Government Force CBC to buy US programs

[DichotoMe]

First i'd like to remark on the news bias stigma Cannuck has commented on. Do you really think there is a news source out there that is unbiased, seriously? Every network has a downside, it's subjective. I like the CBC but can't stand CTV's fluff news or Global's doomsday news, I find CBC to be a good middle ground. Also, the quality of most shows on these other networks aren't great either. No other network gives voice to the Canadian people like CBC. I think it may be the fact that Cannuck just doesn't like what the majority of people in Canada are thinking.

The quality of the majority of movies and TV shows is quite poor. Some may have a slightly better production value but the writing is usually garbage, especially when it comes to sitcoms. The only shows that are worth watching on TV, from a quality perspective, are the specialty channels such as HBO, Showcase, etc. CBC television is actually decent in comparison to the yankee crap, shows such as The Hour, Hockey Night in Canada, Marketplace and Doczone all exemplify canadian quality programming.

The difference here is that most CBC programming, aside from the few sitcoms and children's programming it runs, is targeted for a thoughtful intelligent audience. It's too bad that most Canadians' have been brainwashed by being force fed yankee tripe that they can't see the value in this aspect of their nationality. So, now we're stuck with American Idle, Survivor and other such over saturated neanderthal distraction! Is there no escape from the stink of mediocrity that is TV, it needs to be rebranded or it should die. I say we ditch the medium altogether, with the advent of online streaming video TV will become an antiquated media outlet anyway.

Lets get ahead of the game in Canada, turn off your idiot box and read a book (or eBook)!

 

[EagleSmack]

First i'd like to remark on the news bias stigma Cannuck has commented on. Do you really think there is a news source out there that is unbiased, seriously? Every network has a downside, it's subjective. I like the CBC but can't stand CTV's fluff news or Global's doomsday news, I find CBC to be a good middle ground. Also, the quality of most shows on these other networks aren't great either. No other network gives voice to the Canadian people like CBC. I think it may be the fact that Cannuck just doesn't like what the majority of people in Canada are thinking.

The quality of the majority of movies and TV shows is quite poor. Some may have a slightly better production value but the writing is usually garbage, especially when it comes to sitcoms. The only shows that are worth watching on TV, from a quality perspective, are the specialty channels such as HBO, Showcase, etc. CBC television is actually decent in comparison to the yankee crap, shows such as The Hour, Hockey Night in Canada, Marketplace and Doczone all exemplify canadian quality programming.

The difference here is that most CBC programming, aside from the few sitcoms and children's programming it runs, is targeted for a thoughtful intelligent audience. It's too bad that most Canadians' have been brainwashed by being force fed yankee tripe that they can't see the value in this aspect of their nationality. So, now we're stuck with American Idle, Survivor and other such over saturated neanderthal distraction! Is there no escape from the stink of mediocrity that is TV, it needs to be rebranded or it should die. I say we ditch the medium altogether, with the advent of online streaming video TV will become an antiquated media outlet anyway.

Lets get ahead of the game in Canada, turn off your idiot box and read a book (or eBook)!

Poor Dichto...

Nobody's being force fed... Americans just have better programs and Canadians are watching them. Oh well.

LOL... Online streaming video is going to replace TV... yeah get ahead of that curve.

 

[MHz]

LOL... Online streaming video is going to replace TV... yeah get ahead of that curve.

Maybe CBC can become an underground channel on the innernet.

 

[RanchHand]

Yeah Dicho. America has nothing that can compare to Hockey Night in Canada.

"The difference here is that most CBC programming, aside from the few sitcoms and children's programming it runs, is targeted for a thoughtful intelligent audience"

It's comments like this that make this board a treasure trove. Here's a viewing tip.
Take your eyes off Paris Hilton for a while and watch the National Geographic Channel or Discovery or History Channel or PBS. Do any of these shows on PBS compare to the thinking man's favorite, Hockey Night in Canada?

PBS AWARDS
PBS is a consistent leader in television’s most prestigious competitions. Some of the major awards PBS received in the 2007-2008 awards year include:

10 Daytime Emmys (35th Annual), putting PBS atop all broadcast and cable networks for children’s programming for the 11th consecutive year. SESAME STREET won the Emmy for Outstanding Pre-School Series for the 14th time, winning it every year since the category was created. SESAME STREET has now won a total of 118 Emmys, more than any other program in the history of the Emmy competition. PBS received a total of 44 Daytime nominations.

10 Primetime Emmys Nominations (60th Annual), winning three awards for THE WAR, two for MASTERPIECE “Cranford” and awards for Outstanding Nonfiction Series for AMERICAN MASTERS and Outstanding Special Class (GREAT PERFORMANCES “Eric Clapton Crossroads Guitar Festival Chicago” and LIVE FROM LINCOLN CENTER “New York City Opera: Madama Butterfly"),”. PBS received a total of 33 Primetime nominations in 2008, more than Bravo, A&E, Discovery, History and Biography combined.

10 News & Documentary Emmys (29th Annual), more than twice as many awards as any broadcast or cable channel, and equaling or topping all competitors for the eighth time in eight years. Ken Burns was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award. PBS received a total of 39 nominations.

2 Emmys for Business and Financial Reporting (6th Annual). In 2008, PBS recieved four nominations; NOW ON PBS won two Emmys.

8 George Foster Peabody Awards (67th Annual), for ART IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY, CRAFT IN AMERICA, DESIGN SQUAD, FRONTLINE “Cheney’s Law,” INDEPENDENT LENS “Billy Strayhorn: Lush Life” and “Sisters in Law,” NATURE “Silence of the Bees” and NOVA “Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial.”

2 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards (2008) for THROUGH DEAF EYES and “JIHAD: The Men and Ideas Behind Al Qaeda,” which aired as part of AMERICA AT A CROSSROADS.

1 Golden Globe Nomination (65th Annual), for MASTERPIECE “Jane Eyre.”

1 Academy Award (80th Annual), for GREAT PERFORMANCES “Peter & the Wolf” in the category of Best Animated Short Film. PBS also received a nomination for Best Documentary Feature for “Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience,” which aired as part of AMERICA AT A CROSSROADS.

1 NAACP Image Award (39th Annual), for TAVIS SMILEY “Crisis in Darfur.” This was the fourth year in a row TAVIS SMILEY took home an award.

1 ALMA Award (2008), for AMERICAN EXPERIENCE “Roberto Clemente” in the Outstanding Made-for-Television Documentary category. PBS received five nominations.

1 Imagen Award (23rd Annual), for BROWN IS THE NEW GREEN in the Best Documentary for Television category. PBS received five nominations.

2 Writers Guild of America Awards (60th Annual), for FRONTLINE “Return of the Taliban” and INDEPENDENT LENS “Billy Strayhorn: Lush Life.” PBS received 11 nominations.

14 Parent’s Choice Awards for Television (2008), including gold awards for THE SUPREME COURT and WORDWORLD.

11 Parents’ Choice Awards for Websites (2008), including a gold award for DESIGN SQUAD.

2 Webby Awards (12th Annual). FRONTLINE/World received 2 People’s Voice Awards in the Online Film & Video category. PBS received six nominations.

January 2009

 

[EagleSmack]

Yeah Dicho. America has nothing that can compare to Hockey Night in Canada.

:sign5:

"The difference here is that most CBC programming, aside from the few sitcoms and children's programming it runs, is targeted for a thoughtful intelligent audience"

It's comments like this that make this board a treasure trove. Here's a viewing tip.
Take your eyes off Paris Hilton for a while and watch the National Geographic Channel or Discovery or History Channel or PBS. Do any of these shows on PBS compare to the thinking man's favorite, Hockey Night in Canada?

Don't forget to tell your friends!

But this is a great board all around. Don't take some of these guys too serious. There are some real good folks around this forum, that is why I love it so much. Even some of the ones you may disagree with are decent people.

 

[darkbeaver]

Would you like some cheese to go with that INCESSANT whine?

Canadian cheddar only please.

 

[RanchHand]

:sign5:



Don't forget to tell your friends!

But this is a great board all around. Don't take some of these guys too serious. There are some real good folks around this forum, that is why I love it so much. Even some of the ones you may disagree with are decent people.

Well, you've certainly been around longer than me but I don''t see it. To me, it's like I'm hunting on a game farm. I think Americans would get a fairer shake in Red China than here. It's quite an eye opener.

 

[EagleSmack]

The early days of me being here... I was a gun slinger. The Mods were different and I was getting threatened quite a bit. I was maybe one of three ACTIVE Americans. I've even saved the PMs from some people. There was not much room for opposing views and anti-America talk was even worse if you can believe it or not.

I'm not telling you to stop posting... I could use the help at times! Safety in numbers.

 

[Albertabound]

Americans just have better programs and Canadians are watching them.

Oh Great....... John and Kate plus eight........yah...Americans make some gooood television don't they !!!

 

[EagleSmack]

Oh Great....... John and Kate plus eight........yah...Americans make some gooood television don't they !!!

Oh we make some doosies too!

But Canada keeps watching the good ones don't they or else this thread wouldn't be here now would it? :smile:

 

[Machjo]

I barely watch TV, so how does this spending on the CBC benefit me anyway?
Yeah, chop it, except perhaps for its educational projects assisting schools especially up north. But as for the entertainment side of it, yeah, just chop it.

 

[Machjo]

That is exactly why I find friends of the CBC hilarious. To begin with, CBC doesn't make anything of quality. The only good shows on it are produced by private corporations such as Salter Street films. Secondly, with over 100 channels available now, there is lots of quality programs on the tube and we no longer need taxpayers dollars to get it.

To be fair to the CBC, it is one of the stations I do watch when I do watch TV. But I just don't watch TV enough to make it worth the money.

 

[Machjo]

Here's a true story that well exemplifies the problem with many Canadian TV viewers:

I was talking with one lady about ten years ago, and we were discussing legislated Canadian content quotas for TV and radio. My take was that we should let the networks decide what they want to include as long as it meets whatever legal standards we expect, but not Canadian content necessarily. She argued that we needed Canadian content quotas to protect Canadian culture. As we continued talking, she soon realized that in spite of our views on the subject, she was watching a hell of a lot more US programming than I was! And that's when she acquiesced with embarrassement that in the end, no matter how much legislation government passes, if the very proponents of Canadian Content insist on watching US programming, then all the laws in the world will donothing to stop it. In fact, my guess is that those Canadians who panic about American content in Canadian programming are doing so precisely because they have chosen to expose themselves much more to it than those of us who haven't. As a result, we're not as concerned about Canadian content because we know where to find it if we want it anyway, with or without legal quotas. In the end, it's up to the individual to make his choices and stop being pampered.

That said, some US programming is of high quality, informative and educational, and should have the same right as any Canadian programming to be presented on Canadian TV.

 

[L Gilbert]

I don't care what tv is, American or Canadian. We watch very little tv because out of the 100+ channels available, pitifully few have anything WORTH watching. I think of all the channels we have, we probably watch BBC programming more than anything else except NatGeo. Corner Gas is ok sometimes, but mostly redundant as are other sit-"coms". We watch Suzuki's show sometimes. Good thing there is PPV, DVDs, and the like.

 

[Cannuck]

I think it may be the fact that Cannuck just doesn't like what the majority of people in Canada are thinking.

I think you have that completely bass ackwards. I think it is the friends of CBC that don't like what the majority of people in Canada think. If the majority of people liked what the CBC was doing, their advertising revenue would be substantially higher and they could do without the millions of taxpayers dollars. We need to subsidize them precisely because the majority of Canadians aren't interested in what they're selling. As has been pointed out, there is lots of good quality programming elsewhere.

 

[Cannuck]

List of Canadian comedians - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

How did Mike Bullard make that list?

 

[L Gilbert]

Rick Mercer is pretty good sometimes. I thought Mike Bullard sucked.

 

[lone wolf]

It's the advertiser who pays the bills. They want their pitches heard by as many ears as have money to buy the latest "must have" garbage. Don Messer reruns might not be drawing the crowds that they used to....

Gilligan's Island still sells....

 

[Trex]

I was watching the CBC evening news with Dianne Swain and she said that because of the economic downturn the media outlets are suffering and in the news clip I learned that CTV is closing down two TV stations in southern Ontario and trying to sell another one.

Global or Canwest has put the short-lived E-Channel up for sale.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation or the CBC paid for by the Canadian taxpayer will be showing more cheap American made TV shows.

Harper’s American boot licking Conservatives still don’t get it America is our neighbor America is not our nation.

CBC was started early because of complaints that TV was not available in all areas so the Government of the day set up the network and provided top quality Canadian programming.

Over the years other networks came onto the Canadian landscape to the more lucrative markets and offered more American programming but CBC stuck with their Canadian made quality programming.

Now because of the economic turmoil advertising revenues are down, our Conservative government is ready to shut down Canada’s entertainment industry just like the Diefenbaker’s Conservatives shut down the Avro Arrow the Canadian made fighter jet program just to appease the Americans.

During the past federal election Stephen Harper did say that the Canadian entertainment is not worth assisting because all they do is go to gala’s and get drunk which cost him the majority so I have to presume that this is his way to pay them back.

CBC should continue to produce Canadian made shows.

The Conservative appointed president of the CBC said that the American made TV programs will be a lead into Canadian made programs which no one really believes judging from the grim faces of the CBC reporters that was sprinkled through the crowd of employees listening to the message they didn’t believe it.

CBC is all about our engilsh and french Canadian culture and it is worthwhile to save it.

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The above quote and thread starter "government force CBC to buy American programming is misleading and false.

As much as some people would like to blame every possible negative event and incident on the government of the day, the reality is...it just isn't always the Conservative Government 's fault.

The CBC is a taxpayer funded media conglomerate that does not really qualify as "public television" because it also sells advertising space and tries to make money. Thus it directly competes with private media for scarce advertising dollars.

The taxpayer kicked in around $800 million in 2004 and the cost is increasing exponentially.
For that we get what a lot of Canadians think is OK news and fairly mediocre entertainment programming.
All programming shown both manufactured in house and purchased is the sole decision of CBC management.

The Conservative Government has absolutely nothing to do with CBC programming choices and nor does it have anything to to do with their advertising decisions.
All it does is give them around $1 billion taxpayer dollars every year.

The reason that CBC shows American programs is that the CBC management has decided it has to.
Polling and market studies show that most of the Canadian programming is unpopular when compared to American programming.
In response the CBC management buys and shows American made programs to increase and/or maintain market share.
Ever notice that there are more commercial breaks in the American programs showing on CBC?
There are, and CBC is just trying to extract more valuable commercial slots.
Ever notice that the CBC itself advertises its crappy "made in Canada" programming during commercial slots in American shows?
They do, and CBC is in effect advertising itself at taxpayer expense during periods of known high viewer ship.

The Fed Con's have absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with any of this.

In fact the really funny thing is that the CBC is highly biased to the left wing and works as hard as it possibly can to unseat and destabilize the current Conservative government.
The CBC is media wing of the centrist, nanny state, "natural ruling party" agenda.
It must truly stick in Harpers craw to cut that $1 billion dollar check every year.

Which bring us to the recession.
Advertising revenues are plummeting.
Which means the media organizations are getting their income chopped.
All media organizations are cutting cost and laying off staff to try and stay above water.

But the good old CBC thinks that it is immune to the day to day woes of the economy.
They honestly believe that the Federal Government should just give them 100's of millions MORE funding so that they can sail far above the rocky shoals of day to day business.
At taxpayer expense.
Right.
Sure thing.

And the killer is, some people actually buy into it.
Drink the CBC Koolaide so to speak.
And then actually complain that the government isn't doing enough for the CBC.

The CBC should be chopped in half.
Far north radio and TV maintained.
News and current affairs maintained.
Junk the rest.

Documentaries, specials and Canadian made programming should be funded independently of the CBC at the Governments discretion.

Trex

 

[DichotoMe]

Its funny how things get twisted. In reference to HNIC being thoughtful and intelligent, lol, thats not what i meant. I was using that as a example of good quality broadcasting, in comparison to something like TSN or NBC broadcasts of a hockey game. Granted i could have been more clear on some of my points. That will teach me to rush it.

I didn't mean to be offensive to americans. Everyone goes to LA to make it but 90% of the material that leaves Hollywood is not very good. Whether written by Canadians or yankees.