Silly Little Country

When I Sign a Mortgage, I Plan to Pay It

So says Jim Shaw of Shaw Communications, suggesting at the CRTC hearings that the hearings are a stupid waste of timer, and I agree with him. It's a pure rent-seeking effort on the part of local broadcasters, and it is an invitation to the Commission to overrule business contracts arrived at in the past, somewhat freely (well, as freely as you can in Canada), and not currently pleasant to the local stations.
Generally I find these hearings very depressing, as the commissioners seem convinced it is their responsibility to help out the briadcasters. Rarely do I hear any mention of the choice of the TV viewers; Rogers tried that at one point, and the Pope lectured them on how inappropriate that was. Jim Shaw has mentioned them a few times, and the commissioners in general seem to disapprove of such mention, knowing that we viewers are a sorry bunch who do not know enough to understand their much wiser pronouncements and yearnings.
And then there are the odd dim ones; one recently said she could not understand the financial information Shaw provided, because it was 'text' - please, can you send in pretty pictures?
Jim Shaw seems quite the diamond in the rough, though. I enjoy his crustiness.

posted by Alan Adamson @ 11:48 AM