Canadian fans split on Super Bowl simsub ban

The Federal Court of Appeal has once again granted BCE Inc.’ s Bell Media permission to appeal a ban on simultaneous ad substitution during the National Football League’s Super Bowl, even though Canada’s broadcast regulator still hasn’t officially issued it.

The court gave the official go- ahead Feb. 11, four days after what may have been the last Super Bowl where Canadian football fans were unable to watch American advertisements, if the Canadian Radio- television and Telecommunications Commission has its way.

Meanwhile, the CRTC is proceeding with its proposal to issue an order banning the ad- swapping practice, wrapping up a public consultation period Friday.

In November, the CRTC argued that a previous attempt by Bell to take the regulator to court over the ban was premature, arguing it had only signalled its intention to disallow simultaneous substitution during the Super Bowl starting in 2017.

Bell- owned channel CTV has the exclusive Canadian rights to the Super Bowl and has a longstanding practice of requiring cable companies to substitute CTV’s signal for the American stations carrying the program during advertisements.

Bell and t he NFL responded by filing new motions with the court in December, with Bell arguing it doesn’t have time to argue over semantics and needs a decision from the court before June, when it would normally start selling ad slots for the 2017 Super Bowl.

In a submission to the CRTC as part of its call for comments on the proposed ban, Bell’s chief legal and regulatory officer Mirko Bibic called the situation “astonishing” and said the regulator should not issue the ban while the appeal is before the courts. “The decision is not only wrong, it was arrived at without the necessary regard for procedural fairness,” he said in the submission.

Both the CRTC and Bell claim to have public support on their side. The CRTC cites complaints about “simsub” during the Super Bowl that were received in advance of a hearing into the future of television in the digital age. Bell, meanwhile, claims 69 per cent of Canadians agreed it is more important to support Canadian broadcasters than to see American Super Bowl ads, citing a Nanos Research poll it commissioned.

Canadian football fans who responded to the CRTC’s call for comments were split. Out of 22 responses posted to the regulator’s website Friday afternoon, eight expressed support for the proposed order eliminating simsub during the Super Bowl, while seven individuals and four organizations, including the NFL, opposed it. There were also two responses in an unreadable format and one respondent whose position was unclear.

The court has yet to set a hearing date for the appeal. A spokeswoman for the CRTC said the regulator expects to take about four months to consider the submissions from the public and issue the order.