EDMONTON – Canada’s current broadcast legislation fosters anti-competitive behaviour among the dominant cable companies, says Allarco Entertainment, owners of Canadian pay-TV service Super Channel.
In a letter to the Heritage Committee on Wednesday, the Edmonton-based company called for “ways to enforce meaningful consequences to anti-competitive behaviour” such as including administrative monetary penalties (AMPs) in the Broadcasting Act, and adding “civil remedies” for licensees that have been “harmed by breaches of regulatory obligations by Broadcast Distribution Undertakings (BDUs)”.
It also asked that the Heritage Committee acknowledge “the ineffectiveness of the present regulatory system to enable the CRTC to achieve its mission of preserving fairness, transparency and consumer choice”.
"…(I)n the United States and in Great Britain, the FCC and OFCOM, both national broadcast and telecom regulators, have wide powers to impose fines on corporations that do not comply with the letter, intent or expectations of legislation, regulations and/or licence conditions,” the letter reads. “This is not the case with our own CRTC."
Allarco filed for creditor protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act last summer. At that time, president and COO Malcolm Knox alleged that some BDUs, most notably Rogers, had failed to honour their obligation to fairly promote and sell Super Channel equally with other networks, which had resulted in the fledgling network being unable to achieve its business plan. It also filed an undue preference complaint to the CRTC against Rogers, which the Commission upheld in September. Super Channel is a must-carry for BDUs serving English language markets.
In a separate statement, Allarco chairman and CEO Charles Allard said that current broadcasting legislation must be overhauled in order to keep up with the “new technological era”.
"Our experience with some of the major BDUs is but one indication that the regulatory structure has not kept pace with changes in technology and consumer demand for a more competitive marketplace”, Allard said in the statement. “As we turn the page on a new decade, the time is ripe to make regulations appropriate and responsive to current business realities and consumer expectations."
