Stop The Madness CRTC

First, it was The Super Bowl and now it is March Madness. It has to stop.

It used to bother me Sundays evenings at precisely 7pm during the NFL season and now it is irritating because it is eroding my joy of watching big time sports events.

It does not affect my love of Canada nor what it does to support all things Canadian on the airwaves, but it is time for it to go.

You ask, what is “it” that I’m speaking of. The simultaneous substitution policy of the Canadian Radio-television & Telecommunications Commission, in short, the CRTC. The government agency that prevents people from seeing the U.S. ads during the Super Bowl broadcast because of an outdated approach to support broadcast and advertising industries in Canada. Basically, the policy forces Canadians to watch only the feed from the Canadian broadcast rights holders. As a result, it takes away the choice of viewers to select which channel to watch programming from its original broadcast source.

It is one thing to force viewers to watch average Canadian television ad spots but when the CRTC dictates which commentators and analysts I SHOULD watch and listen to, it is B.S.

Part of being a sports fan is the ability to consume the descriptions, analysis and thoughts of the best play-by-play broadcasters, analysts and interviews available. I thought I was going to get that as I sat down to watch the Final Four of the NCAA Men’s basketball tournament. I was looking forward to:

• The insights from Greg Anthony, Kenny Smith and Sir Charles Barkley broadcasting on onsite at the Super Dome. Instead, I was forced to listen takes from a studio based out of Toronto.
• One of the best play-by-play guys in the business, Jim Nantz and the excitable, Clark Kellogg call both games. Instead, I watched some generic broadcast from ESPN (Not even Dickie V was not a part of the broadcast duo.) I could not recognize the voices so I watched both games with the volume down so I can draft this post.
  

Again, I support all-things Canadian but not to the extent that I’m forced to watched second rate production of sports television. The fact that the CTRC takes away my option to enjoy broadcasters that are synonymous with NCAA with my tax dollars is just ridiculous and unacceptable.

Final Thoughts

• Support The Cro. If you are a Expo fan, it is time to step up and support Warren Cromartie and his Montreal Baseball Project due to be launched April 4th, 2012. Visit the initiative's Facebook page and give it a "Like" if you have any affinity to the Montreal Expos. I'm sure that a huge amount of "Likes" will somehow lead to financial and / or sponsorship support of the initiative. From one gapped-toothed black man to other, thanks Cro for your efforts and let's do this thang...
• Rolling Thunder. Man, the Oklahoma City Thunder are fun to watch. In one week, the team took care of the Lakers in L.A. and toyed with the Miami Heat. If they can go into Miami on Wednesday night and beat the Heat, talks of winning multiple championships can begin in OKC instead of in South Beach.

Follow me on @sportstaughts