Momma They Took My TV Signal Away! Thanks CTV For Staying

THE RIGHT TO HAVE CBC.....ISN'T THAT A CANADIAN PRIVILEGE? GEEZ, SOMEBODY LIED TO ME!

WITH ANALOGUE TO DIGITAL CONTRAPTION, RECEPTION SUCKS, AND I'M MAD AS HELL

     WHEN WE MOVED TO MUSKOKA, BACK IN THAT BITTERLY COLD, FLANNEL UNDERWEAR WINTER, IN FEBRUARY 1966, ONE OF THE TOUGHEST REALITIES FOR A KID RAISED ON TELEVISION, IN THE CITY, WAS THAT WE ONLY RECEIVED ONE STATION. CKVR WHICH I BELIEVE IN THOSE DAYS, WAS A CBC AFFILIATE.....(I STAND TO BE CORRECTED). AS LONG AS WE GOT HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA, WE COULD SURVIVE. IN BURLINGTON WE HAD BEEN ABLE TO GET MANY AMERICAN CHANNELS, AND THAT'S WHERE I FOUND MYSELF DWELLING WHENEVER THE TELEVISION WAS SWITCHED ON. WAS IT A BAD HABIT? IN THOSE DAYS, WITH TELEVISION STILL RELATIVELY NEW, AND CHEAP ENTERTAINMENT, AT LEAST TO OUR PAY CHEQUE TO PAY CHEQUE FAMILY, MY PARENTS DIDN'T KNOW HOW MUCH TELEVISION FOR THEIR KID....WAS TOO MUCH. I ACTUALLY DIDN'T MIND BEING SICK, AND OFF SCHOOL, BECAUSE I COULD WATCH SOME GREAT DAYTIME SHOWS, ESPECIALLY "I LOVE LUCY," "THE REAL MCCOYS," "LEAVE IT TO BEAVER," "DOBIE GILLIS," (NOT SURE OF SPELLING)," AND DOZENS OF OTHERS SITCOMS AND SOAP OPERAS THAT KEPT ME OCCUPIED WHEN HOME ALONE. IT WAS FREE. THE DEAL WAS, WE HAD TO WATCH THE ADVERTISING.
     SO WHEN WE ARRIVED IN MUSKOKA, AND ONLY BEING ABLE TO GET A SINGLE CHANNEL, IT TOOK A LONG WHILE TO ADJUST TO LOCAL PROGRAMMING, AND NATIONAL BROADCASTING. I KNEW EVERY "FOREST RANGER" EPISODE....AND STILL DO, AFTER ALL THESE YEARS. FOR HOCKEY GAMES, I WAS THE RABBIT-EAR TECHNICIAN, AND "HOLDER," AND THAT MADE WATCHING THE GAME SLIGHTLY MORE DIFFICULT, WITH MY PARENTS YELLING AT ME TO MOVE TO THE RIGHT OR THE LEFT, UP OR DOWN. BY THE WAY, I WAS DOING THIS TO SON ROBERT THE OTHER NIGHT, WHEN THE DAMN EXPENSIVE NEW AERIAL WOULDN'T WORK PROPERLY. WELL, AS WE LEARNED AFTER ABOUT AN HOUR OF JUMPING ALL AROUND AND CURSING, IT WAS WORKING AS WELL AS IT HAD THE CAPABILITY. IT JUST DOESN'T HAVE ENOUGH JUICE TO BRING IN CBC, GLOBAL, OR EVEN THE NEW VR. I FIND THIS ABSURD. WE LIVE IN GRAVENHURST. WE GOT THE BARRIE STATION IN, BACK IN 1966, AND NOW I CAN'T EVEN GET A GHOST OF AN IMAGE.

A NOTE TO THE MANAGEMENT OF CTV - THANK YOU FOR MAINTAINING THE ANALOGUE SIGNAL

     I am not pleased, amused, satisfied, or contented about the deficiencies at CBC that have caused the broadcaster to cut the analogue signal, because of budget cut-backs, in order to go full-blast analogue. Being a tax-hater, I'm all for efficiencies, except when they are ridiculous, and hurt more than they help ratepayers. How terrific it is, that CTV bucked the transition, and has at least allowed us poor bastards who won't subscribe to cable, a chance to continue watching television, on our nearly new but not digital televisions. I am entirely happy about my CTV signal, and I have enjoyed the Olympic coverage, and I prefer their national news programs, such as Canada AM, and especially the local news of CFTO in Toronto. I don't have to dance with the aerial, or make family members stand in various locations, holding it, while I satisfy my viewing pleasure. When I put on the converter box, that accommodates the old analogue signal, changing it over to digital, I lose CTV to ghost-status, but we get Hamilton.....which is fine, because I watched it all the time when we lived in Burlington. I don't get CBC or TV Ontario, which really, really pisses me off, because I enjoy Coronation Street on CBC, and Saturday Night at the Movies, plus other British shows on TV Ontario. I hope their advertisers are aware just how many Canadians have been shut-out of viewing the national channel. As for TV Ontario, I won't feel obliged to commit a donation to their programming.
     I'd like to know just how many Canadians have been screwed-over by this change to digital signal, especially those in the rural area, who really do depend on CBC at least, for their daily news and weather. "So listen to the radio," you say. Yup, the more progressive we become in this country, now I have to go back to the days of my grandparents, who always listened in the evening to their favorite radio shows. Having several channels to choose from, as well, is definitely a retro experience. Maybe I will have to erect a large television tower, like we had back a couple of decades, because I'm determined to get the cheapest service possible.......and I will agree, without condition, to watching the hours of advertising, to enjoy the very few programs I need a television for, in the first place.
     Possibly the CBC could do a little investigative reporting, if they have money for staff, to consult, sea to sea, north to south, just how many of us have been seriously compromised, and sold converters that really don't help much, and antennae that aren't strong enough to give us back our CBC connection. As a Canadian, yes I do think we should be able to access the CBC, love it or loathe it, and whatever the Canadian Government thinks about it.....well, I don't care.....other than boosting the signal, so that us ruralites can have back, what we have paid for, over many, many years.
     In the past five years, I have, like many Canadians, felt the government in office, was re-defining our national identity at their own discretion. I have watched many feature stories, on what it means to be "Canadian." I think it's all a waste of time, trying to define who or what we are today, because it seems to be on a sliding scale; depending of course on how the governing party decides to adjust perception, with ill conceived propaganda and message manipulation, according to some strategy most of us find ridiculous.....and unbelievable.
    The fact they most recently pounded the CBC with budget reductions, may well be warranted. I don't know. But fiscally forcing the network to abandon analogue entirely, in order to stay in operation, was not just badly timed, it was additional evidence that the government of the day hasn't got a clue, what this means for families with lesser incomes, and many ruralites who have been relying on basic television broadcasting for decades. To yank it away from them, without a grant program, or subsidy arrangement, to help folks adjust to the new reality, is just further evidence of the undemocratic governance we are experiencing in this country......and the growing disconnect with what it really means to be Canadian. I think we'll show that resolve, the very next occasion we get to vote on a new government. Unless this is also changed, and elections are no longer required.
    
     Do I think it's my God-given right to have an analogue service, and a reliable CBC signal? No, it's not a God-given right, but it has been a Canadian right, that has existed long enough, to imprint upon us, an inherent privilege to carry on a tradition. Like a path that has been walked on for decades can become, by law, a public right-of-way, even though it may actually be on private land. If the CBC belongs to us, then give me a signal to receive, enough said.    I don't need hundreds of television stations to be satisfied. We have a low budget service for our internet connection, and we can get some of the programs online, like old Coronation Street episodes, and some news programs we can't get on the television. Well, the advertisers online are more likely to get our business these days, because that's what we're seeing most of, and that should impact corporations who spend millions for television spots. I don't intend on mounting a national campaign because it won't change a thing. The government today couldn't care less what I think anyway, and even if we mounted a petition, and had a million names, it wouldn't be anything more than a pebble tossed into the ocean, with a ripple that disappears before it has radiated a foot and a half. We just may keep this on the back burner, when the very next Tory sets foot on my doorstep, looking for a vote a federal vote. I have a special "election" boot, I use to persuade these folks off my property. It's kind of a symbolic wellington, used for mucking-about, here in the rural clime, where we have once again, found that Parliament Hill isn't all that interested in the life and times, and affordable television viewing, of the lesser population areas of our country.
     Sure I'm crabby. I'm frugal and a lover of television, and I don't think that it would be too much to ask, to reward me for my good citizenship, with one television channel, on the public (my) dime, so I can stay up on the national goings-on. I know, I know, turn on the radio. Once again, my suggestion to advertisers on the CBC, is to make management aware, just how many less viewers there are today, than before cutbacks cost us an analogue signal. But by golly, I want to offer a really big thank you to the fine, upstanding folks over at CTV, for giving our family a signal we can use......and I will study with great interest, the advertisers who want us non-cable and satelite people for customers. God bless them for giving us something nice for free. And I like the CTV programs as well. And if they phone me, I'll only be too happy to tell them I'm watching their network a lot these days. I just wish I didn't have to footnote, that their's is one of only two channels I get these days.
     I talked to a rural couple the other day, who plan on moth-balling their television, because of the withdrawal of the analogue signal. They are on a fixed income, and really can't afford to buy a new digital television, with all the bells and whistles to draw in a half decent signal. They're elderly and may not remain in their home for much longer. Why go to the expense of employing a satellite gizmo, when all they really wanted was a couple of channels, one being the CBC. Like they have been used to for so many years......it just seems their national right to possess and enjoy. While I appreciate the upgrades to digital, I know for fact, the CBC could have made a much slower transition, to make sure rural viewers especially, weren't cut off entirely. "That's just the way it is," they say. "Get over it!" That's why CTV is going to benefit......and that to me, makes good business sense. It is about business right? If TV Ontario loses half its viewership, isn't it likely contributions will be down proportionally? They might save money initially, having cut analogue service, but unless they've got some magic formula for improving their audience-share, downsizing may be a regular exercise. For their lack of support for us analogue loyalists, I won't watch their station ever again. It's easy to say when you haven't got enough juice in the rabbit ears to draw their signal anyway.
     What I don't like is being dumped by the CBC. Maybe they could have found another way to shave a few bucks, and maintain analogue services, at least for another six months to a year. It looks to me, like they did the "justified in their own minds" switch-over this summer, as a political-shot back at the government, knowing full well that many Canadians would be disadvantaged by the sudden change in policy.....and raise a fuss with their MPs on summer vacation. How's that going? I don't hold a lot of stock, barking at an MP in this government, because their input is smaller than that ripple, cast into the ocean, I mentioned earlier.
     These days I write a lot more than I used to, and that does keep me away from the television. And as a nature lover, well, I'm either working in the yard, or wandering the forest trails, or just sitting on my deck, enjoying what God has given me for free. I'm pretty sure some government pencil pusher is trying to figure out, how to tax a nice view, or make me wear a blindfold unless I pay a rental fee. In my unobstructed view, from here, we've got some work to do, in this country, to restore faith in the democracy we have grown everso accustomed.......but are being denied access-to and accountability bit by bit, as if a slow leak we're not supposed to notice, until the tire finally goes flat, and we stop improving as a nation on the world scene......and everyone knows of our failures, more than our successes. Our present environmental standing is a case in point. We should be embarrassed about our diminished role in global environmental issues. Muzzling our scientists? Looking at environmental groups as the root of rebellion? You know something? By this point in today's diatribe, and thinking about how much credibility we've lost on the world stage, in this regard, makes losing the CBC signal just about as frivolous and moot as you can get. I'd gladly stop watching television altogether, if our government would bring back an environmental standard that makes us proud.....to be Canadian.
     Shutting down our access to CBC television, without a better plan for transition, was nasty, plain and simple, and the government should have known about the large number of disadvantaged people in this country, who do not have the money to afford cable, satelite television, or the internet, who should still be able to watch television.....for free.....as provided by the taxpayers for the taxpayers.
     Some in government may feel the Olympics define us as Canadians. That's their folly! We know better. Being Canadian doesn't require a textbook definition. It does require a strong and unyielding grip on the rights and freedoms we have been afforded. We've got that under control. Just not an analogue signal.
     Once again, thank you to CTV for cutting us poor buggers a break. I will repay you with loyalty. Let your advertisers know, there are four members of our family, who will be tuning in regularly.
     Thanks so much for joining today's blogatorial. Please join me again, sometime soon.