Juno broadcast to air pre-taped
TORONTO (CP) — When Canadian music fans tune in to CTV on Sunday to see if their favourite artist takes home a Juno Award, many will be doing so after the show has taken place.
In most parts of the country, viewers will see a pre-taped version of Canada’s premier music awards gala, to be hosted this year by pop superstar Nelly Furtado in Saskatoon.
The unusual situation is all because of a two-hour episode of the hugely popular reality show “The Amazing Race.”
CTV wants to simulcast CBS’s broadcast of “The Amazing Race,” which airs at different times across the country.
As a result, the Junos will be bumped to 10 p.m. in Ontario and Quebec and as late as 11 p.m. in the Maritimes on the main network.
However, the show will be broadcast live in Atlantic Canada on the CTV-owned channel ASN, airing at 10 p.m. in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island and 10:30 p.m. in Newfoundland.
Out west, the show will be broadcast much earlier, hitting airwaves live at 7 p.m. in Alberta and taped at 9 p.m. in British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
Confused?
CTV admits that the Juno schedule is a head-scratcher, but says that pitting the music awards show against “The Amazing Race” on CBS was not an option.
“Our priority has always been to showcase the Junos to the biggest possible audience and we’re confident that this Sunday’s game plan ensures that this will happen once again,” said CTV spokesman Mike Cosentino.
Two years ago it was the campy soap opera “Desperate Housewives” that caused scheduling headaches for CTV.
It ended up bumping the Junos show by a half hour in all time zones.
CTV spokesman Scott Henderson said the network’s varied schedule has meant a constantly changing airtime for the Junos from year to year.
“We try to do the best we can to protect the show and we don’t want to compete against ourselves,” Henderson said.
Music fans with satellite television can sneak a peak at the awards show a bit earlier through broadcast “time shifting.” For instance, viewers in Ontario and Quebec can catch the show at 9 p.m. instead of 10 p.m. by tuning into the Maritime’s ASN feed or Alberta’s CTV feed, which both air one hour earlier than the local feed.
This year’s Junos will feature performances by rockers Three Days Grace, punk band Alexisonfire, hip-hop sensation k-os and veterans the Tragically Hip.
Furtado, rock band Billy Talent and k-os lead the nominees with five nods each.
An encore broadcast will air on CTV on Easter Sunday, April 8, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. across the country.
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