Sunday, November 09, 2008

What Happened to SNL in Canada?

It now seems that you can't get there from here when it comes to getting from Canada to Saturday Night Live on the Web.

One gets an error message related to "location." Let's hope it's just a temporary technical glitch.

But somehow, I sense overly zealous copyright lawyering and geolocation software at work here.

Too bad, so sad.

HK

PS - Hat tip to Michael Geist - Canwest Global TV seems to have locked up the keys to SNL online for Canadians. But we can't get the same material as our American friends and you have to suffer through third party ads....See this.

Thank goodness this wasn't in place before the US election.

Yet another demonstration of how the Internet is going backwards to old business models, such as cable TV.
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6 comments:

  1. AnonymousNovember 09, 2008 8:36 pm

    lots/most of nbc's shows are location-locked to my knowledge. the last time i tried to watch "the office" via the nbc.com website, via a canadian isp, i got the same cold shoulder. i recall getting similar messages from comedy central at one point.

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  2. AnonymousNovember 16, 2008 9:14 pm

    Yea but there was atleast a moment there when you could see SNL clips online from the nbc website. I never checked it before the whole Tina Fey as Sarah Palin era but during that whole point you could see snl clips in canada. But now the election is over, I can't access those same clips from the nbc website anymore. Boo!!!

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  3. AnonymousNovember 19, 2008 10:06 am

    For those who are truly desperate to watch material blocked by geo-location software there are numerous and simple to use applications that provide a U.S. based IP address. It is continuing folly to attempt to constrain the inherent design features of the web/net and digital media. It just can't be done and serves only to punish the consumer. Some day, eventually, the old school "thinkers" in the industry will figure it out. They have no choice.

    Cheers.

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  4. AnonymousNovember 21, 2008 1:25 am

    ummmmm ok thats really helpful.

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  5. AnonymousNovember 21, 2008 1:42 am

    You can now watch from canada at Global TV:
    http://www.globaltv.com/globaltv/globalshows/saturdaynightlive/index.html

    (Office, prison break, and heroes as well I think)

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  6. AnonymousJanuary 27, 2009 3:36 am

    It's ridiculous, there's always control-freak-morons trying to control every aspect of our lives. It's SNL sketches for God's sake, not nuclear codes!

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