing technology. I was born in the mid-50’s myself, and though in S. Ontario instead of the West, there was still that same flavour of simpler times which I treasure in memory very fondly. I was working with Natural Resources in N. Ontario in 1977 when news of Elvis’s death made it on one of 2 TV stations I could get. Before that, mainstream coverage of blockbuster assassinations and the Viet Nam war was thrust into our cozy livingrooms in the 1960’s. Great music through these twisting, twisted times coincided with an age of enlightenment, but it also brought forth an era of godlessness and human initiative which ushered forth the likes of Charles Manson and serial killers like Speck and Bundy. Timothy Leary, Andy Warhol, Berkeley U., and political conventions provided cultural free world sideshows. If you survived it, you have lots to tell your grandchildren, as the ever-shrinking world’s dysfunctional families huddle around their 500 channels on cable or satellite. Give us Foster Hewitt and the fuzzy reception greeting viewers of Hockey Night In Canada.

  5. Great article. The telemedia implosion can’t come soon enough. The present battle between broadcasters and cable companies and their pathetic ads to get people on their side is enough to give me the dry heaves.

  6. I had it with CAnadian TV, and the the bullshit from the CRTC that allows them to show 10-year-old episodes (insert program here) over and over again.
    And the ultimate kick in the junk is we get to pay for it. Sigh
    All I have to offer is look into…FTA

  7. This is a link to Sezmi: http://www.sezmi.com/main.php
    No matter what they do, they have to get a link-up to your home. That is by phone line or cable which should finally bring in a little competition. I say a “little” because last time I checked, Telus still hadn’t installed an ADSL node in my area (if that’s still the current technology) and I’m still stuck with cable.

  8. A very well written and precise piece.
    The only loser in the whole issue is the tax payer and viewer.
    I don’t recall being sent an invitation to vote for what I pay for or what I want to watch. I have full cable, but it has been ages since I’ve watched any local programming. And how the heck do I know if something is actually CDN? Further more, why would I give a crap if it’s CDN? I watch what is interesting or entertaining.
    I don’t switch channels and watch according to little flags waving in the corner. Frankly, the only local viewing worth while is news and that has become tripe too.

  9. “Frankly, the only local viewing worth while is news and that has become tripe too.”
    I’ve totally given up on the local news broadcasts years ago. Had enough of the fluff stories, “selective” coverage, and condescending tone, so now I just occasionally borrow a newspaper from Tim Hortons and of course rely on the radio.

  11. Im NO FAN of cable. Im in Rogers territory and they ticked me off right from day 1 when the techie refused to use his custom wire stripper to put connectors on the unused RG6 that *I* took the time and $200 expense to run thru the entire house.
    less than a year later I cancelled the subscription and gave Bell aka Expressvu ooooone more chance. well, they screwed up even worse and I cancelled THAT feed supposedly ‘owing’ them $400 for programming which I never got due to a misaligned dish.
    now? I gutted a $30 add-on UHF antenna meant for attaching in sequence with satellite dish, ran a coax to the back of my set, screwed it to a hinge at the top of the wall, and use a pointer stick to swing it to the best spot and now get a total of 5 broadcast stations. 3 of which have the Law & Order franchise a total of 15 hours a week.
    the rest of my time I’m taking Juno my black lab for a walk and getting my news off the web.
    screw Bell, screw Rogers, screw CBC *AND* CTV and screw the CRTC.
    ain’t technology wunnerful !!!

  12. I am so po’d at this mess. The cable systems are giving us a big porky pie (lie) There is no tax. They want to pass on to cable users a fee charged to the cable company. It isn’t a consumption tax.
    The broadcasters currently do not receive a fee from the cable systems BUT they get must carry rules, ie. the cable system must carry their station AND must substitute the broadcasters signal even if I want to watch Jeopardy! on the Seattle ABC affiliate.
    The broadcasters are losing money because of the huge debt they racked up following the convergence strategy of the last decade. The debt service could be handled when ad revenues were high but as all debt heavy businesses find out it does not take much of a revenue drop to make the debt burdensome.
    My solution? Make the cable systems pay a fee IF they carry the local channels but drop the must carry rule. Global/CBC/CTV will find out in a hurry what their real viewership is when I’m not compelled to receive their signals.

  13. I own a TV. Nice ’70-something Sanyo colour set, with real working vacuum tubes in it. Last time I turned it on was 9/11/2001. Had to splice the lead-in from the antenna, but I was able to see the towers fall.
    Seeing as the networks and the lamestream media are virtually in cahoots with the monsters who destroyed the towers, I see no further use for the TV, other than as a technological curio.
    The antenna was shedding little Yagi bits in the windstorms, so a couple of years back I took an angle grinder and cut through its 2″ pipe mast, and felled it like a big old tree.
    From time to time, I think about getting a nice 26 inch flat screen TV, and a satellite receiver, but why pay a monthly fee for 256 channels of “nothing on”, when I’m away from home so much?
    If I could get a black-market dish, and “steal” the signals, I might do that, more to spite the networks than anything else. If I have to watch ads, I’m not stealing, anyway; I’m paying with minutes of time wasted waiting out the ads.
    But anything I really “need to” see can be found on the Internet, at a time when I want to see it.

  14. TV came to our farm near Lethbridge some time around 1954. A local TV dealer just drove around to the farms around our area and left behind a set to try out. He said he would drop by and pick it up in a week or two if we did not want to keep it. Not too many were returned.
    Our local station came on the air shortly after and offered only a few hours of broadcasts per evening at first. I remember just turning it on in the afternoon to look at the Indian Head test pattern and fiddle with the various controls. (was really interested in electronics then)
    Not long after, microwave links were established allowing live TV broadcasts from distant locations. I remember watching the Ripple Rock Explosion live in real time.
    And it was the only time in my life I made a point to watch regularly scheduled programs. TV rasslin, The Ed Sullivan Show, (with Elvis from the waist up) The Honeymooners, and much more.
    In glorious black and white, of course.

  15. Who are these two brothers? We had similar brothers in Atlantic Canada – the irvings, mccains, crosbies etc. They all played political games and got their own monopolies (like preferred spots on the highway). They weren’t adverse to taking advantage when they had the chance.
    So i would really like to know if these holier than thou brothers really exist – or is it FICTION.
    As for the creation of legislated monopolies – would you rather have had the altenative? All of these enterprises use a public good to create potential monopolistic fortunes – radio bandwidth, land easments etc. If the government didn’t regulate – mandate widespread implementation in return for a guaranteed profit, some people would have been gouged hugely and others would still be waiting for service even today. That was the quid pro quo for access to the public good.
    Wave upon wave of technology has beaten down the need for regulation and this technology and the globalization that it permits have made the xenophobia that begat the CRTC and CanCon anacronisms of a most annoying and interfering sort. The CRTC was once reviled by the communications monopolies, now it is their last (and doomed) hope and refuge.
    But keep in mind, much of the world never regulated the public good all of these technologies need to use and these areas are still stuck in the beginning of this storyline. And without those technologies and their development these fairy tale brothers would still be on a dirt road fooling around with an antenna. Regulation is an imperfect and at times inefficient and infuriating thing, but it has facilitated massive, life-changing benefits for all of us and we need to keep
    that in mind.
    (And the snide suits and watches comments are just so much country socialism mascuerading (sp for sure) as down-home capitalism)

  16. No mention of CTV’s gift to the world “The Trouble With Tracy”? For the younger folks who might has missed it, you didn’t miss much. Think of it as the really bare bones daily situation comedy grandma of garbage like Cash Cab, Worst Driver, Ancient BS, etc.
    It is interesting how TV broadcasting and the passenger airlines followed the same death spiral.

  17. Since the US went digital, I fired up the old roof top antenna, changed the old flat wire connection to RG-6 cable, bought a power booster, amplifier, and cancelled Bell Express Vu. It’s like ‘back to the future’ I only get local channels, except I only watch locals from Rochester, Syracuse, Utica, and Watertown, all in NY state. I recieve all the network channels including Fox and PBS….and the best thing is most are in Hi-Def. I also watch some tv on the internet now…but channels are limited. Can’t wait for SEZMI.

  18. Only an incurable and probably genetic addiction to baseball keeps me connected to cable. Each time I turn on the television, however, I am reminded that, in order to get those games, I have to pay for APTN, Vision, and a host of other useless channels that survive on government and government mandated handouts.

  19. God help us if the CBC is ever privatized. At least we receive balanced journalism there, unlike radical, right wing fox and a host of other media outlets. APTN is a great station as well. Greed driven cable companies have been screwing the consumers for a long time. Hopefully the CRTC will find a solution to this.

  21. Shhh, T, this is an adult discussion, now go back to your class warfare fantasy game.
    Yes, this is a funny fight in the sandbox, however, norm @ 1:58 has it right. The problem stems from the acquisitions and monopolization of our media in recent years. So, when they use the line of ‘or else local stations will close’, I say too bad. The news is usually yellow, critical of business, and pleas for heart tugging stories of ‘why doesn’t the government caaaaaaaare?’ (At least in Victoria, they are preaching to the choir).
    If only the CRTC could make that change in direction and allow true individual selection of stations, then I wouldn’t have to take the French, multicult, APTN, SLice, etc of wasteland. I hate subsidizing things that I have no time for.
    The strangest part of this fight, was an actors association came out the other day demanding that they get the lions share of any new fees imposed. Why, for more bad Canadian made shows? Entitlement, thy name is CBC

  22. The CBC “balanced journalism” comment was funny enough, but APTN?
    Rogers sent me a post card years ago telling me that I’d be paying an extra $1/month or so for APTN, the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network, because the CRTC said so.
    Rogers – I’m sure in an attempt to annoy the h-e-l-l out of me – has plunked this station down in the middle of the HD range of stations, along with one French language station. Oh there’s a French language band in the 600’s, but for some reason right after the various Sportsnets and TSNs in the 500’s there’s APTN and CBC French sticking out like sore thumbs.
    APTN has some sort of Aboriginal Davey and Goliath rip-off that is really, really bad. Plus, they can’t fill their schedule because there just isn’t enough Indian stuff to be broadcast, so anything with the faintest whiff of Aboriginal-ness gets shown. Cases in point: Lou Diamond Philips is 1/8 Cheroke, so anything he’s in gets shown. Keanu Reeves gets the same treatment for some reason.

  23. As for Sezmi, it sounds like content is delivered in at least two ways: via the Internet and over the air.
    Rogers and Bell will just throttle the Internet content to the point where it can’t be viewed, as they do today with the blessing of the CRTC.
    And the over the air part would likely kill off local * free * over the air HD content that I’m getting right now – not good.

  24. Out of my 40 or so years I have subscribed to cable for maybe 2 or 3 years. Never had satellite. There just isn’t anything worth it. When I was a kid, my Dad cancelled cable out of principle after they bumped the rates for no reason. And you know what…I never really missed it ever since. I have the internet and satellite radio in my truck. The only thing I miss is I wouldn’t mind watching Fox News. But I’ll survive.
    It’s so cute when a liberal tries to think like a grown-up. I haven’t watched the CBC since I was a kid…not counting hockey games. I actually used to be a huge fan of David Suzuki and the Nature of Things…but alas that has turned into a commie broadcast as well.

  25. the tv companies keep talking about local content in their propoganda pieces; in nova scotia, the cable company eastlink has more local programs than all other networks combined; i watch it more than any other; local junior hockey, football, and soccer; local cooking shows; local movie and fishing shows; local sportstalk; local jobs and medical shows; it beats most of the crap on that tube hands-down

  27. I don’t watch TV. Even “free” over the air it isn’t worth it. All socialist propaganda, all the time. Even the “content”, not just the commercials and “news” shows. High def propaganda on a 62″ DLP is still as annoying, you just see the wrinkles on the news readers. Katie Couric looked better in regular TV.
    If I want to see a movie I go to the MOVIES. Gawd, what a concept eh? Doesn’t happen often, last one I went to that I didn’t feel ripped off was Star Trek. I should watch on TV what I can’t be bothered to pay for at the flicks? Doubt it!
    TV can stop stealing my money through taxes any time now. Really. CPC, pay attention boys. Tax cut now.

  28. I stopped watching TV nearly a decade ago.
    Now I have a better life and can sit back and watch while everyone else parrots the government line that they’ve been fed from the TV and laugh at them for running around with their hair on fire over the latest ginned up crisis that makes them think they need the government so desperately.

  29. CTV shut down operating local TV news stations a few years back in northern Ontario because they weren’t making money. Went from Mid Canada Television-MCTV to just CTV then the local shut downs happened.
    Now it looks as through they want US to pay (MORE) for their already failed business ventures?
    Next we’ll be hearing them crying: ” TV TAX to the MAX – it’s for the childrens! Mmm Mmm Mmm”

  30. Speaking of APTN, the oddest programming choice they ever made was airing The World’s Fastest Indian, a movie about a man from New Zealand entering a motorcycle race in Utah, and not, as you might expect, an aboriginal runner.
    On topic – the spat between the cablecos and the TV stations is annoying and a waste of time. When the CRTC is involved, it doesn’t matter what we want because it’s their job to decide what is good for us.

  31. I want reparations!
    The true irony about Canadian TV is that I suspect none of the so called “TeeDot elites” watch Canadian Television anyways.
    Another irony is that it’s people like me who avidly watch American media like NFL/NBA/MLB, HBO, FOXnews and CNN who end-up footing the bill for those that primarily watch Candian programs that don’t pay squat. (whom ever those people are)

  34. Providing people with what they need as best one can,
    at the best price one can manage,
    is a good way to thrive. Ask Sam Walton’s children.

  35. The theme of this story is of beggars using politicians to get at the treasury.
    Both of these are the enemy of the taxpayer, and of the free citizen.
    The media is but one example.

  36. Good story, except I’m sure the CRTC will find a way bring the hammer down hard on any foreign business that sells Canadians something they actually want. Especially if they get ACTA passed.

  38. Tax cut now.
    Posted by: The Phantom at November 18, 2009 10:49 AM
    🙂 that’s so cute
    There is a $200 billion hole that’s now got to be filled through 2015
    Payroll taxes get cranked from 2010-2015. Prentice’s Carbon Tax comes in Jan 2011. New CRTC broadcast tolls next October. And spending reductions are planned in Atlantic Canada and the Prairies through 2014 (the federal HST transfers to Ontario and BC are being funded by region specific transfers – and no, it’s not revenue neutral ;-)).
    You won’t see tax cuts for more than a decade Phantom.

  39. I’m in South Korea now and only have access to about 7 English stations. One of my younger co-workers had her laptop break so I lent her my laptop for a few days. She put this Vuze software on the laptop. http://www.vuze.com/
    It’s great. I can download entire seasons of my favourite shows or the most current shows and watch them when I want. Many of the major stations have their shows on their websites for viewing but I can’t get them here in Asia.
    I managed to get FoxNews on Rogers cable in Ontario. It conveniently came bundled with SexTV (which I was fine with) and the gay and lesbian channel. You just know some libtards got a big laugh as they were creating that package. Let them suffer and die.

  40. CTV/Bell-Globe should *pay* the cables companies for transmitting their signal, IMO. CTV’s “save local TV” campaign is laughable. It’s not like they’re broadcasting local amateur sports, or airing local talk shows. Here’s the daily schedule of the “local” CTV outlet:
    1) Live with Regis and Kelly
    2) The View
    3) CTV News: the “local” news, which provides union/social-activist spins on local events combined with Lib/Toronto-centric takes on the national scene. It used to be called “CFRN News” – the local call letters – but a couple of years ago they were told to start calling it CTV News, and the local call letters were stripped from the outside of the building.
    4) etalk: trite, breathless gossip about mostly American celebrities
    5) Sue Thomas F.B. EYe
    6) The Doctor Oz Show
    7) Dr. Phil
    8) Oprah Winfrey
    9) Local news – see #3
    10) etalk (again)
    11) Access Hollywood
    12) America’s next top model
    13) CSI: NY
    14) Criminal Minds
    15) CTV National News, from Toronto/Ottawa
    Not really “local” TV, is it?

  41. [quote]Sezmi automatically records all your shows for you—no need to manually save and set up season’s passes to manage the DVR.[/quote]Info
    NOTE: The Networks are the programmers… Cable & satellite, over the air, Sezmi, the Net, are delivery systems.
    Sezmi is another wet dream selling hardware…The need for a local DVR is past tense. The standard computer interface just needs a sufficient memory buffer to handle high speed data…local data Hubs (much like how goggle handles info data) solve bandwidth limitations.
    The cable companies may be the provider of data copies (local Hub) of all programming.. thus allowing viewer access on demand.. The Change is that the viewer may view programming of thier choice @ a time they chose without predetermination. (you pay for 200, or X, channels and get to watch what you want, when you want, on demand)
    Who provides the programming is not a question answered by the delivery system. The CBC programming has a political agenda (crap) & that will not change until the CRTC stops with the cheap magic tricks. They are dictating production programming & killing the goose

  42. I like my local Cable Co.
    They invested in Fibre Optic technology the last couple of years so it’s fast, reliable, and I was able to tell the local phone co. to go stuff it. 🙂
    On the other hand they are right bastards and have no real competition ( the phone co “high speed internet” blows) but at least they are FAST bastards.

  43. Now that’s what I would like – fibre optic right into my house.
    My local Rogers was goofing around with switched digital video earlier this year – fibre optic to a nearby node and coax thereafter and into my house – and screwed up several HD channels each time.

  44. CBC balanced. Now there is a real funny. Haven’t watched CBC for about 15-20 years, ever since it became unbalanced.

  45. Interesting analogy, but it behooves me to remind you that B/A didn’t go broke it was amalgamated with Gulf & Shawinigan Chemicals and became Gulf Oil Canada. Further to that, small town gas stations are not going broke, they are being shut down because they are not “profitable enough”. IE – not losing money, just not making ENOUGH money. Translation – the city living sales manager can’t be bothered with the inconvenience of driving all the way out to small town Canada. Oh, and that would be the same intelligence bestowed upon us by the business geniuses at GM.
    http://www.britishamericanoil.ca/history16.html

  46. “13) CSI: NY 14) Criminal Minds”
    I watch both of those shows but on the CBS station out of Detroit. As a matter of fact, I watch almost everything on the American stations out of Detroit, Rochester (you just can’t beat those small town commercials for Crazy Uncle Eddie’s Cars) and occasionally Seattle. I do love that time shifting.
    I never thought the day when would come when I watch CBC more than CTV, but that’s CTV’s fault – they lost Jeopardy and never had Doctor Who.

  47. hardboiled said: “You won’t see tax cuts for more than a decade Phantom.”
    I will if the CPC wants to get a majority or keep one. Cut government spending, cut taxes, CPC majority. If not, there’s always Wild Rose and Harper is very, very aware of it
    You don’t get this whole Laffer Curve, supply side thing do you?

  48. I cancelled my cable in August and haven’t turned on the tv since.
    Now all I have to do is get those bastards out of my wallet.

  49. You know i have to say this !
    I really don’t mind watching old rerun episodes of three’s company,or little house on the prairie,or dukes of hazard,or a-team,or fall guy,or mcivor,or air wolf ,or blue thunder,or night rider ,or “V” ,or leave it to beaver ,or littlest hobo, you know to me those are show’s i can watch with my kid (well some of them ) and i know they are harmless they are not for the most part tring to put thought’s in her head, compared to today’s show’s ,like little mosk on the prairie pumping multi culturalism , or c.s.i. where they make you feel like forensic’s is like cheap free easy and accurate , or how about curb your enthusiasm were they piss on christ’s picture, or dooms day geographic where every single problem on earth and or around earth including the sun (magnetic pull is weakend becasue of our cell phones they claim)seems to be the fault of every white chritian westerner ….i am sorry i barley watch t.v. as it is but i will tell you all that i will watch reruns all day long of my old favorite show’s any day than the new trash they pump out on both american and canadian stations it is almost all garbage ….with the exception of history and even that get’s stupid with all of the nostradaumis predictions that seem to change with every world event …the one i saw pre 9/11 he predicted the world would flood cause of global warming , post 9/11 some how he predicted 9/11 and that muslims would take over …i listen to rutherford radio,libaugh sometimes ,but i mostley listen to micheal savage on am1280thepatriot , you don’t need a t.v. in front of your face 24/7 to live YOUR life.
    Paul in calgary

  50. T
    Hopefully the CRTC will find a solution to this.
    Awwwwww ain’t that cute. A Government worshiper who believes in secular infallibility. T! The real story is, the CRTC is the problem.
    From censorship by Canadian Content (40%. Stalin would have been proud), to forcing Canadians to support TV pollution for sexual deviants. Old time feminists, to gibbering Islamists. None of which we watch, but pay outrageously none the
    less.
    Just so a few flakes in Government can ballyhoo how multicultural they are on your dime.
    I wouldn’t mind if any of these channels had a pigs chance in an abattoir of making. it but they don’t. The reasons are obvious. So why do we pay?

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