Watching tv with remote control / FINANCIAL POST
By Emily Jackson
Wednesday October 26, 2016
Cord cutting took a bigger bite out of Canada’s broadcast industry last year as younger audiences increasingly listened to music and watched television over the Internet, according to the federal broadcast regulator.
The phenomenon has accelerated over the past three years, with nearly 158,000 people axing their TV subscriptions in 2015, according to the 2016 Communications Monitoring Report released by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission on Tuesday.
That doesn’t mean Canadians are consuming less content. The number of Canadians watching TV online, streaming radio online, watching music videos online and listening to music via online streaming services increased across the board, according to the annual report on the communications industry.
“This year’s report clearly shows that viewing and listening habits are continuing to shift,” CRTC Chairman Jean-Pierre Blais said in a statement, noting that younger Canadians are straying from traditional platforms.
“Online platforms are increasingly attractive and accessible to Canadians. The broadcasting industry must ensure that it meets the changing needs of Canadians, who increasingly want to watch and listen to content on the platform of their choice.”
Read More HERE
The logical thing for these broadcasters to do would be to adhere to their promises of performance and create original, unique programming that not only Canadians would watch, but international audiences would watch as well.
But for some reason, our “Canadian” broadcasters flock to Hollywood every year and compete with each other to purchase overpriced schlock that even Americans are not watching anymore (and that we are already paying for if we receive US channels on cable).
And then these same broadcasters whine to the CRTC and complain that their business model is broken and expect to be subsidized directly or directly by the taxpayers.
As always, customers vote with their wallets and are now telling these broadcasters that the glory days are over.
And as much as I criticize CBC Television’s local “news”, I can’t fault their entertainment programming because it’s not only watchable, it’s entertaining, and they sell it to international audiences!
No business of any size or type is TOO BIG TO FAIL! There are numerous tax situations and even laws in place to help businesses deal with losses as such but none should be there to keep any business of any stature or validity from failing.
Subsidizing business that can’t deal with markets, changes in markets and/or is slip shoddily operated is money tossed away. Capitalism and the free market ideology depends on the threat of failure. The good times and profits are there but must always have a business know it can all dry up and blow away. This is what keeps better businesses sharp and progressive.
Laws and subsidies that allow ANY business the false notion that it’s too big to fail will in time turn it to a sloth like state. This will only double down on it’s inevitable and thus by delay and lossed monies even larger failure.
TOO BIG TO FAIL is crony-capitalism and will pull society down the gutter with it.
Nobody wants any business to fail but if it’s missed the market, missed progressive change and is slip shoddily run then that and any business as such MUST FAIL!
From failure creates these things.
1: The sell off of the business intact or broken up in parts to other better business people, who will utilize it in whole or in parts to better build or expand their businesses.
2: The failure will often create a market vacuum for either a new entrepreneur or existing business to fill and adapt to. If the business model is outdated and is why the business failed, then it should go away as the model is no longer relevant in whole or in part to a free market economy.
3: Employees from the failed business may find opportunity by the new business who bought the old from auction or in part from an auction to expand their existing business which is likely filing the vacuum.
4: If the business model no longer has relevance, employees will move on and as such enough social safety nets shall be in place to aid them, from unemployment insurance to government sponsored retraining programmes and aiding job placement. In fact if a subsidy may be warranted it could be in the guise of former employees seeking grants and such to start up a business in a field they may have expertise on. Thus creating a new free market business.
Drain the swamp.
Until or unless radio ‘fesses up to the fact that it has been cheating advertisers and audiences with shoddy programming and third-rate advertising content for decades, it will continue trying to climb a greased pole.
Plus, a confession is only the first step.
Following that, there will be a requirement of dedicating themselves to massive improvements in both categories.
Even so, I submit, they haven’t a clue as to what those improvements might be – never mind how to implement them.
So far — thoroughly pooched.
The best thing that the CRTC could do is to eliminate advertising substitution completely. The only reason the Canadian channels are showing US schlock programming is to hijack the advertising all the while not adding anything to Canadian programming.