For the second year, American Super Bowl ads will be seen in Canada without being substituted with Canadian ads. Bell Media is appealing the decision, writes Peter Vogel.
A year ago Canada’s broadcast regulator, the CRTC, ordered an end to the longtime practice of Canadian broadcasters substituting local commercials for those seen by Americans in that annual TV spectacle, the Super Bowl.
Two weeks ago, the Canadian rights holder, BCE Inc. subsidiary Bell Media, lost an appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada for a stay on the CRTC order that the simultaneous substitution, or simsub, not be permitted in 2018.
At least for this year's Super Bowl.
Bell Media’s CTV network will again have to make do with its feed interspersed with Canadian commercials, while many Canadians once again switch to the U.S. channels in order to get their dose of commercial content produced exclusively for the big game.
There will be no simultaneous substitution of Canadian commercials over those American commercials.
For years Canadians have been deprived of the American Super Bowl commercials. Apparently it was an issue that resulted in numerous complaints to the CRTC, eventually leading up to last year’s order suspending simsub.
Previously, Canadians on cable TV subscription plans had no easy way to enjoy the full American Super Bowl experience. The CRTC took the position that the commercials were an integral part of the Super Bowl experience and should be allowed on the American channels seen here.
For some viewers, the ads are bigger than the game. It was a Super Bowl ad that introduced the world to the Apple Macintosh computer. Forty per cent of Canadians last year turned away from the Canadian game feed in order to watch the American commercials. These are the most expensive ads to air anywhere on the planet, both in terms of air time and production costs.
Bell argued that it had bid on the Super Bowl rights for Canada on the assumption that simsub would remain in place and that changing the business model conditions unilaterally, mid-stream, particularly for just one televised event was unfair.
Bell Media will once again take a financial hit for the 2018 Super Bowl, but the Supreme Court ruling hasn't closed the door entirely on simsub. Although a stay for this year's Super Bowl was denied, Bell will proceed with an appeal of the CRTC ruling banning simsub in the first place.
Bell claims that the change to the simsub practice is costing it significant revenue, presumably through rebates to advertisers, who would have been promised certain viewer numbers previously.
Reduced eyeball counts means Canadian advertisers paid less for those Super Bowl commercials than they would have under simsub conditions. And that means reduced revenue to Bell as holder of television rights in Canada for the annual sports spectacle.
In March last year, Bell used a stated decline of $11 million in anticipated Super Bowl advertising revenue to justify a round of job cuts at radio and TV stations that the company owns across the country. Some of those cuts occurred here in Vancouver, at television station CTV9 and sports radio station TSN 1040.
Although attrition in the media business is not unheard of, Bell seemed to be sending a message to the regulator that it should rethink the end of simsub.
So far that hasn’t happened. An appeal to the minister and to the federal government cabinet hasn’t reversed the stance taken by the CRTC.
For this year, at least, Canadians can once again enjoy those American Super Bowl commercials, on American channels carrying the event. Those that remain tuned to the Canadian Bell Media channels will watch the typical fare of Canadian Tire and Tim Horton’s commercials.
If those Canadian commercials aren't enough of a draw to the Bell channels, the company has promised various contests with a prize pool of $300,000. Is that enough to tempt you?
Check back a year from now to see if Bell Media was successful in having the court overturn the CRTC’s decision on simsub.
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