Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Many Canadian Cable Channels Could Disappear





For years I've been trying to find someone else who watched the lowly Cable channel Outdoor Life.
I'm still trying.
I rather like the oddball service which has Ghost Hunters as well as various editions of Storage Hunters as its main fare.
But I fear it will be one of the first Canadian cable channels to go as the CRTC orders the "unbundling" of current consumer choices.
It's not as if Canadian TV is overflowing with goodies as far as cable choices are concerned.
Bravo TV got its license as a high end channel for the arts including ballet and opera. That has not happened-- reruns of American series plus some interesting TV series seems to be its main fare.
After all the Arts And Entertainment channel which once had a night every week devoted to various high arts now sports mostly reality series.
Same with The Learning Channel which went lowbrow years ago abandoning its prestige series for bridal shows and the like.
On Canadian TV sports channels are at the top of the profit heap which is why Rogers paid big bucks for the rights to all NHL games in Canada.
Also, home renovation channels seem to be thriving beginning with HGTV as in Home and Garden TV. Pardon me but when was the last time you saw a "gardening" show on that channel.
In Canada the first cable channel to ever fail was the C Channel --the "C" being for culture which most Canadians apparently were not willing to pay extra to get.
Other Canadian cable channels that failed: Fashion TV, Talk TV, Drive-In TV.
When Canadians can pick and chose what they want look for a lot of peripheral cable channels to likewise go black.
The CRTC made a bad decision at the dawn of Canadian cable in allowing certain American cable signals priveleged positions on the dial including A&E and TLC.
Certain "Canadian" Channels have not lived up to the promise of performance including Bravo Canada and BBC Canada which seems to consist of reruns of Top Gear with the insufferable Jeremy Clarkson.
I'd like to see a CBC Rerun Channel with jewels from the vaults --but CBC sources say this would merely show how mediocre the current CBC fare has become.
I was sad to see the plug pulled on Sun TV --it offered another political viewpoint not often heard on the conventional news channels
How about an Arts channel --it could be pay TV --with live performances from Shaw and Stratford.
 CRTC isn't dealing with content in its latest loopy decision.
I know I'll miss Pawn Stars and Dog The Bounty Hunter if the number of cable choices continues to wither.





1 comment:

Anonymous said...

At least Outdoor Life commissions new original content. Far too many channels are just re-run mills where broadcasters get as many viewings and ad dollars as possible out of the same shows. I guess they won't be making new series anymore once they lose most of their revenue. Too bad because Departures, Descending and Wild Things were all good shows - the rare case where they actually showed some Outdoor Life on the Outdoor Life Network.