Episode 026 - Government Inaction

I am probably the last person who can criticise the policy of broadcasting regulations, but I have a very big beef over how the Canadian Radio-Telecommunications Commission is working from case to case. The appropriate decisions the CRTC have not made recently really have bugged me. In late 2004, the company who ran MTV Canada was taken over by the parent of MuchMusic, CHUM Television. Because of branding contracts, MTV Canada had to adopt a new brand name, and as a result MTV Canada and MTV 2 became MUCH-branded channels. When the parent of MTV, the American Viacom conglomerate, signed an agreement with CTV to reincarnate MTV Canada, CHUM Television had thew their chins up, worried that the new-old old-new channel will swamp the ratings of MuchMusic. What I don't like is the fact that there are over 10 MUCH channels and the government hasn't done anything about the issue. PUNCHMuch, MuchMoreMusic et al is swamping the music television market with a multiopoly, if that even is a word. As soon as a possible competitor moves in natural MUCH turf, the CHUM mafia started swiping with their claws. Why is the CRTC so hush hush about CHUM running a dangerous monopoly? While the two companies snot each other out, the television channels relating to music has swamped the digital spectrum, while people are gradually watching less television. I've been on the MuchOnDemand audience before, and like a communist government, we clapped when they wanted us to clap. Eeek.