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Daren in Brief - DIE BROADCASTERS DIE IV
by Daren Foster

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Daren in Brief
Die Broadcasters, Die IV

by Daren Foster

It seems that during the first day of the latest CRTC hearings Canadian network, CTV, threatened to pull its programming from cable and satellite providers if the fee-for-carriage extortion racket wasn’t given the green light. Cue the sound of a 2 year old temper tantrum. Wailing and stamping of feet.

Bring it on, I thought. As I have said before here and here and here, it will be like the proverbial tree falling in the forest with no one around to hear. Did it actually fall? Aside from a dwindling number of Depends-wearing Lloyd Robertson acolytes and hardcore anti-computing Luddites who still get their local news from TV (yeah, really), no one will notice if the likes of CTV or Canwest Global pull their programming. (Fingers crossed that it’s a snit that continues right through February 2010, depriving us of the pleasure of ignoring the already oppressively ubiquitous winter Olympics coverage.)

It is situation not lost on CTV. An empty threat even in their eyes, they then had the temerity to demand the CRTC prohibit cable and satellite providers from airing American programming while the Canadian boycott is in place. Yeah. Really.

So dependent are our private broadcasters on the American product they import and the legalized piracy of the airwaves they’ve been granted that they can’t even pull off a proper hissy fit without demanding further government assistance to trample over the rights of consumers. It would all be so pathetic if there wasn’t even a remotest chance that they might be listened to. But the CRTC seems to still be operating under the baffling premise that our private broadcasting industry is vital to our cultural well-being. It isn’t. Their bluff should be called. Pull their programming. See if anybody notices.

Sing a long with me if you’ve heard this before: Die Broadcasters, Die!