Sunday's Super Bowl was likely the last time Canadians will see the broadcast with American advertisements included.
The federal government is set to rescind the ruling that enabled Canadian viewers to watch a live feed of the Super Bowl directly from U.S. broadcast networks. Ottawa says it is forced to change the ruling due to the new free trade agreement with America and Mexico.
The opportunity for Canadian football fans to watch U.S. Super Bowl commercials was short-lived.
Until 2017, Canadian viewers were blocked from the full U.S. Super Bowl feed, including the commercials that are produced for the event, as domestic Canadian broadcasters were able to substitute their own versions of the broadcast carried by cable and satellite providers.
Since then, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has prevented simultaneous substitution during the big game despite protests from Bell Media and other Canadian broadcasters. That rule is now set to be rescinded by Ottawa as part of its renegotiated trade agreement with the United States and Mexico, but the deal has not yet been ratified.
Under Annex 15-D of the new trade agreement, Canada agreed to rescind the CRTC's 2016 Super Bowl policy so that the NFL's programming doesn't receive less favourable treatment than other programming from the U.S. that's re-transmitted in Canada. In effect, the treaty recognizes that the football league — as owner of the Super Bowl programming rights — has the authority under copyright law to decide who can re-transmit its programming.
