The NFL is appealing to the "Trudeau government" to pressure the CRTC to lift their ban on simultaneous substitution of the 2017 Super Bowl.
The NFL could lose "tens of millions" for their SB rights in Canada. Bell/CTV said they wouldn't even bid on future SB's with the ban in place.
CTV drew 2.5M viewers for the 2016 Super Bowl while the majority of the audience watched the broadcast on an American cable channel.
If Canadian advertisers can no longer tap into the huge viewership of the American event, they will be forced to spend their advertising dollars for large Canadian events, like the Grey Cup and CFL.
With the NFL directly pressuring the Trudeau government, they probably don't realize the CRTC is an independent national commission which is immune from political pressure.
The NFL which has revenues exceeding US$12B per year is putting the squeeze on Canada to extract another $10M to $20M from our sports market, money much better spent supporting Canadian teams and leagues.
The CRTC should be applauded for their courageous ruling and sports fans across Canada should support them.
[b]NFL hopeful the Trudeau government will overturn CRTC Super Bowl ad ruling[/b]
Bell and the NFL have asked for an order setting aside the CRTC decision, arguing that the regulator has no jurisdiction to prohibit the simultaneous substitution of the Super Bowl ads under its own so-called "sim sub" regulations, and that the ban contravenes the Copyright Act.
The league complained Wednesday that the CRTC has been using legal roadblocks to slow the courts in hearing the case and urged the Trudeau Liberals to step in.
"The CRTC's legal maneuverings each step of the way have only served to delay this process in an apparent attempt to run out the clock and sidestep the challenge," the NFL said in a statement.
"While the NFL continues to preserve its legal rights and press its case in Canadian courts, the League remains confident that the Government of Canada will act reasonably and responsibly before the 2017 Super Bowl to address this arbitrary attempt by the CRTC to disadvantage not only the NFL, but Canadian broadcasters and the Canadian creative community as well."
Why should the CRTC be applauded for kowtowing to a few Canadians who whined that they can't see U.S. commercials during the Super Bowl? Either there should be substitution of commercials/signal on all programs simulcast on both sides of the border, or it should never happen at all. I honestly don't care either way. But to deviate from a long-established policy for ONE PROGRAM ONLY, just because some people complained about being deprived of U.S. commercials, and at considerable financial penalty to the broadcaster that paid lots of money for the rights to the event knowing it could sell commercials to a captive audience? That's an atrocious misuse of regulatory discretion by the CRTC.
I always thought it was a joke that people actually complained that they couldn't get the american superbowl commercials. You can watch all of them online even before the game is on. Plus, almost every sport show and news/talk show the next day has them all.
Can't say I really care either way, but if more money went to canadian leagues and amateur sport in Canada, then I would be good with that.
While I agree, sib-sum or the lack of it should be across the board, this won't go anywhere.
Despite the NFL's popularity, the league has no clout with any public officials up here. Would love to see what kind of impact this will have when Canada's NFL rights come up for renewal. I'm sure if it's upheld, it won't be the end of the world. CTV could always put some virtual adds on the field to make up from commercial revenues lost.
Advertisers looking for a big audience in early February are more likely to move their ads to other big audience 'events' that happen in February - like some of the awards shows that draw millions at the same time of year.
All this silly CRTC ruling is going to do is have the majority of 8 million Canadians watching the Super Bowl get ads for American products and solely American TV shows - instead of advertisements for Canadian products and some Canadian programming that often is featured prominently in ads on CTV's Super Bowl coverage.
They've often used the Super Bowl to help a Canadian program by being the lead in. A couple of years ago I believe they launched the MasterChef Canada series post Super Bowl - and that huge first episode audience gave that Canadian program a great launch that carried over with good ratings for subsequent episodes.
I don't understand how they can do this after Bell already paid for the rights. Now Bell can't sell ads to recoup / make money and the US advertisers get on the air for free in Canada.
If the Super Bowl is no longer televised on Canadian networks, fans will still be able to watch the game on American channels...replete with All-American commercials. Wouldn't that be amazing! This could be a win/win for Canadian sports fans, with the money CTV wastes on paying the NFL rights being redirected to other events shown on Canadian TV.
If advertisers still want to reach a huge audience of football fans, look no further than the Grey Cup which delivers 4 million loyal Canadian viewers each year. The Grey Cup will once again become the most watched sporting event on Canadian TV.
The ban on sim-subs could be extended to all NFL games, freeing up even more money for Canadian sports, then eventually ban all sim-subbing. Canadians will still be able to watch the big American events on American stations, but with Canadian networks instead purchasing TV rights for Canadian programs...not U.S. ones. Advertisers and networks might cry the blues by not having the easy Yankee teat to suck on but this would give a tremendous boost to Canadian programming. :thup:
I'm saying that 2.5M Canadians watched the Super Bowl on CTV last year, according to the TV Bureau of Canada. The remainder watched the game on the American channel probably hoping to watch the American commercials. Once sim-subbing is banned starting in Feb, many of the 2.5M who watched on CTV will likely switch over to the American channel too. That's why Bell/CTV said they will no longer bid for the Super Bowl rights.
So if 7.3M Canadians watched the Super Bowl, 2.5M watched on CTV and 4.8M watched on FOX. CTV claimed the ratings points from both the American and Canadian channels but with sim-subbing now banned, the 4.8M can no longer be claimed as CTV viewers. Numeris does not tabulate ratings for American station's programs which are not being sim-subbed.
Also if Canadian companies still want to advertise on the super bowl, they can still by time slots on the US networks and we will still see them. Current price is $5 million US for 30 seconds. Coors and Bud will just have to pony up, Oh, forgot they are American anyways. If I remember the Canadian Government and the Canadian Armed Forces advertised on the Super Bowl last year. They could purchase 4 minutes each. That's $104 million and I would consider that money well spent. Can't remember seeing them on a Canadian production last year, can you?
I would also think that when this happens, CTV re-evaluates the CFL championship on CTV. I would like to see 8 million watching our game and Canadian Companies supporting something Canadian
Yes, it is a bit draconian to change the laws after mega-corps like Bell have made long-term bids for NFL TV rights thinking the gravy-train would go on forever...paying huge money to sim-sub pre-packaged American programming which is guaranteed to draw an audience (which Canadian advertisers love)...rather than producing their own Canadian content, if only "Canada's Dumbest 5th-Grader".
The $10M revenue Bell might lose this year with the crashing of the Super Bowl ratings (CTV will be lucky to draw 1M viewers this year) is a drop in the bucket when compared to the "NFL Bills in Toronto" loses (-$50M?) , TFC annual loses (- $15M) or the average annual loss of the BJ's (-$50M)...which nobody in the media likes to talk about, only perceived CFL losses and missteps. :roll:
Yep, we need to support Canadian productions on Canadian TV. We already film and produce many of the top American movies and TV series, which receive generous tax credits for filming here. We have the infrastructure developed, now we need some impetus for the creative talent to blossom.
If the Super Bowl ratings drop to 1M on CTV this year (but with 10M "undocumented" viewers watching local FOX stations on cable) does that mean the Grey Cup will once again becomes the biggest annual event on Canadian TV? I believe this could give the ole girl a real shot in the arm...if only to stop CTV (and Rogers before them) crowing about the sim-sub ratings and how the Super Bo is the biggest football game in Canada, blah, blah, blah...but now it's just roadkill. The Indy 500 will become a bigger Canadian event than the Super Bowl, at least it's sim-subbed. :lol:
Some Canadian companies will get around the Super Bowl ad ban by buying regional ads on the U.S. border stations carrying the game. But that will be small potatoes. CTV will have to give enormous refunds to SB advertisers (who signed up expecting 7M viewers), freeing up millions of advertising dollars looking for an audience of sports fans. :thup:
p.s. I agree this could be the impetus needed to get the Grey Cup back on CTV. With no Super Bowl, the network would love another premier event which could draw similar mega-ratings, like the Grey Cup. Could it reach 7M or 8M on CTV/TSN? Perhaps with the mega-promotion the SB receives. For many decades there stood a Parliamentary Order in Canada which required both national networks (CBC & CTV) to televise the Grey Cup, so as to not prohibit any Canadian from being able to watch the big game.
This should have been done 50 years ago. The Asper family made a fortune buying cheap U.S. content and attaching Canadian ads. That would have be fine except they gave nothing back - Train 48 :roll: .
This can only make Canadian content more valuable and I'm all for it.
Having said that, BCE should be able to continue until their current contract with the NFL runs out.
There is no ban.....The CRTC lifted it about 2 years ago and the 2017 Superbowl will be the first game played with no ban. Bell media has won the right to appeal but not a stay of the decision
The NFL could lose "tens of millions" for their SB rights in Canada. Bell/CTV said they wouldn't even bid on future SB's with the ban in place.
I think that should read that they would not bid WITHOUT the ban
CTV drew 2.5M viewers for the 2016 Super Bowl while the majority of the audience watched the broadcast on an American cable channel.
I doubt that because even if you tuned into the American channel, you still get Canadian Commercials. The only way to see them was over-the-air or a grey market dish
The CRTC should be applauded for their courageous ruling and sports fans across Canada should support them.
Sports fans? This has nothing to do with sports, it proves that the NO Fun League is all about the commercials, and the hype
Such hypocrisy from the CRTC...they ban US Netflix but allow US commercials
Who is going to buy those ads? Who would buy regular commercials knowing they wont be seen?
The NFL will now charge more for their ads because of the larger market...CTV should then CHARGE the NFL to show the game here rather than pay for the rights
I thought that too before I worked my way through what they're saying. They are actually talking about the ban on Sim-Subs (or the term I prefer simulcasting.)