Post Tagged with: "ctv"

Super Bowl LIVE LI by Texas.713 (CC BY-NC 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/QwnUco

The Future of Simsub Post-Super Bowl: Why Canadian Viewership Data Vindicated the CRTC

The release of the television ratings for the Super Bowl unsurprisingly sparked a wave of reports yesterday blaming the CRTC for a decline of viewers at CTV.  The Hollywood Reporter claimed there was a ratings collapse, the National Post talked about a 39 percent drop, and Cartt.ca argued that the CRTC had failed Cancon with its decision. While CTV’s numbers may have dropped by 39 percent from the 2016 Super Bowl, that number on its own means as much as saying that Tom Brady’s quarterback rating dropped from his last Super Bowl appearance (it did).

When assessing the impact of the CRTC’s simultaneous substitution decision that opened the door to competing U.S. and Canadian feeds for the game (but not for the pre and post-game broadcasts), the far more important number is the Canadian audience for the U.S. feed. It tells the story of how many switched away from CTV to the newly available alternative. Although Bell indicated that this data is not available, that does not appear to be accurate. The Globe and Mail reports today that some Fox stations are measured in Canada, but that Numeris did not provide it with the numbers.

However, Richard Deitsch, the lead media reporter for Sports Illustrated, tweeted on Monday that the CTV feed drew 4.5 million viewers, while the U.S. Fox viewed garnered 803,000 in Canada. Deitsch’s source for the report was Sportnet’s John Shannon, a longstanding sports television producer, who discussed the issue on the Prime Time Sports program on Monday afternoon. The Fox number may involve some guesswork given that Numeris does not track all Fox affiliates in Canada, but I am reliably advised that its data showed low numbers for some U.S. affiliates, including the Buffalo Fox affiliate feed [update 2/9: new reports indicate that the Buffalo number may be in error, suggesting a higher number of Fox viewers in Canada that reported by Shannon/Deitsch. CTV still retained a majority of the Canadian audience].

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February 8, 2017 13 comments News
Brian by Mark Bray (CC BY 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/4uyq2M

Bell’s Crull Banned CRTC Chair Blais From CTV News Coverage Following TalkTV Decision

The Globe and Mail’s James Bradshaw reports that Bell Media President Kevin Crull banned CTV media properties from including CRTC Chair Jean Pierre Blais in coverage of the recent TalkTV decisions. The report indicates that Crull ordered the head of CTV News to stop including Blais in coverage following an interview on BNN, which led to the cancellation of an interview with Don Martin and dropping him from local news stories (he was included in the national newscast as Robert Fife defied the order). Bell Media has still not publicly commented on the pick-and-pay decision. Crull is the same Bell executive who earlier this month called for the blocking of U.S. channels and for new measures to make it more difficult for Canadians to access U.S. Netflix.

I would say the story is shocking, but this is not the first time of reports that Crull has meddled in news coverage related to his company. In August 2013, Dwayne Winseck reported that Crull intervened on coverage of the wireless sector when Verizon was considering entry into the Canadian market. Winseck posted emails from Crull to news executives throughout CBC urging certain coverage of a wireless report throughout Bell Media’s television and radio stations. I wrote about Winseck’s story here.

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March 25, 2015 11 comments News

What a Difference a Year Makes: Bell on Local Television Channels

Last year, when Bell’s purchase of CTV was undergoing regulatory approval, the company went out of its way to emphasize its support for the struggling local channels it was acquiring as part of the deal. At a CRTC hearing on the issue in February 2011, company officials stated: the ‘A’ […]

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April 17, 2012 6 comments News

Creator Groups Trade Short Term Gain for Long Term Pain in Bell – CTV Merger Review

This week the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission will hold hearings on Canada’s biggest media and communications merger – BCE Inc. and CTVglobemedia Inc.  The merger will combine the country’s biggest telecom provider, private broadcaster, Internet provider, and second largest wireless provider into a single powerhouse.  

My weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) notes that the implications are enormous, yet in stark contrast to a similar recent merger in the United States between cable giant Comcast and broadcaster NBCU, the competition concerns will take a back seat to the “benefits package” that BCE must pay to the Canadian cultural community.

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January 31, 2011 6 comments Columns

Creator Groups Trade Short Term Gain for Long Term Pain on BCE-CTV Merger

Appeared in the Toronto Star on January 30, 2011 as Monster Merger Threatens New Uses of Web This week the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission will hold hearings on Canada’s biggest media and communications merger – BCE Inc. and CTVglobemedia Inc.  The merger will combine the country’s biggest telecom provider, […]

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January 31, 2011 Comments are Disabled Columns Archive