Save Local TV?

[burn_baby_burn]

Originally Posted by 4X4

Print media isn't really going down the tubes, it's being forced to change - through dropping revenues.
People no longer buy newspapers and magazines to stay informed, they buy them to stay entertained in places they otherwise would be bored. Breakfast table, waiting rooms, airplanes, transit, etc. So a few newspapers die. Big deal. It won't kill the industry, it'll streamline it. The strong will survive and I'll continue picking up a copy of the latest Astronomy magazine every time I fly.

The thing is, you can get a lot of that content on the mobile web on your BlackBerry or iPhone. With mobile Internet speeds getting faster and faster as well as cheaper it will only be a matter of time before most everyone gets their information this way. Heck I watch YouTube videos on my BB while I lounge in my back yard.

Flying can be a different story since you can't browse the web on your handheld in flight. Most planes have TV's to keep you occupied now days anyway.

[Bobblehead]

I voted no, not because I want local stations to close up but because I don't think any of the currently proposed solutions will solve anything.

I'd like to see a network take a bunch of the pilots for new series that get made every year and instead of a few people in an ivory tower deciding what becomes a series, put the whole bunch of them on the internet and see what shows create the most buzz, then use that do decide what will have an audience.

[fredr123]

A couple of links from Shaw on the subject, countering many of CTV and Global's arguments:

http://www.shaw.ca/en-ca/AboutShaw/B...antBailout.htm

http://www.shaw.ca/en-ca/AboutShaw/TrueorFalse.htm

[SeeGeeWhy]

What will CFCN do with the Darryl Janz robot that they just replaced the magnetic bearings in?

[Joborule]

Originally I thought hey, if Cable/Satellite companies are using the programs, they should pay.

But I'm still pissed about CTV putting crappy Canadian commercials all over the place over my US Feed for the Superbowl.

When your subcasting other networks and putting up your own commercials (which suck), you can go away.

[kermitology]

I don't watch local TV. Heck, I rarely even watch Canadian TV outside of hockey or when a station simsub goes over it's time (Looking at you Global you SOBs!). I mean who wants to watch 30 Rock when you can watch Da Kink in my Hair.

[Yeah_Baby]

I realized after I voted that I like the idea of local tv more than then its execution.

[Thunderball]

Pretty damning responses from Shaw there, and I'm forced to agree with them.

Local TV are given free access, brazen protectionism (sim-sub, access limitations, etc.), priority channel placement, advertising priority, indirect funding from the cable providers, and indirect funding from the specialty pay channels owned by the parent corporation. They don't need any help and I agree, the "Save Local" campaign is dishonest and misleading.

If things are really so bad, why don't we open up cable to international bidders... maybe "NBC Calgary" can do better than CTV Calgary.

[FlamesKickAss]

Isn't local stations owned by huge nationwide corporations? I mean seriously if it was just an independent local station maybe I would have sympathy, maybe.

and if the cable/satellite companies pay then we will pay.

[edn88]

There is nothing I watch local TV for

Sports - TSN, Sportsnet
Weather - internet or Weather Channel
News - Internet, CNN, CBC News

[You Need a Thneed]

Originally Posted by edn88

There is nothing I watch local TV for

Sports - TSN, Sportsnet
Weather - internet or Weather Channel
News - Internet, CNN, CBC News

I pretty much only watch local stations for the news, occasionally. Also, occasionally I'll like to watch the local sports highlights on the news, stuff like the Hitmen and Roughnecks that you don't get on TSN or Sportsnet.

[ken0042]

^^ Yes, I only watch local stations for the news as well. As others have mentioned, I would be just as happy with NBC Calgary. Or for that matter perhaps the Spokane stations would extend their news coverage for Calgary. They already show forcasts for here in both Fahrenheit and Celsius.

And for that matter- if it meant losing local channels as well as simsubs; verses keeping local channels for the news and paying $5 per month extra, I would rather see them go.

[Titan]

Originally Posted by Thunderball

That would be nice, but they know full well if they don't package dud channels like APTN, HGTV, etc. with Comedy, Sportsnet, etc., they'd never make a cent off those channels.

But should that not be the whole point? (He says while preaching to the choir)

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Thunderball

Pretty damning responses from Shaw there, and I'm forced to agree with them.

Me too. Shaw makes a very good point on how they maintain a channel that is local programming 24 hours a day. I wonder if CTV, Global and CityTV even reach 24 hours a day combined?

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

Me too. Shaw makes a very good point on how they maintain a channel that is local programming 24 hours a day. I wonder if CTV, Global and CityTV even reach 24 hours a day combined?

Well, that part is a little slanted. It runs the same loop over and over again- so somewhere between 15-60 minutes of programming per day; run continuously.

[Swarly]

you can change the first two options of the poll to, yes - and we all pay for it. either govt pays or cable pays it's coming back to us either way, they will just pass along the fee. not like shaw is going to take the hit.

[Galakanokis]

This is a tough one for me. I have worked in TV and still have many friends that work in tv with a number of them at various stations in Calgary. Hell, with in the last year I have turned down jobs at two stations in Calgary. I don't want to see people lose jobs but tv cannot continue to run the way it has for the past 5 to 10 years.

I thought TV was a dying breed 10 years when I bailed on it. Mainly for the fact of the big nation wide corporations coming in and changing the way local stations ran. It got so far from a community station it wasn't remotely funny. Stations lost their identities and people stopped relating to them.

They have to offer something unique and rehashing news stories 10 times a day and the same old same old american dramas and sitcoms does not cut it. I watch most of my tv on the eastern American feeds and haven't seen a local station since the last time I watched Corner Gas, nearly two years...

[Jimmy Stang]

I will admit to watching the occasional local newscast, and I think that local stations have their place.

However, I don't see this situation being much different than other industries where companies reply on outdated business models.

Take the record companies, for example. They completely missed the boat on digital distribution when they had the chance because they didn't adapt to the market. They fought anything other than shrink wrapped CDs with ignorance, then lawsuits, then lobbying to government, etc. when in reality their problems stemmed from using an outdated business model and they didn't adapt.

Car manufacturers are another one. How many redundant, bloated brands do each of the auto makers have? How many dealerships are necessary? Again - an outdated business model that can't stand on its own.

Of course, in both of these examples, government has bent over backwards for these luddites instead of forcing them to adapt.

Sink or swim. I'm not a hard-core capitalist, but seriously - adapt.

[Bobblehead]

Originally Posted by Galakanokis

This is a tough one for me. I have worked in TV and still have many friends that work in tv with a number of them at various stations in Calgary. Hell, with in the last year I have turned down jobs at two stations in Calgary. I don't want to see people lose jobs but tv cannot continue to run the way it has for the past 5 to 10 years.

I thought TV was a dying breed 10 years when I bailed on it. Mainly for the fact of the big nation wide corporations coming in and changing the way local stations ran. It got so far from a community station it wasn't remotely funny. Stations lost their identities and people stopped relating to them.

They have to offer something unique and rehashing news stories 10 times a day and the same old same old american dramas and sitcoms does not cut it. I watch most of my tv on the eastern American feeds and haven't seen a local station since the last time I watched Corner Gas, nearly two years...

That's what I was trying to say in an earlier post. Well put.

[Hack&Lube]

If either the Government or the Cable/Sat companies pay - that means WE pay because they will automatically pass on those costs to us.