Why the hell are we forced to watch things we don't want to?

[gnuman]

You know this honestly makes sick to my stomach that I am being forced fed news about the war on ALL the stations I pick up with my antenna. Well I don't care about the french stations because I don't watch french TV.

It comes to my mind and says what if I was paying for cable/satellite and the only thing I get to see is what they are making me watch? This is not democratic at all, this in fact should be illegal!

If I pay for what I want to watch and miss it on the account of the news on the war who are the real winners? I'm not getting what I paid for but yet the companies are still getting paid whether they turn all of their cable or satellite stations into 24 hour news then screw you! Why the heck should I pay?

If I wanted to watch for example Blue Murder on TV what do I get? NEWS! and 10 other stations of more NEWS!

This is anti-democratic, hey why not take the commericals off and put news flashes and let me watch my darn program? CTV, Global, TVA, TQS and ABC are all doing this. I'm sure Rogers/Videotron/Bell and StarChoice are making you pay for crap on tv and don't give a crap about people's choices.

I'm not saying being formed is a bad thing but 24 hours a day where you can't watch the shows you paid for to watch? Please give me a break. I am pretty sure I'm not the only one angry about this and WE THE PEOPLE should be heard. If you wanted 24 hours of news there's CNN which is offered by Bell , starchoice and what other service providers are out there in Canada.

This makes me sick. We shouldn't pay our providers for services we don't get.

Thank you

 

[Bob Carrick]

Why not just turn off the TV then. No one is forcing you.

 

[gnuman]

Well I do want to watch TV the shows that would be regularly scheduled. There is CNN for news, but to air news 24 hours on stations that were meant for showing TV programs and other shows of the like is just wrong.

What else is there to do? Listen to the radio? That's just pure coverage of the Gulf War 2. There isn't much left.

We are the people who keep pay those guys their salaries, and put up with their commericals which bring us the program and well you know the rest. But hogging up all the airtime on different stations with a different reporter is just absurd. They are reporting the same thing anywho, and are probably 10 feet away from the next network anchor.

Atleast put it on one or two stations the most, thats what CNN is for 24 hour news, or the canadian version CTVnet for all the coverage.

 

[Bob Carrick]

Actually no, we in no way pay their salaries. Taxes do not pay for TV, advertising is what pays for shows. So we in no way pay the people that put on TV shows. Quit your whining and turn it off if you don't like it no one is forcing you to watch it.

 

[Cyberm4n]

Yeah!

 

[Cyberm4n]

hey man, i like the cbc, i dont watch the cnn. some like the ctv, some like nbc.

so what? they fight over ratings.


go pay for digital cable or something so you have movie channels

 

[gnuman]

Its not the point. For a country who was against the war sure covers the war a lot in the meantime.

Heck I'd be mad if I was paying $50+/mth and not be able to watch what I want.

Ok I do agree people might want to hear what's going on in Iraq, but think of it this way, the majority of the time its the same thing over and over again.

Oh the troops are 150Km away, while missles are going on in the background. But 24 hours of this stuff is just plain stupid. It should be on and off not continuous.

If its for ratings wouldn't it be good to have commerical breaks in between to make huge revenue streams from the coverage and people tuning in? I would certainly think it would.

Last time I checked CTV isn't doing that much coverage just that their timeslots are screwy, and I am happy that Global isn't doing 24hr coverage of it, so I could laugh at the shows and I watch and not hear about this stuff all day long.

 

[Anonymous]

Just a little more analytical side to this...

When you pay for television you enter into a contract with the provider of that television. They agree to provide you with X (images on the TV to be generic) and you pay them Y (let's say $20/mo). In the event of a breach of contract the burden of ACTION is placed on the offended party.

So if you watch TV and they put some news on in the middle of you "Canadian Survivor, eh?" then you need to take some form of action. Possible actions are calling your provider and filing a formal complaint and seeing if they have any "filter" programing, cancel your subscription, write the next work and tell them you want your show and not the news, or rant on a forums board and hope someone with some influence on what images come to your TV walks in and sees the injustice of it all.

Some resolutions are better then others. Take your pick I guess.
W-K

PS: And advertisements make up the MAJORITY of television revenue be it basic, cable, or dish. When a provider has no commericals then you're paying for the service itself.
But please, if Canada socialized Television that would just be cool! If America did it it would solve 80% of our political problems.

 

[Anonymous]

Re: Why the hell are we forced to watch things we don't want

I agree with Gnuman. And what about mandatory Canadian content. We all know that 90% of canadian shows suck. If we had better shows it wouldn't be so bad but most of the time you can tell a show is Canadian just by how it is filmed. I say give the people what they want. If it is American style of filming then do that or at least give us the right to choose to have that aired.

 

[felixq78]

Re: Why the hell are we forced to watch things we don't want

No one is forcing us to do anything.
If you're unhappy with the programmes provided you go to another cable company, watch free to air stations or simply switch off.
Television isn't the only means by which we obtain the truth about world events.
There are many other platforms such as the one we're on now.

 

[MapleLeafMerc]

We ARE forced to pay for things like the CBC, and those of us who like television and want cable or satellite are also forced to buy packages that include channels we will never watch, thanks to the CRTC.

It is (way past) time for the CRTC to go away. We do not need a Big Brother telling us what we may receive. Bell, Rogers, Star Choice, etc. all have to play the CRTC's game. And unless you have a 100 foot dish or antenna, free to air is not a solution.

 

[Vincent_2002]

We are not forced to watch anything. We can watch what we want I have no cable just antenna, i like american idol and thats all i watch. its all i want to watch. so what is your arguement?

 

[Shmad]

Re: Why the hell are we forced to watch things we don't want

Well this has really no basis at all.. how many TV stations you get? 1? I get 100+, thats with the crappy level I purchased.. Its my own damn fault if Im too friggin lazy to get off my ass and grab the remote to change the channel...

so do just that.. change the channel, watch a dvd or shut the tv off and go outside.. that bright burning thing in the sky is good for you