They were subject to CanCon but that was not the issue here because (1) Canadian tastes are different from those of Americans, (2) there was a *lot* of excellent Canadian music being released, and (3) they needed to differentiate themselves from MTV that was available via satellite.
The real problem was that the CRTC, Canada’s broadcast regulator, is in the habit of micromanaging format and content. The biggest headache for all specialty TV channels is the capricious manner in which they regulate competition; a good example of this was their decision that three TV stations in Toronto was too much for Bell to control but it was OK for Bell to sell one of them to Rogers, which already owned two TV stations, three radio stations and the cable company here.
“Let’s revitalize programming!”
“Let’s diversify the workforce!”
“Let’s cut costs!”
“Let’s trim salaries!”
“Let’s do another audit!”
Nobody at Bell Media ever thinks:
Let’s SELL SOME TIME!
Hold a million dollars in ad sales in front of their faces and they say:
“How interesting. That stuff looks like money. Oh well. Let’s examine our programming phenomenology vis a vis transcultural phenomena. And by the way why did Bob get fired?”