CFL Being Throwin Off Canadian Free TV Is Shameful!!!!

Growing up as a kid (born in 77) My father was too cheap to pay for cable TV (He said that he'd rather us play outside then watch TV...I still believe this to be a lie)
The first season I watched football was 84...my Bombers just happened to win the grey cup that year!!!! The games were on CBC and CTV. After the 85 season I got very interested in the NFL. (it was on CTV I believe) The Bears did their big run to the superbowl.
I did not see another superbowl until 1993!!!!!! Why did this happen?...Well it happened because CTV got rid of NFL football. The NFL was out of site... out of mind....
My parents eventually separated ,and to win my affection my mother promised to get cable, so I naturally lived with her.
To this day I am a CFL fan first....who generally will watch Monday Night Football....but not much else until the CFL season is over.
Now lets say the exact same scenario played itself out,but instead of being born in 77.... I was born in 1999......chances are I would be an NFL fan when I grew up.
Now the big argument against this is,that alot more people have cable now then back then....Oh really... In Vancouver you get Sportsnet on basic cable. Channels 2 threw 29. TSN is on channel 30.
Then to get extended cable you have a choice between the "sports package" or the "movie package"
My girlfriend mentions atleast once a month how she would rather have the movie package... I'm basicly one good fight away from losing the sports package and TSN....hahahah (I hope)
Lets look at the Vancouver Market
If you have two channels and bunnyears (quite prevelent along Commercial Dr actually) You get 2 NFL games per week plus playoffs and super bowl.... YOU GET NO CFL GAMES.
If you have the basic Cable package You GET '' the same as above'' plus another game a week on sportsnet. ONCE AGAIN YOU GET 0 CFL GAMES
If you got extended cable with "movie package" you get the the exact same number of NFL games...BUT ONCE AGAIN 0 CFL GAMES.
If you have the "sports package you get the same as above PLUS 2 MORE NFL GAMES along with four CFL games a week along with playoffs and Grey Cup.
They talk about the "lost generation"of CFL fans because of blackouts... I truely believe that we are on the verge of another lost generation...atleast here in Vancouver.
The CFL should send back 5 million dollars a year to CTV and insist that atleast one CFL game along with playoffs and GreyCup be showin on CTV. This will never happen.....but it would save the CFL 10 fold in the long run.
P.S. What other country on earth could a travesty like this occur and no one says a peep. If they ever tryed to take AFL off of "free to air" tele in Oz ,I can guarentee you that people would DIE.... Trust me Ozzies are that crazy.
I'm kind of glad we're not crazy like that in Canada ....but sometimes I wish we had more fire in us.

The CFL was not thrown off anything....They choose to deal with TSN and TSN only

One thing that really annoys me is this mentality that we are fans of the sport and therefore should be getting it for free. Sorry if the CFL can make more money by being on TSN and healthier then I'm all for it. There is so many other options to watch CFL games. Go to the bar with some friends, go to a friends house watch the game online. Cable isn't the be all and end all.

The other issue pred some of us have been saying how the league euchred itself by only negotiating with TSN and ultimately took much less then was out there.
To further add insult to injury, they then did not request from TSN to have the playoffs and Grey Cup on the larger CTV network side.
That is criminal?

Who were they going to negotiate with? I mean seriously maybe global for a weekend game but global already has the NFL. Sportsnet was out of the question as they are already commited to MLB and show that on a nightly basis. So they could have gone back to a game a night with CBC but remember how bad the CFL was treated when they went on strike with no announcers? But as soon as the NHL season was coming up they got it fixed. CBC treated the CFL badly and TSN has treated the CFL very well. I see no reason why the CFL shouldn’t show some loyalty to TSN.

CBC came out after the deal was signed and said they were not even asked to submit a proposal and were not involved in the negotiations. Also saying, how they were prepared to go higher then the current $15M annually.
You cannot have a "true" negotiation when dealing with one party only and certainly this does not reflect in the "fair" market value of your property.
I don't disagree how TSN has been great for the league and helped out and basically gave the league some necessary dollars and probably overpaid the value when the league almost went under in the 90's. However since then the two recent deals and especially the latest have been undervalued by the CFL. I would have started the negotians at $20M annually and like previously said, why the heck would the league not insist on CTV coverage.
Two glaring errors costing money and perception.

The thing that has always bothered me about this deal is that the ratings will be smaller just because the availability is limited.

The Toronto media will jump all over the year end numbers in comparison to the NFL. Further arguement that our league is bush.

I guess the other thing that bothers me is that the NFL is on local broadcast whereas our own league is not.

Based on how much honesty and integrity CBC has shown re: the hockey night in Canada theme song, I would have a hard time believing they were willing to offer anything close to what TSN offered for the rights.

Remember, the CBC is the organization that up to and including last year refused to show CFL football prior to September. And seeing how they have dumped most their sports recently I have a REALLY hard time believing they were suddenly interested in the CFL.

What dishonestly is that? What lack of intergetity? There are claims made by the Author of the song but nothing has been proven.
The way that TSN got the CFL to keep CBC out of the deal and how quickly TSN snaped up the rights to the song makes me think that TSN went behind the CBC’s back and and pulled some shady deal with the author to prevent her from signing with CBC

Actually a lot of the facts have been laid out in the media regarding the usage of the song, etc. CBC bought the rights for a specific purpose and then arbitrarily started using the song for other purposes without a deal or permission. Then instead of dealing with things honestly, the song-writer was forced to go to court. Sounds fairly lacking in integrity if you ask me. And if I'm not mistaken, CTV went after the rights after CBC started requesting new songs. Nothing underhanded about that at all.

The problem is with your cable provider not including TSN in a “basic package”, but instead a luxury tier.

Plus you’re a wuss if your girlfriend is gonna talk you out of TSN. If that happens, pull your panties up, grab some Kleenex and get ready for the Patrick Swayze marathon on Cosmo, because you got exactly what you deserve.

With the advent of satellite TV, EVERYONE that wants TSN can get it, for less money per month than they spend on internet access. The argument that TSN is somehow not accessible doesn’t wash anymore.

No, the accusations were laid out by the media, not the facts.

Well it is dishearting to a point. I used to watch the CFL at the cottage because of CBC but now i can't. Poor farmers in the country who have no access to cable or can't afford satellite will not be able to see it after harvest. Well TSN ownes CTV or vice versea should be able to put some games on regular tv if there is any revolt at all. Either way they should try and expand their market as much as possible.

I live in the heart of "poor farmer" land. I don't know of any that still watch over-the-air TV. That's hogwash too.

With programming credits, a basic Bell satellite and receiver costs NOTHING. After that, buy the lowest tier you can that includes TSN if you want - probably around $30.

Oh, and the same applies to cottage owners. If you can afford a cabin, $30 bucks for CFL games isn't that big a deal, is it?

Thats not the point.
They should not have to pay the extra money.

The CFL is the author of its own misfortune.
Also, stupid for not insisting the playoffs and Grey Cup will not be shown on CTV.
Ultimately this lack of "forsight" will again come back to bite them in the next TV deal.
And you know waht TSN and the "others" will say, cable numbers do not warrent a further increase?

THAT'S the Canadian attitude! Why should we have to pay money? We can't get the CFL on free TV. WAHHHHH!

Christ on a cracker - since when are we entitled to free TV of any sort? Not only do we demand something for free, we have the gall to DEMAND what's on it.

If it's free, don't b**ch.

And if your argument is that the CBC is taxpayer funded, then I've got an answer for that: disband that rotting hulk of a network and spend the public money on MRI's and medical specialists and then we won't have publicly-funded (and bad) TV.

Seems to me the facts are the CBC lost the CFL rights and the hockey song rights, and was also the network that dropped a CFL game half way through because a weather delay begat an incompetent decision to cancel the feed because nobody could find the right guy to decide because he had moved and forgot to give everyone his new phone number.

Not sure TSN can do worse.

Thank you. Don't forget a season of games broadcast without broadcasters, and (jumping sports here) a decision to move the prime time games of the most popular curling events of the year onto a cable channel that not 50 people had even heard of, let alone had on their system.

That's what free gets you.

Your missing the point!!! I’m talking about KIDS here…So a five year old who’s parents don’t watch CFL (don’t have TSN) is going to go down to the bar …tip back a few bruskis and watch the game… NOOOO… that will not happen …what will happen is he’'l grow up to be an NFL fan…