First off, let me give you a definition of simultaneous substitution or simsub for short. Simultaneous substitution is a Canadian law that requires cable and satellite TV companies to replace the American signal broadcasting a specific episode with the Canadian signal broadcasting the same exact episode. This was done so that an episode that is airing simultaneously in the U.S. and Canada, Canadian cable television subscribers would watch commercials from the local Canadian station.
Maybe it's my over thinking things but I am going to give an hypothetical example and I would appreciate it if you guys could tell me if it is correct or not:
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon airs at 11:35 pm on the east and west coasts and the same time in the U.S. as it does in Canada. The Tonight Show is carried in Seattle's NBC Affiliate KING 5 and on Victoria, BC CTV Two Affiliate CIVI 17. KING 5, like many American television stations, is carried on the local cable systems in British Columbia. Then the clock strikes 11:35 The Tonight Show is being broadcast in the U.S. and Canada the only noticeable difference between the two broadcasts is that CIVI - CTV Two has a bug covering up the NBC Peacock and then the viewer flips over to KING 5 only to notice that the Peacock was covered up by the CTV Bug. Fallon finishes his monologue and goes to a commercial break. KING 5 has a promo promoting their new graphics to the tune of "This is Home" that is airing uninterrupted in the United States but in Canada KING's cable feed has been covered up with an advertisement that is promoting CIVI's extended newscast that is also airing simultaneously on CIVI. The continues on with CIVI's program stream covering up KING's stream during commercial break. The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon ends and CIVI continues on to other programming while KING continues on to Late Night With Seth Meyers which is also simsubbed by CTV One on CIVT and the whole process repeats itself where the NBC Bug is covered up and the commercials are replaced with ones from CIVT.
So I guess my assumptions about simultaneous substitution are:
- The U.S. station's program stream will be replaced with that of the network who has the rights. [/*]
- Frequently the Canadian network will take the American feed covering up the logo.[/*]
- On cable systems in Canada the rights holder to the show will be placed over top of the American station's stream.[/*]
- The only way an American station's stream will remain intact is if a Canadian station does not invoke simsub rights. [/*]
The whole reason I brought this up was that I saw an image where the NBC Peacock was covered up with the CTV Two logo making it seem that CTV Two was taking a U.S. station's feed and overlaying their graphics on top of it. This leads me to one final question: Why doesn't production companies provide the Canadian television networks a clean feed of the program so they can have a clean feed to broadcast? The American networks would have to provide an exact time table of commercial breaks so one feed would not lose time on another feed.
