Raw Is Moving

Today, WWE made a major announcement regarding their television programming in Canada. After 11 years of Raw on TSN, WWE's flagship program is moving to The Score, the same channel that carries WWE Smackdown. This was a big deal, and definitely represents a major shift, and a bit of a loss for TSN.

For me, this is like a neglected wife leaving her husband for the arms of a man who appreciates her. Here in Canada, the first time I saw Monday Night RAW was on CKVR, which became The New VR, and then became A-Channel Barrie. But that relationship soured with the Brian Pillman gun angle. After that, TSN had the Canadian broadcast rights to RAW, a relationship that worked out fairly well for all parties involved. (Interestingly enough, CKVR was/is owned by CHUM and TSN is owned by Bell Globemedia, which just purchased CHUM Media for an obscene amount of money) Of course, in the very early days, RAW wasn't broadcast on Monday nights, and could usually be found at 9 am or at some point on the weekends. Eventually, RAW found its way to Monday Nights, just in time for the birth of WWE Attitude. Which, of course, led to the first big problem in the WWF(E)/TSN relationship.

Much of what aired during the Attitude Era was deemed unacceptable for viewing in Canada. I can only attribute this to the fact that Canadians are not as smart, sophisticated or educated as Americans, and are unable to make their own decisions regarding what is acceptable viewing. As such, we rely on government regulatory agencies, television censors and professional self-regulatory standards councils to help us determine what we should be viewing. There were times when, watching RAW, a Canadian would see more canned crowd shots than actual programming. The irony here, of course, is that Canada typically enjoys more freedom in their broadcasting with CTV (the broadcast arm of Bell Globemedia, as opposed to TSN which is only available via cable subscription) broadcasting unedited episodes of The Sopranos. The logic behind editing RAW for cable transmission and not editing The Sopranos for television broadcast was that "The Sopranos is dramatic programming and WWF is sports programming." (A direct quote from correspondence with the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council.) As such, actions which would be acceptable in one venue such as The Sopranos, would not be acceptable in another, like RAW. Of course, none of this was really TSN's problem, but it does indicate the problems in the TSN/WWF(E) relationship.

Once wrestling got really hot, TSN made sure to have RAW on Monday nights. Unless there was something else they would rather show. Which is my biggest problem with the way TSN handled RAW. Sure they showed it, but they would pre-empt it for hockey, or curling, or baseball, or tennis. TSN knew that wrestling fans would follow the show wherever they stuck it, so they didn't have to worry about not showing it live. Of course, TSN was more than happy to take advantage of the dedication of wrestling fans, using them to help a fledgling sports round table talk show called Off The Record by featuring WWE wrestlers as guests. This show helped a useless joke of a broadcaster named Michael Landsberg establish a niche for himself as the guy in the easy chair who reads topics off cue cards.

Landsberg also serves as a great example of the lack of respect that TSN had for wrestling fans. I remember a radio interview he did where he mocked wrestling fans, insulted their intelligence, and accused them of making death threats when they were displeased. This just goes to show how TSN and their public faces thought of the people who watched one of their most successful programs.

This pre-emption program only worsened when RAW moved from USA Network to TNN/SpikeTV. Unlike USA Network, TNN/SpikeTV is available in Canada. And when a Canadian station and an American station carry the same program, Canadian stations use a practice called simulcasting, wherein the signal of the Canadian broadcaster is broadcast over the American signal. At least when both stations are showing the program at the same time. But for some reason, TNN/SpikeTV never showed RAW, except for the very first episode. Even when TSN was showing something else, Canadian TNN/SpikeTV viewers got to enjoy CSI or VIP or one of the other insipid programs that littered the TNN/SpikeTV landscape. Because TSN had the Canadian broadcast rights and because they were showing something else, they had the right to deny RAW to Canadian viewers. Not exactly the actions of a broadcaster that cared about its audience.

Of course, with WWE's move back to USA, this isn't as much of an issue. (Although I would like to point out just how much Canadian television sucks when compared to the U.S. You have TNT, USA, FX, Cartoon Network, Comedy Central, TVLand and others, and we have the CBC. Yay, hockey and news. Canada rocks.) But TSN has continued to pre-empt RAW on a somewhat regular basis, particularly for Maple Leafs hockey. RAW continued to bring in decent ratings for TSN, but they were content in the knowledge that wrestling fans would find the programming wherever they stuck it.

But all that is over now. Now TSN can show whatever they want on Monday nights. Of course, they have acquired the rights to the new ESPN Monday Night Football, and then they'll show Leafs games and Blue Jays games. As for the rest of the Monday nights, they'll probably show reruns of World's Strongest Man competitions or darts or billiards or something like that. And we Canadian fans can tune into The Score at 10 pm on Monday nights for RAW, secure in the knowledge that our show won't be pre-empted for piss poor hockey that only appeals to a bunch of brainwashed cult members too stupid to recognize a lost cause when its bites them on the ass.

The 10 pm thing, thats a Can-Con thing. The Score shows horse racing on Monday nights, and they can't move it because of Canadian Content regulations. For those not in the know, Can-Con is legally required Canadian programming. The reasoning for this is that Canadian programming is typically inferior to American programming, and must be forced down the throats of Canadian viewers, who would otherwise show zero interest in watching the garbage that Canadians produce.