It appears that E! Channel is carrying two hours of red carpet coverage prior to tonight's SAG (Screen Actors Guild) Awards, but the awards show itself is not being carried by any Canadian channel!

How stupid is that?

In the US, the Awards Show is being carried by both TNT & TBS.  Up until late 2007 we would have been able to watch TBS, but that cabler was cut off when they started to carry too many sitcoms which Canadian broadcasters had the rights to.

At a time when other awards shows have been shut down by the writers strike, it's ironic that the one show with a waiver from the union is not to be shown in this country.  

Doubly ironic to have the "pre-game show" but not the "game!"

It appears Alex Strachan did a story on this in Friday's Times Colonist.  The only Canadian station to pick up the SAG Awards is Toronto's SUN TV.  Why would E! go to the trouble of doing the warm-up from the Red Carpet & not carry the Awards, if they are available for that market?  

Tight-fisted Global management, could that be it?

1.  What are you talking about when you refer to TBS.  The station/feed that was avaliable in Canada has never changed, it was always the local feed and not the USA national feed....

2. The reason E is carrying it is because it is part of the contract they have with Comcast (the owners of E in the states).   They have to carry so much of E programming and this is part off it.  It has nothing to do with tight fisted management.  

Nice to know we have some folks prepared to go with the corporate viewpoint here .. that we're not ALL concerned with the rights of the viewers/listeners.

1. Whatever .. the feed is no longer TBS as it was until a few months ago.  It is now WPCH, for Peachtree TV.

2.  I seriously doubt E! is being FORCED to carry the SAG Red Carpet.  In any case it makes no sense to do so when at 8 PM Western Canadian viewers have nowhere to go for the main event.

And if the SAG Show itself was available to a station in Toronto, would it not be available elsewhere?  If you spent a buck or two?

1.  I always love the 'whatever' someone throws out when they're beat on the facts.  Facts?  Facts!?  Who needs em?!  'Whatever!'  (Shakes Head...)

2.  The counter would be... *why wouldn't* they carry the red carpet show?  If your mission is to be 'Everything Entertainment', and the SAG awards is a key piece of the story of the ongoing WGA/Producers dispute, then why ignore it -- even if you don't have the rights to the awards show.  That'd be like saying "we don't have the actual Super Bowl, so we will just ignore it and pretend it's not going on, even though it's happening in our city."  That kind of thinking lacks logic.

If you ever watch E! in the USA, they show many red carpets...but not the award show...

But in every US market, there IS a channel carrying the main event.  THAT's the difference.

Ya on a cable station not everyone gets...I have friends in Seattle that do not get those two stations...so just like here in Canada....its on a station not everyone gets...

Again, a question of choice.  They CHOOSE not to get that channel.  

And chances are, if they don't get TBS or TNT, they don't have the cable channel E! either .. teasing them with the pre-game show.