The annual Stupor Super Bowl is almost upon us. The commercials that run during the broadcast have become an actual thing; the teevee show is known almost as much for those, as for the game itself. But some of us aren't allowed to watch the commercials, no, no, no!
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This year's top finger food snack for the big game is a big platter of orange croissants. Help yourself and come on in.
Many of you who read this space on a regular basis will know that I am Canadian. Although I did live in the United States for a few years, a decade or so ago, I am now located back in my home and native land, as our national anthem goes.
The horror I report to you all tonight is that, here in Canada, we are prevented from watching the Stupor (I promised myself I'd stop doing that) Super Bowl commercials.
You see, we have this government entity known as the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). It's kind of like the American FCC, in that both agencies are in charge of regulating aspects of what we see on our teevee. As it happens, we get a lot of American teevee programming. We get hundreds of channels from south of the border. And if that's not enough, Canadian networks and stations buy programs from the U.S. Everything from The Big Bang Theory to, yes, the Super Bowl.
Since 1972 the CRTC has had a policy known as simultaneous substitution. This policy defines what happens when a Canadian network or station is broadcasting the same show as an available U.S. station, simultaneously. The Canadian station can force (the official word is "request") carriers such as cable and satellite providers to overlay their signal over the American station. Presumably, if the programming is identical, there is no loss to viewers.
What this is really all about, is that the rule forces the audience to receive Canadian commercials, instead of American ones. I might have my teevee system tuned to an American channel, but I'm actually watching a Canadian channel when they are both showing the same program at the same time.
If not for this policy, Canadian channels would (and did) suffer reduced revenues from advertising, as many viewers would choose to tune into American channels.
Of course, when you're fiddling about with overlaying one signal on top of another, there's plenty of opportunity for things to go wrong. In the early years, I personally experienced many simultaneous substitution errors, and I'm not alone. There were often errors when live events (football, awards shows, etc.) ran long. Cable systems sometimes had the overlays hitched to a timer which would swap signals around at a designated time. In the middle of a program, when the expected time was up, you might suddenly find yourself watching something else, and powerless to do anything about it. It's actually gotten better in recent years as cable and satellite providers have actual people in control rooms watching for this sort of thing and reacting appropriately.
And really what does it matter? Why watch American commercials for products that might not be available here, or promo spots for shows that might not be carried on a Canadian channel at all. Support your local businesses by watching their local commercials, not something from hundreds of miles away. Fred's used car dealership across town might appreciate your attention, but John's used car dealership in another country and far away isn't going to get your business.
And that brings us to the Super Bowl. I don't need to tell you that Super Bowl commercials have become a thing all on their own. But they haven't been viewable in Canada. Well, some of them have. Some advertisers work on both sides of the border and buy time on both American and Canadian networks, to run the same spots. But many don't, and the most famous of the commercials produced especially for the Super Bowl at great expense, don't get seen up here. The CRTC rules see to that.
And the complaints. Oh, the complaints. This very diary seems like a long complaint. Sort of, I suppose, though I don't take it all as seriously as these words might suggest.
In the specific case of the Super Bowl commercials, it's not as if they can't be seen at all. They are everywhere: on YouTube, on company websites, and increasingly on news channels. One way for an advertiser to gain notoriety is to publicly pull a scheduled Super Bowl ad just before the big day. (GoDaddy, this means you). Now maybe they don't create controversy deliberately, though one might be forgiven for wondering. But you can no longer escape the GoDaddy ad, because every news outlet is reporting (and showing) a commercial that won't actually be broadcast during the game. They say there's no such thing as bad publicity. And free publicity: priceless.
But things are about to change. I first caught word of the change today while driving. A local radio news station breathlessly reported that we in Canada will be able to watch Super Bowl commercials next year. Well, they got it partly right.
What the CRTC announced today is that, starting with the 2016 football season, Canadian stations will be banned from substituting Canadian ads over American ones for the Super Bowl. Depending on which news outlet you read, the new rule may or may not prevent the substitution of the entire program feed, only the commercials. And it's only for the Super Bowl, and only for the 2016 season, which therefore means the Super Bowl in 2017. (Got that?) Other shows would not be affected, or in other words the new rule for simultaneous substitution seems to apply specifically to one program.
And apparently, there will be penalties for fucking up:
Starting in the 2016 football season (so the 2017 Super Bowl), simultaneous substitutions will be banned. It’s the only time during the year when broadcasters will not be allowed to request simultaneous substitution.
Furthermore, Blais said, the CRTC will adopt a “zero-tolerance approach to substantial mistakes.”
If the final touchdown gets cut off because the game ran long and the signal switches to commercial break too soon, broadcasters or distributors could be held responsible and forced to offer their customers a rebate.
So much fuss over ... advertising.