I no longer want 'free' TV. I think what's pawned off as free simply costs too much. It's essentially worthless but it costs me too much and it costs my society far too much.
If there's something on CBC, CTV or Global that I really want to see, let me pay for it. If there isn't, let them find someone else to buy it.
I don't watch much Canadian network television or, for that matter, the American nets either. That's because most of the shows they offer are drivel or simply re-runs of some quality HBO series that I saw at least twice on pay TV a year or two earlier. The last thing I need to see on Canadian TV channels is crap American reality show programming - American Idol, Survivor, Bridezilla, So You Think You Can Dance, Big Brother... the list goes on.
There are some shows, such as The Fifth Estate, that I do watch but I'll happily pay for those.
Canadian television news isn't bad, it's awful. It's misleading, it's biased, it's inaccurate, it's incomplete - utter crap and, sadly, that goes for CBC too. I didn't come to this opinion recently. The crushing truth of this came to me more than 35-years back when I "moved up" from a radio newsroom to a CBC television newsroom. That's when I learned the brutal reality of "infoTainment" news. Shit, garbage, crap, nonsense. If news to you means actual information, you're going to have to work for it, you're going to have to read it. If you want to look at pictures, get a comic book - that's far more reliable and honest.
Canadian network TV doesn't even put out good porn. Compared to what's on the internet who wants to watch a clapped out, hack reporter blow the prime minister for a senate seat?
Most of the programming I do watch I already pay for anyway. The History Channel, Documentary Channel, Discovery Channel, movie channels, PBS, BBC, that sort of thing. My TV world begins around channel 24 and I rarely delve below that. If I do want to go into the broadcasting bargain basement I'll happily pay for access when and as.
Here's the kicker. Imagine a world in which CBC, CTV and Global actually had to produce programming good enough that people would willingly subscribe to it. Do you think those networks would remotely resemble what they look like today? Of course not because then they'd be in a different business altogether. They'd be in the business of delivering something you actually wanted to buy. They would have to ditch every piece of crap that people now watch because it's there, it's free and "there's nothing on TV" anyway. Why should we have to put up with a menu where the main ingredient in every dish is crap just because they get a special deal on crap from the American networks?
In case you're wondering, this current rant is fueled by the war now underway between Canadian broadcasters and the Canadian cable industry over filching an extra $10 a month from cable subscribers to make it more lucrative than ever for Canadian networks to spoonfeed us crap American reality shows. If they can't hawk that shit free, they've got a damned nerve coming to me with their hands out. Americans don't have to pay for their crap, they get it free. Why should Canadians have to pay a premium so Canadian broadcasters can give them the very same crap? I just don't get it.
If there's something on CBC, CTV or Global that I really want to see, let me pay for it. If there isn't, let them find someone else to buy it.
I don't watch much Canadian network television or, for that matter, the American nets either. That's because most of the shows they offer are drivel or simply re-runs of some quality HBO series that I saw at least twice on pay TV a year or two earlier. The last thing I need to see on Canadian TV channels is crap American reality show programming - American Idol, Survivor, Bridezilla, So You Think You Can Dance, Big Brother... the list goes on.
There are some shows, such as The Fifth Estate, that I do watch but I'll happily pay for those.
Canadian television news isn't bad, it's awful. It's misleading, it's biased, it's inaccurate, it's incomplete - utter crap and, sadly, that goes for CBC too. I didn't come to this opinion recently. The crushing truth of this came to me more than 35-years back when I "moved up" from a radio newsroom to a CBC television newsroom. That's when I learned the brutal reality of "infoTainment" news. Shit, garbage, crap, nonsense. If news to you means actual information, you're going to have to work for it, you're going to have to read it. If you want to look at pictures, get a comic book - that's far more reliable and honest.
Canadian network TV doesn't even put out good porn. Compared to what's on the internet who wants to watch a clapped out, hack reporter blow the prime minister for a senate seat?
Most of the programming I do watch I already pay for anyway. The History Channel, Documentary Channel, Discovery Channel, movie channels, PBS, BBC, that sort of thing. My TV world begins around channel 24 and I rarely delve below that. If I do want to go into the broadcasting bargain basement I'll happily pay for access when and as.
Here's the kicker. Imagine a world in which CBC, CTV and Global actually had to produce programming good enough that people would willingly subscribe to it. Do you think those networks would remotely resemble what they look like today? Of course not because then they'd be in a different business altogether. They'd be in the business of delivering something you actually wanted to buy. They would have to ditch every piece of crap that people now watch because it's there, it's free and "there's nothing on TV" anyway. Why should we have to put up with a menu where the main ingredient in every dish is crap just because they get a special deal on crap from the American networks?
In case you're wondering, this current rant is fueled by the war now underway between Canadian broadcasters and the Canadian cable industry over filching an extra $10 a month from cable subscribers to make it more lucrative than ever for Canadian networks to spoonfeed us crap American reality shows. If they can't hawk that shit free, they've got a damned nerve coming to me with their hands out. Americans don't have to pay for their crap, they get it free. Why should Canadians have to pay a premium so Canadian broadcasters can give them the very same crap? I just don't get it.
