2007-02-04

Super Bowl Stupidity: Sleeping at the Switch

Not sure what to make of Canadian broadcasting anymore. Lately, I've come closer to pondering that Canada is not a country but a monopoly. Telecommunications, banking, hydro and liquor in Quebec - to name a few examples - are controlled by a select few unionized workers who basically profit behind the scenes given the lack of scrutiny.

I have a problem with government bodies or unelected people who decide what is best for me. I have an even bigger problem when some gypsy journalist tells me I should be proud of these institutions. There is very little choice here.

We were watching the Super Bowl on CBS. Throughout the game we could not help but notice some glaring problems with telecom in this country. The game was on CBS but we get the Global TV feed and the bad Canadian commercials that come with it. Lucky us. We were treated to Hepititis and Rogers communications ads. At least we were spared nationalist oriented Tim Horton's and Molson beer commercials.

I'm not sure exactly how the telecom market and landscape shapes up in Canada but I do know that the consumer is getting short changed. Here in Quebec the tyrants at Videotron have complete control as to what packages we choose. I remember how they had certain parts of the city of Montreal did not get MuchMusic while the rest of us were forced to watch the French version MusiquePlus.

Anyway, the game ended at 10pm. We waited for the trophy presentation. It was not to be. Someone with a pimple the size of a pineapple on the side of their head - a brilliant parochial producer probably - decided to cut and show Criminal Minds.

Let me see if I get this straight. We watch football for four hours. It's the biggest game of the year - let alone the biggest sporting event around - and these morons screw sports fans right up the you know what by cutting out? We scrambled to find a station that was carrying the game to no avail until we found the French sports network RDS.

Note to sports channels in Canada from RDS to Sportsnet to TSN to CBC: IMPROVE YOUR TICKERS. Cripes, at least recap goals right after they are scored. And not just once. Do it at different intervals. Be creative for crying out loud.

As far as I can tell regarding the cut away it boils down to one of three culprits: Videotron, CTV and that sad excuse for a network called Global (by the way, whoever created the commercial where newscasters sit and recite quotes should permanently lose their jobs. Awful. Especially the idiot who decided to quote Ringo Starr - of all people. A friend who was watching this abomination with me asked perplexed, "Ringo Starr?" To which I answered "He also wanted to live in an Octopus's Garden.") I digress.*

It took the jokers 22 minutes before the realized their idiocy. By then it was too late. The trophy had been presented.

*I was informed that the culprit may (as I suspected) be my cable provider.

2 comments:

  1. _Sounds like it was your cable provider switching automatically at 10pm according to a preset schedule.
    _That didn't happen to me, but Global themselves dropped the game precisely at its end (coincidentially right at 10pm) to immediately air Deal or no Deal Canada. The CBS Buffalo feed then continued - with greatly increased(!) commerical pauses & selfpromo mentions - with the on-field presentations. There was also a Late Late Show (Craig Ferguson) special later on.

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