Simultaneous substitution
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Simultaneous substitution or simsub, is the practice by which cable, direct broadcast satellite and multichannel multipoint distribution service television distribution companies substitute a local or regional signal over a foreign or non-local signal, when two or more stations are airing the same programming at the same time. It is sometimes erroneously referred to as "simulcasting"; that term refers to the simultaneous broadcast of a program over two channels, regardless of whether or not there is signal replacement.
An interest, either of civic/national pride, or of protecting smaller commercial interests, is usually involved. The practice has close similarities between Canada and the United States.
[edit] Canada
In Canada, although sometimes controversial, this practice is required by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission as a way to protect the broadcast rights and commercial revenues of Canadian television broadcasters, by ensuring that the Canadian commercials are seen by nearly all viewers of the program.[citation needed]
For example, Global airs several popular American series such as The Simpsons. With simultaneous substitution, Global can ensure that advertisements purchased on their network are seen by nearly all Canadians watching the show at that particular time, rather than losing advertising revenue because some viewers were seeing the FOX affiliate's commercials instead. This issue is at its most controversial during the Super Bowl, where the simsub situation usually keeps Canadian audiences from seeing the American commercials that they would actually want to view during the Super Bowl. The replacement ads are often the same ones seen on Canadian television at all other times of the year, although the amount of "original" creative content by Canadian advertisers during recent editions has increased significantly.[citation needed]
Simsubs can only occur when a local and a non-local station are airing identical programming. Using the Simpsons example above, Global can only simsub a FOX affiliate airing the same episode of The Simpsons in the same time slot (hence "simultaneous"). The network cannot simsub if FOX is airing a different episode, and it cannot simsub a FOX affiliate airing the show at a different time.
Simultaneous substitutions are performed by the cable, satellite or MDS distributor, from a list submitted by the station in advance. Simultaneous substitution applies only to those methods of distribution. U.S. terrestrial signals available in Canadian border markets cannot be simsubbed. As well, simsubs can only be applied by cable companies in areas where the local station is available terrestrially.
However, one station, NTV in St. John's, has a reputation for being particularly sloppy about this; cable viewers frequently find NTV's programming, which can be as much as five minutes out of sync with respect to the American signals, substituted over signals that are sometimes not even carrying the same programming.[citation needed] (In fairness to the station, the substitution itself is performed by local cable operator Rogers Cable, although the station is responsible for requesting the substitutions.)
As well, some American stations whose signals are distributed in major Canadian cities (especially stations in rural northern Vermont which depend on carriage in Montreal for their financial viability, and to a lesser extent stations in Buffalo, New York, near Toronto) intentionally counterprogram against this rule, altering their schedules so that their programming is not simsubbed, sometimes causing the Canadian stations to alter their schedules in order to continue simsubbing. Viewers of the affected shows can become annoyed and choose not to watch if this game of "back and forth" continues for too long.
Although the market share and revenue provided by simultaneous substitution is a boon to the Canadian commercial broadcast television industry, the extent to which their schedules depend on matching American scheduling creates the unintended, and sometimes controversial, consequence of making it difficult to find viable timeslots in which to develop audiences for Canadian series. To maximize advertising revenue, most Canadian television stations plan their schedules principally around creating as many simultaneous substitution opportunities as possible for the American programming that they purchase. Programming that cannot be simsubbed, including much Canadian content programming, is commonly scheduled as a secondary concern, to fill holes where a simsubbed American program cannot be placed. Some cultural critics, in fact, have alleged that the practice of simultaneous substitution consequently plays an inappropriately large role in determining how much Canadian content is even produced, let alone aired.
[edit] United States
While some Canadians erroneously believe that simultaneous substitution is a uniquely Canadian policy, and allege that it represents an undemocratic intrusion by the CRTC into Canadian television viewing habits, in actual fact cable companies in the United States are required by the Federal Communications Commission to follow a very similar policy of syndication exclusivity, or "syndex". Under syndex rules, a non-local channel carrying a program at the same time as a local one may be simultaneously substituted or even blacked out entirely for the duration of the program.
Some systems have also employed special equipment, which automatically switches to the local channel if both signals are the same, then switches back to the out-of-town channel if the signals are different (such as during local commercial breaks and programming). This generally works only for network programming, as well as programming seen simultaneously on Canadian stations available on American systems.
