Independent specialties oppose over-the-air sub fee

TORONTO – An informal coalition of independent Canadian specialty channels opposes the notion of distributors paying a subscription fee to carry over-the-air TV stations. As reported last week by Cartt.ca, in its submission to the CRTC’s public process as part of its TV policy review, a group of eight specialty broadcasters said that paying sub fees to conventional broadcasters would “drastically” hurt the independents. Distributors would either pass the cost on to consumers, or reduce the fees it pays specialty networks, according to the document from the networks that are not affiliated with any distributor or large media company. (They...