OTTAWA – Broadcasters’ requests to be paid for their signal by cable and satellite companies will remain a part of the TV Policy Review, the Commission told Telus this week.
As exclusively reported by Cartt.ca last week, the western telco petitioned the CRTC to drop discussion of fee-for-carriage due to the changing nature of the broadcast industry both globally (WIPO) and at home (BGM’s proposed CHUM purchase). That and the fact the Commission ruled in 1993 that such fees were beyond its scope of influence.
Broadcasters look at specialty services and the wholesale fees they collect and would like to see a windfall like that. Such fees could collectively cost Canadians in the hundreds of millions.
However in a letter to Telus dated Tuesday, the CRTC assured the company (which has a nascent DSL/IPTV service running on a very limited basis in Alberta and B.C.) fee-for-carriage will indeed be part of the agenda.
When it comes to items such as BGM-CHUM, "the Commission considers that its published regulatory calendar should not generally be determined by such unanticipated developments," says the CRTC letter from secretary-general Diane Rheaume.
And what about the 1993 ruling mentioned above? "With respect to the Commission’s ruling set out in Public Notice CRTC 1993-74… it is the Commission’s view that its policies and regulations should be reviewed on a regular basis," writes Rheaume.
As for the international talks at the WIPO level that may also cost distributors hundreds of millions, "the Commission notes that this has been under discussion for several years and that the Canadian government has taken no formal position on the proposal. The Commission considers that ongoing discussions at the international level should not prevent Canadians from exchanging views on how best to implement the objectives of their Broadcasting Act," reads the letter.
– Greg O’Brien
