COMMENTARY: People won't stand for it

AFTER SPENDING A LOT OF time thinking about and writing about the idea of charging a new fee for something people can get for free – over-the-air, broadcast television, that is – there’s always one inescapable conclusion: It’s going to make them mad. It was a front-page issue in the conventional TV policy hearing in late 2006 (and was ultimately denied due to lack of evidence) and it’s now part of the 2008 broadcast distribution undertaking and specialty service policy hearings coming in April: So should conventional broadcasters get a subscriber fee or not?On the one hand, broadcasters – whose...