Dispute centres on U.S. ads for Super Bowl

Attention from Trump could be a turning point in the battle over the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission decision, finalized in August, that lets Canadians watch big-budget U.S. ads during the Super Bowl instead of substituting local ads into the broadcast.

BCE Inc.’s Bell Media, the NFL, politicians on both sides of the border, actors and unions have all pressured the federal government to overrule the policy, which was introduced to appease viewers who complain they don’t get to see the American ads. The CRTC gets fewer than 100 such complaints annually.

They argue the ability to sell ad space to local companies is critical for Bell to recoup costs of its multimillion-dollar contract with the NFL for exclusive broadcast rights to the most-watched live television event in Canada, but Ottawa hasn’t budged.

The Prime Minister’s Office and the Department of Canadian Heritage say they respect the broadcast regulator’s independence to create policy and that it is explicitly out of their control.

The NFL, which has lobbied the Prime Minister’s Office over the issue, reached out to Trump’s administration to convey its displeasure with the policy sometime after his inauguration.

Moore would not reveal who was involved or what was said in the talks, but she emphasized the importance of the trade agenda and the ability for U.S. companies to know the rules of the road before doing business in Canada.

“Suffice to say, it is on the president’s radar,” she said.

The political pressure comes after Bell and the NFL launched a court battle to overturn the decision. They contend the CRTC doesn’t have the power to stop the simultaneous substitution, as the practice is called, solely for the Super Bowl.

They also claim the CRTC shouldn’t have changed the rules in the middle of their contract and believe Prime Minister Justin Trudeau could use an executive power — only used once before during the Quebec referendum in 1995 — to force the Canadian ads on to the broadcast.

It remains to be seen whether playing the Trump card will result in a lastminute policy overhaul.

Meantime, Bell is pulling out all the stops to mitigate its losses from fewer people watching Canadian ads.

It’s trying convince people to watch the Super Bowl on its Canadian channels CTV, CTV Two or TSN, where Canadian commercials will play.

If people watch the game on Fox, they will see American ads for the first time since simultaneous substitution was introduced 40 years ago.

Bell is “moving forward with plans to protect our audience as much as possible for our advertisers,” spokesman Scott Henderson said in an email Friday.

To reward people who choose to watch the “distinctly Canadian broadcast,” CTV is holding a variety of contests with an “unprecedented slate of prizes” and playing a commercial-free version of original web series Letterkenny after the game.

CTV is also directing people to a website where they can watch the American ads.