Angry in the Great White North

Rick Mercer explains why we need the CBC:

For Rick Mercer, whose CBC-TV show has been promoted on billboards in recent weeks with the hopeful notation "Coming Soon" -- the dispute illustrated that CBC provides an invaluable service to TV viewers and radio listeners in far-flung regions of the country that don't have access to the same options as urban residents.

OK, Rick is confusing content with transmission. We don't need the CBC to deliver content to people in "far-flung" regions of the country.

For example, here are the footprints of the Anik F1 and F2 satellites delivering StarChoice:

No question that far-flung regions of the country are well served by crystal clear digital video transmission via satellite, at a very reasonable cost. In fact, if cost is an issue, the government could provide a rebate to these "far-flung" regions to cover all their telecommunication needs (though satellite TV is no more expensive in the country than in the city).

So what does the CBC have to do with "far-flung" regions? Nothing. Once it did, when transmission was by broadcast tower, and a private concern was not going to build and maintain a tower out on the tundra. Then the CBC built the towers, maintained them, and then put the content on them for people to view.

But now the towers are in geosynchronous orbit (and competitively priced, by CRTC standards anyway, with StarChoice against Bell Expressvu). The low cost means that everyone and his brother is delivering content to every Canadian everywhere. And so much of it Canadian! Canadian versions of the Discovery Channel and of Home and Garden TV. Canadian analogs to SciFi (in Canada we have Space) and the Cartoon Network (in Canada we have Teletoon).

Canadian content on all of them. Want an example? Tune in Teletoon and see some of the amazing animation products being churned out.

Is Rick Mercer afraid of going head-to-head against Atomic Betty without a chunk of tax dollars to prop him up?