Looks like the CBC doesn't care about London either

[Wharn]

Though I was hard pressed to find a mention of it in the LFP, the CBC plans to shut off over-the-air service in several communities across Canada, including London, on August 31. We all know that the end of analog television was coming, but this means that even if you have a digital antenna (like me), you won't be able to get the CBC (and by extension, Hockey Night in Canada). Why do we even bother subsidizing the public broadcaster with such obscene amounts of money if they have the luxury of declaring a market the size of London to be uneconomical?

Discuss, I suppose.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...rticle2092806/

[Pimpmasterdac]

CBC use to be in London, with CFPL being an affiliate which entitled it to CBC programming like HNIC and other decent programs. Blackburns thought they could go it alone with no CBC affiliate deal. Since then CFPL has gone many name changes in 20 years (BBS, New PL, A-Channel, soon to be CTV two) and production quality has erroded with time.

London in general just seems to be a poor market for TV broadcasters. Rogers Community cable is terrible production quality and if the London Knights didn't play on there I'd have never watched it. A-Channel despite being affiliated with CTV has very little programming worth watching (Shark tank personally, but isn't in HD, where ABC it is).

A-News in London is of poor quality as well. Basically a propaganda tool for City Hall, a place to put nice fluff pieces on about what kids think about the last day of school. Hell they really grasp at the straws, going out to Wingham and other bumpkin areas for "news" usually consisting of their hatred of wind turbines. They might have 5-7 minutes of actually news or don't report it since it might interfere with geezers corner (Health & Home).

From CBC's point of view, it's not a huge loss for them. It probably would cost more to set up a digital transmitter to serve those in London than what would be hypothetically be lost in commercial revenue.

[haljackey]

I've always found it strange how Windsor has A-Channel AND CBC local TV stations, while London just has A-channel.

And agreed, the programming on both A-Channel and Rogers TV sucks. I'll watch the top story on A-News from time to time if I have nothing better to do at 6pm but that's about it.

Why does the CBC have no love for London but will take part in smaller, more competitive communities? It's always baffled me.

[MolsonExport]

London is an afterthought to anybody and any entity of the big 6 (Tor, Mtl, Van, Ott, Calg, Ed). London is basically Drummondville, Medicine Hat, Kamloops, or Swift Current.

In other words, London is no longer grouped among the big cities of the country, but rather with the secondary and often, tertiary cities of the land.

[manny_santos]

I have never understood CBC's mandate against London. Consider the following:

- CBC's "local" radio station in London mostly broadcasts local Toronto news. The extent of local programming originating in London is a five-minute newscast during Ontario Morning.
- Meanwhile, there is far more local radio programming available to listeners in numerous smaller Canadian cities, including Windsor, Sudbury, Thunder Bay, Kelowna, Corner Brook, Moncton, Saint John, Fredericton, Charlottetown, Halifax, Sydney, and several others. Windsor not only has a local CBC TV station, but they have local radio in both English and French!
- While CBC is eliminating over-the-air television in London, they are making damn sure to have French television available in digital over-the-air in Regina, where about 12,000 people even know French. If only 7% of Canadian viewers in fact use an antenna to receive television signals, as is being touted by CBC's PR machine, Regina's French CBC DTV transmitter will serve a mere 840 people, assuming 100% of them even watch Radio-Canada.
- CBC is putting itself at a competitive disadvantage in London, because every single other over-the-air broadcaster here is converting to digital, even TVO, OMNI, and Citytv, the latter two being owned by Rogers (!).

The fact is, more than 7% of Canadians access television signals through an antenna; CBC/Radio-Canada has clearly not done their research. One industry watchdog estimates that number at 29% (about 3500 French viewers in Regina). I work in the cable industry and many consumers do not want to pay a large amount of money just to receive a basic slate of TV channels, especially when they have multiple TV sets and the company charges extra for additional TVs. Some consumers want the choice to have cable on one TV and use rabbit ears on other TVs. Other consumers simply do not want cable or satellite and are satisfied with only a few channels plus NetFlix or other Internet viewing.

I am glad to see this issue is finally receiving national attention. I have known about this plan for some time and have written to both the Free Press and the Globe and Mail.

Let's make this clear though - London, as usual, is getting the short end of the stick. I feel like this city is cursed.

[Simpseatles]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

In other words, London is no longer grouped among the big cities of the country, but rather with the secondary and often, tertiary cities of the land.

Well it's not like we really ever were one of Canada's major cities.

[go_leafs_go02]

Looking at that map, even Quebec City is losing over the air English CBC.

Either way, I would expect some publish backlash, and they may be forced to review their planned shut downs and we'll see what happens. Kitchener is losing theirs as well, although I do not know if they're close enough to clearly receive the upgraded Toronto signal.

And windsor is different - they're on the US border. They need to keep their Canadian stations to ensure that they don't get taken over by the American media in Detroit.

[Blitz]

London is definitely overlooked. A market this size should have more than one local news tv station.

The CBC exists in Windsor partly because of the American market...CBC Windsor is carried on tv systems across southern Michigan. As far as the radio stations, Windsor has a relatively high French-speaking population compared to the rest of southern Ontario.

[Pimpmasterdac]

Need to remember CBC isn't in the business of doing what's best for business. Rather it's their to serve political masters and their agenda's as far as who gets local service and who doesn't.

From a business stand point it's idiotic and unprofitable to have French language service in Regina or even English language service in Charlottetown (maybe 40k?!) over London having English services. It comes down to politics, plain and simple! PEI would feel slighted if they lost their service, and Quebec would feel the Fed's were giving up on bilingualism in the west.

But hey it's politically acceptable for London to lose service and for Quebec City to lose English language services. Most people won't care/be affected.

Honestly IMO privatize the monstrosity! I'd rather have a network that did things from a business point of view than political gerrymandering of broadcast services.