TORONTO – The topic of simultaneous substitution always comes up a lot at this time of year, in the same breath as the Super Bowl and its nifty new ads.
While the average Canadian sports fan may be celebrating the CRTC’s decision Thursday to prohibit the controversial requirement in Super Bowl games starting in 2017, Bell Media, the Canadian rightsholder of the big game that airs nationally on its CTV network, told Cartt.ca that it was “extremely disappointed” with the ruling.
“The government is damaging the future of local television in Canada while rewarding U.S. corporations over home-grown companies”, said Bell Media’s VP Communications Scott Henderson. “Sure viewers will get to watch Wells Fargo ads in the Super Bowl instead of RBC, or Target and Walmart instead of Canadian Tire. But those advertising dollars will go directly to American companies instead of Canadian content creators and broadcasters. Canadian companies will also have a diminished opportunity to market their products to Canadians watching U.S. ads for products they probably can’t buy. It’s a troubling approach for a Canadian regulator to take.”
CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais said that simsub overall is here to stay, at least for the foreseeable future, and estimated its revenue impact in the 2012-2013 broadcast year as $250 million.
Acknowledging Canadians’ ongoing frustration with the practice, and particularly the frequency of mistakes made during the process, especially with sports, BRP CRTC 2015-25 sets out “meaningful consequences” should broadcasters and distributors make recurring, substantial simultaneous substitution errors. New regulations, set to be fleshed out later this year, could see local television broadcasters lose the privilege to request simultaneous substitution for a period of time or with respect to a type or types of programming. If the errors are made by a TV distributor, that company will have to provide a “compensatory rebate to its customers through a specific monetary amount”.
Rogers’ spokesperson Patricia Trott told Cartt.ca that Rogers is pleased that simultaneous substitution is here to stay, and added that the company is currently participating in a new industry working group on the practice.
“Despite already having a very low error rate (less than one percent), we’re committed to working through any issues and ensuring customers see the content they want without interruptions”, she said in an emailed response.
With live sports events arguably amongst the most popular content on Canadian television, Bell Media said that they also require the most planning and quality control, in all aspects of production. In a document entitled ‘CTV Practices and Procedures for NFL Broadcasts’, the broadcaster detailed how it meticulously matches its commercials and promotions with the U.S. commercial breaks, but cuts them shorter so as not to interfere with any of the in-game, programming content. It also developed program promos specifically for its NFL broadcasts that use only music and program visuals, rather than script or spoken word description, to fill any extra time in each break.
“The promos effectively bridge any slight time differences between the US and Canadian commercial breaks, and they allow us to make in-game, broadcast adjustments, with as little viewer disruption as possible, if any”, reads the document. “We recognize that not every viewer is in favour of these types of promotions. We also know that they can appear to end abruptly, as the CTV broadcast has to quickly, in real time, align the end of the Canadian commercial break with that from the US signal. But… we do think this method is the most effective and consumer-friendly way to make that happen.”
Bell Media declined to comment specifically on Blais’ suggestion that it consider waiving simultaneous substitution for the 2016 Super Bowl.
