Quote:
Originally Posted by Weitz
That's an argument, but the other side of the coin is if I am paying to subscribe to an american channel why can't I have the american commercials? It's not like CTV is gettign any money.
If there is a way (not sure there is) to subscribe to CBS and FOX and what not without having CTV, you are getting CTV's commercials on a channel you are not paying CTV for.
This of course is my understanding based on the fact that CTV can still simsub the commercials on their channels.
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As I understand it, it isn't an issue of what channel it is being broadcast on, but who owns the broadcast rights for a particular country. CTV owns the rights in Canada, and someone else owns it in the US. If you're watching in Canada, CTV has bought the rights for your eyeballs to watch their ads, regardless of what channel it is on. You might be watching it on Fox or whatever channel, but Fox doesn't have the rights for that program in Canada - CTV does. Rather than blacking out Fox, the CRTC lets the Canadian rightsholder put their ads on simultaneously.
The NFL obviously sells the rights to different broadcasters all around the world. Canada is probably unique that we get the same content on Canadian channels and US channels at the same time, whereas other countries don't get US channels beamed directly into their living rooms as we do.
But I can see why Bell would be upset because they've bought the broadcast rights with the intention of running ads against it. They can't be expected to pay top dollar for the rights when they can't sell advertising against it to recoup the costs.