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Two weeks ago, HBO's Inside Sports ran an 8 minute feature starring Chris Rock, about all that ails baseball these days. The origins of my column was to focus on how an industry as revered and timeless as baseball, can become arcane by not changing with the times.
When my favourite sports radio show was talking about Chris Rock's video and baseball's reality, I immediately went searching for the internet gold.
Instead, on the morning of April 23rd when I searched for the "viral" video, I was met with a Geo-Block. Curious because HBO Canada does not carry HBO's Inside Sports. So why would it be blocked? No matter, the Canadian rights holder that houses the HBO channel will certainly have it.
Nope. The video found its way onto YouTube 6 days later, but rather than writing about baseball's antiquated ways, I am writing about how media companies cannot get content distribution down.
This run around is nothing new for Canadians. Many Jon Stewart clips that get featured on mainstream U.S. TV shows and websites like TMZ, do not see the light of day on the internet in Canada. The Canadian rights holder for the Daily Show with Jon Stewart show keeps full shows. (up to 30 days)
Good luck trying to find the hilarious clip that has gone viral around the world - except Canada.
Unless something changes, Canadians will have something else to complain about aside from the annual simultaneous substitution Super Bowl rant. Once Canadians have said their piece, media companies will feel browbeaten by the CRTC, and the cycle of consumer abuse will continue.
Here's the video that took until April 28th before I was "allowed" to see it. It was posted by lyfeblood.com on YouTube.