Astral takes another whack at distributors at CRTC hearings

By Glenn Wanamaker

GATINEAU – Cable and satellite distributors took it on the chin again Friday at the CRTC’s hearings on broadcasting, this time from Astral Media, the country’s biggest French and English specialty and pay television network.However this time, it wasn’t over the question of carriage fees to conventional networks but over access for new entrants.Astral pressed the Commission to consider a new model that would ensure that any new specialty service, which had already won CRTC license approval, would have guaranteed access to a distributor’s lineup of channels.“Access is fundamental,” said Astral Board Chair André Bureau. He called it a “travesty”...