[ACA In The News] Goal Line Drive For Sim Sub

February 5th, 2016 | Matthew Chung, Manager, Communications and Content

ACA In The News

On Sunday evening, millions of Canadians will be gathered around their TVs to watch the Carolina Panthers and Denver Broncos compete in the Super Bowl.

This special live event delivers the biggest audience on TV in Canada, offering Canadian advertisers a prime opportunity to reach Canadians with advertising relevant to them.

However, as reported this week, under the mandate of the CRTC, this would be the last Super Bowl where Canadian advertisers have this opportunity. The Commission intends to ban simultaneous substitution for the high-profile event, starting with next year’s game.

This long-standing cornerstone policy allows broadcasters to temporarily replace the signal of a U.S. TV channel with that of a Canadian channel showing the same program at the same time. It helped to build, and continues to sustain, the Canadian broadcasting system.

That’s why ACA President and CEO Ron Lund said the reversal of it “befuddles” advertisers, when asked to comment this week by the Financial Post and The Canadian Press. Lund was also featured in the Toronto Star, where he noted the decision will have an economic ripple effect throughout the industry. Irrelevant ads, or ads that run afoul of Canadian advertising standards, may air during the game.

ACA will continue to work with willing partners to persuade the CRTC to reverse this decision.

Ron Lund is scheduled to appear on CTV News Channel (channel 62 for Rogers, GTA and 501 on Bell) Sunday at 3:15 p.m. ET for a live Q&A with host Merella Fernandez.