The CRTC is going to seek the public's input into how it should deal with the escalating war between television broadcasters and cable companies. On Dec. 7th our 'irregular' regulator will hold a series of hearings on the matter. The website hopes the process will yield something that they aren't able to do... because the CRTC is hands off the Internet. Canadians have from Dec 7th until Dec. 21st to comment online: television.askingcanadians.com. But hold the Press… Hulu is already broadcasting movies and television shows over the internet… but not to Canada. Leave it to Rogers to out-hula Hollywood North.

Meanwhile back at the Wrench, Rogers is copying a page from Hulu, an American video portal, with the launch of its own — even though limited — online source for television and movies. The cable and wireless company on Monday (yesterday) opened up to the public their version of its Rogers On Demand Online website, which lets users watch full episodes of television shows, movies and other short clips. The site launched over a thousand videos from over a dozen partners including Teletoon and Super Channel, and plans to add new partners and content frequently. The site is a visual clone of Hulu, a U.S. website jointly operated by several American broadcasters, (which is blocked to Canadians because of geographic licensing restrictions). Both will organize shows, movies and other videos in click and play catalogues that viewers can then stream through a Flash player. They also feature advertisements implanted in the videos.

It looks like rabbit ears television is about to come over the Internet… or is it???

Stay tuned and in the words of Soviet Television critic Ivan Tuturnitoff, “If it ain’t the Schmengi Brothers, it ain’t television!”

The more I take, the less we become. 

John Jacobson ?535 Ross  Avenue

                               Brandon, Manitoba                              

Canada. R7A-0B2?Tel: (204) 727-7577