CNBC blackouts of The Apprentice: No longer makes sense!

With a Highlights episode only airing on CNBC, and the CRTC blacking out the show due to cable rights that no longer exists, this nonsense has got to stop!

According to NBC’s The Apprentice 5 website (http://www.nbc.com/The_Apprentice_5), they have announced that a clip show episode of the series will be available for free on iTunes. However, despite being free, I still cannot download the show because I am a Canadian resident, and I need a US based account to download the show. Oh well…the website also says I can watch the Highlight show on CNBC on Sunday, April 23rd at 9PM et and Monday, April 24th, 12AM et. However, anyone who has tried to watch those airings have realized that they are always replace with the CNBC World feed. This is the same annoying thing that happens with the Olympics (http://www.channelcanada.com/Article529.html), although that has to do with sports rights, which is very understandable.

What is not understandable is why this blackout is occuring. Many multiple cable channels air the same show: Kenny vs. Spenny airs on both GSN and Showcase, yet Showcase isn’t blacking out GSN whenever that show airs. And Star Trek: The Next Generation airs weekdays on both Space and Spike TV, with no blackouts occuring between the two channels. The CNBC case come from the fact that Prime HAD the rights to air same-week repeats of The Apprentice. I said “HAD” becuase Prime isn’t airing those repeats anymore, and, with the blackout of CNBC airings, this is leaving Canadian viewers with the Monday NBC/Global airing for their Apprentice fix, and no other times that they can choose to view the show. This is why there is no reason anymore to have a blackout when the show airs on CNBC because no Canadian station wants to air those repeats. Factor in a special Apprentice episode that will ONLY be availiable on CNBC in Canada, yet the show will still be blacked out will annoy viewers to the greatest degree. If Canadian broadcasters are trying to protect their rights to shows that no viewer will ever see, then I guess my theory was right all this time: piracy is king! Because that will be the only way Canadians will ever see this episode, and a whole lot of other shows that because of regulations and other factors that prevent our ability to watch what we want.

The message is clear: there is no longer any reason to have Apprentice blackouts on CNBC, so let’s remove them, and we can watch the Highlight Show without any trouble.