The Darkness and the Light

A couple of things are rolling around the inner-tubes today which get regularly discussed here and I've been peppered with requests for my take on the Globe and Mail column predicting a Stephen Harper sneak attack on the CRTC as well as predictions that some former CTV sports exec being hired by Rogers implies an impending takeover of the network.

Okay, for starters, it's August. Is everybody familiar with the "dog days of summer" and "slow news day" concepts?

When people are wilting from the heat, only a big news story or wild speculation gets most of them to pay attention. And I think both of these items fall into the latter category.

At least I sure hope they do. Traffic from creative types on Facebook and Twitter all day was very supportive of Konrad von Finckenstein and his commissioners, indicating they've finally seen the light as far as our cause is concerned and we don't need to go back to square one with somebody new.

I hope that's true, although I've yet to see any tangible evidence. And revealing that a regulator shares the artists' point of view in this country might bring about an early demise quicker than any politician with an itchy hatchet hand.

However, three years of turmoil in the industry (all under KvF's watch) might be all any of us should be required to tolerate. And an explusion would at least give one member of the gang a chance to catch up on his reading.

As far as Rogers buying CTV. That doesn't make much sense given the convergence between television, internet and mobile that is ramping up.

Does Bell really want to lose their television presence? What will Rogers have to divest in order to be allowed to take possession? Figuring all that out could take another couple of years of CRTC hearings plus whatever spending restrictions become self imposed to pay for the financing.

We could be looking at another lost decade of production.

Oh God, maybe that's why they're doing it….

Okay, take a deep breath and step into the light. There really is a future coming that's better than what we have now.

Every time I write about some out of the box idea somebody is pursuing to counter some world problem the cheerleaders of doom are championing, I get slammed by people saying, "It'll never work".

Well, here's one that is. Ripped from the pages of today's NY Times and just in time to cushion the blow of those increased electrical bills sliding through the mail slot. Affordable solar power so simple and cheap it's literally plug and play.

While the shadows eternally lengthen around our industry, this might be proof that we need to detach from accepted or promoted methods and bask in the sunshine of a whole new way of doing things.