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Simultaneous substitution

Simultaneous substitution (also known as simsubbing or signal substitution[1]) is a practice mandated by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) requiring broadcast distribution undertakings (BDUs) in Canada to distribute the signal of a local or regional over-the-air station in place of the signal of a foreign or non-local television station (typically one that is affiliated with a U.S. commercial television network such as ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox), when the two stations are broadcasting identical programming simultaneously.

For the comparable US practice, see Syndication exclusivity. For meaning of this term in logic, see Substitution (logic).

The CRTC first introduced the policy in 1972, and it is sometimes erroneously called "simulcasting", the name of a practice different from simultaneous substitution in that there is no signal replacement.[2][3] According to the CRTC, the practice of simultaneous substitution is necessary "to protect the rights of broadcasters, to enable television stations to draw enough advertising revenue and to keep advertising money in the Canadian market".[1] Canadian broadcast networks, which must request each and every substitution on an individual basis, have been criticized for exploiting the regulation and not investing enough money into Canadian content.[4]


The most prominent public criticism of simsubs has been centred around the Super Bowl—the championship game of the National Football League—which is well known for featuring high-profile commercials on its U.S. broadcast. In 2015, citing the ads as having become an "integral part" of the broadcast, the CRTC announced that it would implement a policy to prevent broadcasters from requesting simsubs for the game; it was officially implemented prior to Super Bowl LI in 2017. This has faced criticism over the change in policy from the game's Canadian rightsholder, CTV owner Bell Media; the company argued that it singled out a specific program for policy in violation of the Broadcasting Act, and devalued its rights to the league. Bell Media subsequently fought this policy in court, and it was overturned by the Supreme Court of Canada on December 19, 2019.[5]

History[edit]

During the 1950s, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) had a monopoly on television broadcasting in Canada (its first television station, CBFT, began operating in Montreal in 1952). In 1960, the Board of Broadcast Governors, the predecessor of the CRTC, began granting licences for commercial stations in order to provide an alternative to the CBC. These broadcasters began operating in 1961, and through international distributors, acquired the domestic broadcast rights to many American television programs.[2]


Since about 30% of the Canadian population – those who resided close enough to the Canada–US border – had access to over-the-air broadcast signals from networks based in both Canada and the United States, they could choose to watch American programs on either a Canadian or an American network.[2] Many of these Canadians chose to watch the American network (either CBS, ABC or NBC) rather than the Canadian networks' broadcasts. Consequently, many Canadian broadcasters began broadcasting programs purchased from American-based broadcast networks before they aired on the American networks to attract more viewers and to earn money from domestic advertising, and some Canadian businesses that advertised on the domestic stations also purchased broadcast time on the American stations that were receivable in the same areas, although federal legislation was eventually passed that limited the tax-deductibility of these purchases.[2]


Several of the stations in smaller border markets in the United States openly targeted the larger cities in Canada by getting as close to the border as possible. Examples include most of the stations in the Buffalo, New York television market, which targeted Toronto and the Golden Horseshoe region, and in the most extreme case, Pembina, North Dakota, station KCND-TV (channel 12), which was based in a town with fewer than 1,000 residents but made its money by targeting the much larger city of Winnipeg across the border to its north.


When cable television began to proliferate across Canada in the early-1970s, viewers far from the Canada–US border began to obtain access to American television services that were once unobtainable. In 1972, in response to pressure from Canadian broadcasters, the CRTC introduced the simultaneous substitution regulation as a method to circumvent diminution of the value of Canadian networks' exclusive broadcast rights to American programs[2] (within three years, KCND was effectively moved to Winnipeg and relicensed as CKND-TV). Through the 1990s, as direct-broadcast satellite television services gained popularity and then were granted licences in Canada, simultaneous substitution became a requirement on these as well.


By the late 1990s and early 2000s, the simultaneous substitution regulation had reached its full potential, with Canadian broadcast networks telecasting nearly all of their American programming at the same time as the U.S. network's broadcasts to ensure maximum eligibility to request substitution.

In 2003, Global flagship station (channel 41) in Toronto transferred its coverage of the Ontario provincial election to its sister station CHCH-TV (channel 11) in Hamilton, Ontario, to maintain simsubbing rights to an episode of Survivor: Pearl Islands; earlier the same year, the network's Winnipeg station CKND-TV had opted not to produce any coverage of the Manitoba general election at all, instead airing its regularly scheduled prime time line-up.

CIII-TV

In 2006, received criticism after it announced plans to bump its primary network newscast, The National, to a later time slot one night a week to broadcast the short-lived singing competition series The One: Making a Music Star.

CBC Television

In 2007, CTV was forced to back down on a plan to the 2007 Juno Awards to maintain its simsubbing rights to an episode of The Amazing Race.[4]

tape-delay

invokes simsubs according to a subscriber's postal code, and is implemented by the receiver's firmware; this method enforces simsubs only in areas where they are legally needed. Beginning in February 2012, however, Shaw Direct began implementing simsubs for the Global network's HD feed (channel 256) for all of their high-definition subscribers, which affects ABC East HD (WXYZ-TV), CBS East HD (WWJ-TV), Fox East HD (WUHF) and NBC East HD (WDIV-TV). It is speculated that this is due to the 2010 purchase of the Global Television Network by Shaw Communications. At first, no other channels were simsubbed; Shaw Direct later began implementing simsubs for Citytv, but it still does not do so for CTV, its main competitor.

Shaw Direct

invokes simsubs to all subscribers nationwide, implemented by its uplink centre (which also provides services for other service providers); by doing so, simsubs for a particular channel are implemented nationwide, regardless of where the subscriber lives or which feed the subscriber watches. Notably, Bell's feeds also invoked simsubs on network programming being simulcast by specialty channels owned by Bell Media, such as TSN. This has since ceased due to CRTC rules that explicitly forbid this practice.

Bell Satellite TV

Similarly, invoked simsubs on U.S. network affiliates for sports programming simulcast on its Sportsnet specialty channels (such as the 2013 World Series on Fox in lieu of the MLB International feed). Sportsnet has since reverted to using the MLB International feed, tying into the current involvement of Sportsnet personality Buck Martinez (who serves as play-by-play commentator for Sportsnet's regular-season broadcasts of the Toronto Blue Jays).

Rogers Cable

Other uses[edit]

Although simultaneous substitution was conceived to substitute the signal of a foreign station, the practice has been applied as well to substitute the signal of an out-of-market Canadian station in a given market. For example, in Montreal, the signal of Ottawa station CJOH-DT (channel 13) has frequently been substituted by the signal of locally based CFCF-DT (channel 12), even though both stations are part of the CTV network. Another example, Bell Aliant Fibe TV subscribers in Newfoundland and Labrador regularly have Global Television Network stations in Halifax and Toronto (and, very rarely, Vancouver) simsubbed with NTV; Maritime Fibe subscribers, however, often have NTV simsubbed with Global Halifax or New Brunswick, depending on where they live.


Simultaneous substitution has also been implemented on French language television stations. From the 1970s to the mid-1990s, TVA's flagship Montreal station CFTM-TV (channel 10) had its signal substituting that of its Sherbrooke sister station CHLT-TV (channel 7) (which was receivable in the Montreal area until 1995).