Tod Maffin discovered yesterday that Shaw Cable has consigned gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender (please, someone invent a more elegant term, and fast) station OUTtv to the digital backrooms of its channel lineup: well into the 300s, “right between the porn pay-per-view, Hustler, and Playboy. Literally, it has three porn channels above it and three below it.” It’s an obscure enough location that Tod didn’t even know Shaw offered the channel.
For the record, OUTtv doesn’t play any porn movies. Not even the soft-focus romantic stuff. I checked the next five days of listings, and the raciest I could see was a newscast in the wee hours where men, far better endowed than I, disrobe while delivering the news. No, really.
Compare that to Showcase, which is on basic cable, which tonight is showing “Emmanuelle” described as a saucy “series following her amorous adventures.”
This probably has a lot to do with Shaw Cable’s Calgary-based CEO, Jim Shaw. When the now-defunct PrideVision launched in 2001, Shaw refused to carry a preview of it on his network. Strange, considering he had no problem with the channel SexTV!
The CRTC later forced him to carry it.
Now, he’s booted the embarassingly tame OUTtv to the dirty-section of the dial, where nobody will see it. (OUTtv was actually a spin-off of PrideVision. The tame lifestyle stuff went to OUTtv; the harder stuff went to a pay-only specialty channel.)
The comparison with Showcase is pretty damning, and Shaw’s record to date doesn’t merit much – ahem – pride. It’s time Shaw rescued OUTtv from its pornographic purgatory and offered it alongside the rest of its specialty channels. There’s plenty of room.
Dear Readers,
A few clarifications on these points from OUTtv’s perspective.
1) OUTtv does not currently carry any “Adult” content. OUTtv voluntarily adheres to the adult content guidelines set by the Ontario Film Board which is the only body in Canada that sets such guidelines. Shaw has been made aware of these programming changes.
OUTtv’s programming is primarily dramatic television including British hit shows like “Sugar Rush” and coming this fall “Bad Girls”, “Mile High” and “The Graham Norton Effect”.
2) Shaw has changed OUTtv’s channel placement twice in the last 18 months. Originally OUTtv was appropriately placed at Channel 100, then to Channel 200 and now to Channel 370. At no time was OUTtv advised in advance of these changes as required by the CRTC. Furthermore Shaw did not contact OUTtv at anytime prior to or after these placement changes to advise that it had issues relating to Adult Content on OUTtv. To date Shaw has not provided any explanation for the placement changes.
Shaw was asked in writing to return OUTtv to it’s original placement. Shaw has formally refused without providing any explanation.
Yours truly,
Brad Danks, LLB
Chief Operating Officer
Convergent Entertainment
I think it’s an embarrassment and shameful how Shaw has treated and still treats OUTtv. It’s ridiculous and I personally would never subscribe to any Shaw service because of this.