navajousnom Posted August 15, 2014 Share Posted August 15, 2014 Hello, I just made an account so I am rather new here (I'm not even sure if this is the right place to post) so please forgive me if there have been numerous topics of the same or the answer is common sense. I have been looking ahead in the TCM schedule over the last month and marking dates for movies I want to see. At the time I did not in fact notice that there was both "Full Schedule" and "Canadian Schedule" options. So four movies in particular over the next two days I had marked down in my head as "I should watch that". Those movies are: Three Days of Condor, Chinatown (particularly), Foreign Correspondent (particularly) and Murder. However when I was scrolling ahead in my TV guide in anticipation I noticed that all four of them weren't there. I eventually figured out the whole "Canadian guide" thing, but that leaves me in a bit of disappointment. How often does this happen (frequent, occasionally)? What is the main reason for it (copyright issues, stupidity)? These are questions I would most like answered. Some of the movies played those days are there, but none of the ones I was hoping to see. I must say that I am feeling a little bit of disappointment with TCM at the moment as I see no reason whatsoever to limit the programming in Canada like Netflix and such. I can't really see it being a copyright issue as most of them have probably expired! Please respond if you know, but thanks for replying in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TopBilled Posted August 15, 2014 Share Posted August 15, 2014 Welcome to our posting community! The Canadian posters have said that any time a Hal Roach production airs in the U.S., it does not air in Canada-- this includes the Topper films, and a lot of the films that Laurel & Hardy made in the 1930s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tulse luper Posted August 15, 2014 Share Posted August 15, 2014 It happens all the time and is the most annoying part of being a regular TCM viewer. Look at the Faye Dunaway day (Aug. 15) - TCM Canada has gone out of its way to bore us to tears - they show the truly awful "Extraordinary Seaman" three times in one 24 hour period - yes that is right - three times. Oh and "The Champ" twice and "A Place For Lovers" twice. TCM worked real hard to find apprpriate substitutions for Canadian viewers. What we do not get is Cold Sassy Tree, Oklahoma Crude, Three Muskaeteers, Chinatown and Three Days of the Condor. Kind of takes the oomph out of celebrating Faye Dunaway when all we Canadians get is dreck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bogie56 Posted August 15, 2014 Share Posted August 15, 2014 Spending part of each year in Canada I heartily sympathize. I must tell you that the TCM they offer in England is worse still. It plays commercials. It is not 24 hours. There is no interesting commentary from Robert and Ben. The same B westerns are shown every day of the week until exhausted. They are interspersed with films like Treasure of Sierra Madre and Casablanca each and every week - films though good, we have no trouble seeing whenever we please. Any serious buff has copies of those! But yes, I often wonder who the heck is still holding the Canadian rights to films such as Topper, History Is Made at Night, etc. For other than the movie channels no station shows movies at all any more. Gone are the CBC late night movies, TVO, CITY TV movies, etc. If one is old enough you may even pine for the time when Buffalo stations had fright night Fridays. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
navajousnom Posted August 15, 2014 Author Share Posted August 15, 2014 Thank you very much for the responses, it is a shame that this happens, but I guess I should be pleased it's not as bad as England. Hopefully whoever is holding those rights will someday soon allow TCM Canada to have these movies too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lzcutter Posted August 15, 2014 Share Posted August 15, 2014 Hello, I just made an account so I am rather new here (I'm not even sure if this is the right place to post) so please forgive me if there have been numerous topics of the same or the answer is common sense. I have been looking ahead in the TCM schedule over the last month and marking dates for movies I want to see. At the time I did not in fact notice that there was both "Full Schedule" and "Canadian Schedule" options. So four movies in particular over the next two days I had marked down in my head as "I should watch that". Those movies are: Three Days of Condor, Chinatown (particularly), Foreign Correspondent (particularly) and Murder. However when I was scrolling ahead in my TV guide in anticipation I noticed that all four of them weren't there. I eventually figured out the whole "Canadian guide" thing, but that leaves me in a bit of disappointment. How often does this happen (frequent, occasionally)? What is the main reason for it (copyright issues, stupidity)? These are questions I would most like answered. Some of the movies played those days are there, but none of the ones I was hoping to see. I must say that I am feeling a little bit of disappointment with TCM at the moment as I see no reason whatsoever to limit the programming in Canada like Netflix and such. I can't really see it being a copyright issue as most of them have probably expired! Please respond if you know, but thanks for replying in advance. nava, Welcome to our community!! The majority of films that TCM broadcasts are licensed from their copyright holders. The only films that don't require this are those in the public domain and they are small in number compared to the majority of films each month. The studios have long understood the convoluted copyright laws and with the exception of a small number of films they have mostly unintentionally let slip from their grip, they require that the films that TCM leases from them come with a contract because they are, after all, the legal owners. The majority of films that TCM airs come with North American broadcast rights which includes Canada and Mexico. But there are films where either the broadcast rights for Canada don't belong to the US rights holder or aren't included in the lease contract that TCM has with each studio/distributor. In the case of the Topper film (and perhaps a few others), the Canadian rights holder is unknown. TCM has been trying for years to find out who actually owns the Canadian rights to this film but despite all their research so far, the owner remains a mystery. That means legally TCM cannot air the film in Canada because they do not have the permission of the rights holder. Their legal department (and that of Time-Warner) is not going to risk getting sued for airing a film they know they shouldn't be. While we all understand how frustrating it is to have a film that you have been waiting to see replaced on the Canadian schedule only, TCM has to abide by the law. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DownGoesFrazier Posted August 15, 2014 Share Posted August 15, 2014 nava, Welcome to our community!! The majority of films that TCM broadcasts are licensed from their copyright holders. The only films that don't require this are those in the public domain and they are small in number compared to the majority of films each month. The studios have long understood the convoluted copyright laws and with the exception of a small number of films they have mostly unintentionally let slip from their grip, they require that the films that TCM leases from them come with a contract because they are, after all, the legal owners. The majority of films that TCM airs come with North American broadcast rights which includes Canada and Mexico. But there are films where either the broadcast rights for Canada don't belong to the US rights holder or aren't included in the lease contract that TCM has with each studio/distributor. In the case of the Topper film (and perhaps a few others), the Canadian rights holder is unknown. TCM has been trying for years to find out who actually owns the Canadian rights to this film but despite all their research so far, the owner remains a mystery. That means legally TCM cannot air the film in Canada because they do not have the permission of the rights holder. Their legal department (and that of Time-Warner) is not going to risk getting sued for airing a film they know they shouldn't be. While we all understand how frustrating it is to have a film that you have been waiting to see replaced on the Canadian schedule only, TCM has to abide by the law. It would seem that evidence that an extensive search was made for the rights holder, which proved fruitless, could be a successful defense in such a lawsuit. An intentionally anonymous rights holder, waiting to pounce on a rights infringement, would not get the sympathy of any court. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkblue Posted August 15, 2014 Share Posted August 15, 2014 It would seem that evidence that an extensive search was made for the rights holder, which proved fruitless, could be a successful defense in such a lawsuit. An intentionally anonymous rights holder, waiting to pounce on a rights infringement, would not get the sympathy of any court. Yeah - if the rights holder even bothered to sue. And what would the damages be I wonder - a buck fifty? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DownGoesFrazier Posted August 15, 2014 Share Posted August 15, 2014 Yeah - if the rights holder even bothered to sue. And what would the damages be I wonder - a buck fifty? Agreed. If I were a "suit" at TCM, I wouldn't be shaking in my boots over this possibility. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
typezed Posted August 15, 2014 Share Posted August 15, 2014 I never noticed it as much in the past as I do now, even though I probably watched TCM more frequently in the past. It's more pronounced now because there is the HD feed, which blacks out its broadcast whenever the film is unavailable in Canada (lower on the dial at the SD feed, a substituted film is shown). Since I usually watch the HD feed, and now have the capability to flip ahead through the program guide on screen I'm made aware of all the times upcoming films will be blacked out. Before I would have just watched whatever was on without being aware that there was any substitution. It seems particularly bad today, with the Faye Dunaway films. I would have thought I'd watched Chinatown on TCM previously. Years ago I did notice that Alec Guiness comedies and The Third Man were unavailable on TCM Canada. I think TVO used to show these films on Saturday Night with Elwy Yost. I wonder if they still hold exclusive Canadian rights. TVO no longer shows old movies, so if they do hold rights I wish they'd loosen them in favour of someone willing to show the film, especially since they're a public broadcaster. In the same note, I wonder how many rights the CBC holds to old films, especially British productions. They would rarely if ever show any, too busy showing dated repeats of Rick Mercer and This Hour has Twenty Minutes or running Dragon's Den 12 times a week. But I'd guess if anything is buried deep in their libraries their bureaucracy would probably be resistant to giving up the rights (and for TCM not worth the hassle to deal with). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bogie56 Posted September 19, 2014 Share Posted September 19, 2014 I notice that most of the Bardot films on the 22nd of September are not on the Canadian schedule. And on the 25th TCM has pulled Raw Deal and T-Men which I was looking forward to. These films were originally listed on the Canuck schedule but no longer. So what is the deal? These films are 50, 60 years old. Is TCM acquiring rights just to show them in the U.S.? i would think that it would be dirt cheap to show these north of the 49th. The cost of packaging and transmitting an alternate movie line-up cannot be inexpensive. I wondered if the problem was that a broadcaster such as the CBC, or TVO had once acquired the Canadian rights to so many viewings of these films and now that no one shows movies anymore those rights are gathering dust. But Raw Deal and T-Men? I'm baffled. I'd consider moving to the States but I rely on our remarkable health system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DownGoesFrazier Posted September 20, 2014 Share Posted September 20, 2014 I notice that most of the Bardot films on the 22nd of September are not on the Canadian schedule. And on the 25th TCM has pulled Raw Deal and T-Men which I was looking forward to. These films were originally listed on the Canuck schedule but no longer. So what is the deal? These films are 50, 60 years old. Is TCM acquiring rights just to show them in the U.S.? i would think that it would be dirt cheap to show these north of the 49th. The cost of packaging and transmitting an alternate movie line-up cannot be inexpensive. I wondered if the problem was that a broadcaster such as the CBC, or TVO had once acquired the Canadian rights to so many viewings of these films and now that no one shows movies anymore those rights are gathering dust. But Raw Deal and T-Men? I'm baffled. I'd consider moving to the States but I rely on our remarkable health system. With all the aggravation you get from TCM films being pulled from the Canadian schedule, you're gonna need a remarkable health system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misswonderly3 Posted September 20, 2014 Share Posted September 20, 2014 With all the aggravation you get from TCM films being pulled from the Canadian schedule, you're gonna need a remarkable health system. finance, I have been out of the loop. When did you change your name to "DownGoesFrazier"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DownGoesFrazier Posted September 21, 2014 Share Posted September 21, 2014 finance, I have been out of the loop. When did you change your name to "DownGoesFrazier"? While you were out of the loop (last week). ......finance and Ediths Head are now together in eternal bliss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tulse luper Posted November 4, 2014 Share Posted November 4, 2014 It is all Bob Hope on Tuesday night - November 4 - except in Canada where instead of My Favorite Brunette we get that entirely Bob Hope-free frilm Mr. Ricco - an awful film from the seventies that has the dubious distinction of being Dean Martin's last film. What kind of a substitution is that ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DownGoesFrazier Posted November 4, 2014 Share Posted November 4, 2014 It is all Bob Hope on Tuesday night - November 4 - except in Canada where instead of My Favorite Brunette we get that entirely Bob Hope-free frilm Mr. Ricco - an awful film from the seventies that has the dubious distinction of being Dean Martin's last film. What kind of a substitution is that ? This is an example of a bad substitution. But previous discussions have indicated that often the substituted films are MORE desirable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tulse luper Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 January 28 is Richard Attenborough night except in Canada where they could not even find an Attenborough film to substitute for "The Angry Silence". Canadians get to see " The Vintage" - Richard Attenborough free. Strangely pathetic that this is the best that TCM Canada could do given the career Mr. Attenborough had. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaslovesTCM Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 I just remember last year they were celebrating Faye Dunaway and here in Canada we had the same movie play at 3 different times in one day (I forget the name) now that was ridiculous Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tulse luper Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 31 Days of Oscar - In Canada we do not see Duel In The Sun or The Fallen Idol on Februaray 10 or any other day as a matter of fact. What we do get is I Remember Mama and The Letter - both long-standing utility substitutions. Shame ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nakano Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 like i said on another post,prerecord it or watch it,many many times the subsitution does NOT happen,it is worth it to do so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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