QUISPAMSIS, N.B. – Canada’s smaller independent cable companies lost their voice in Ottawa this year with the closure of the Canadian Cable Telecommunications Association in February.
Because its 94 member companies still want to be heard by government and the CRTC, the Canadian Cable Systems Alliance decided at a board meeting on Thursday it will re-enter the regulatory arena, albeit on a far smaller scale than what the CCTA offered.
The CCSA has retained Harris Boyd as its new regulatory advisor. Boyd was a long-time executive with the CCTA and was its senior vice-president, industry relations, when the association closed. The alliance is also chatting with former CCTA vice-president of legal affairs, Jay Kerr-Wilson, to retain his services and that of his new employer, Johnston Buchan, one of the leading media and telecom firms in Canada, so that we will be able to continue to provide the same level of service with respect to copyright," said CCSA president and CEO Alyson Townsend.
CCSA legal counsel Chris Edwards will oversee the regulatory aspects of the alliance going forward.
"We are moving into regulatory," said Townsend. "Our board has determined that there was a significant loss to our members with the demise of the CCTA… and not only regulatory representation, they got continuous, ad hoc regulatory advice, they got copyright assistance. they got lobbying efforts, and were able to spend time with the larger companies and to learn from them."
The CCSA has been, largely, an educational resource and buying group for its members (who collectively count about a million cable subscribers, and include two larger members, Persona Communications and EastLink) securing deals on programming, hardware and services. Its forays into the regulatory side of the industry were few as most CCSA members were also CCTA members and content to let the Ottawa-based association do the lobbying and respond to regulatory filings.
"The loss of the CCTA was a blow," added Townsend. "We can not, of course, recreate the CCTA but what we have done is look at the functions that CCTA provided for the independents and determined which of those were most important."
This being the CCSA – where saving members’ money is key – the board decided that the group will only file regulatory responses on files with direct commercial impact on small cable operators. It will also contact other CCTA-experienced folks as well, such as Lori Assheton-Smith and Susanne Blackwell, both of whom remain in Ottawa when their expertise is required.
CCSA members will be asked to serve on two new committees, which will steer the new regulatory arm: a telecom committee and a broadcasting committee.
Plus, when before the CRTC or any other body, there won’t be any high-priced consultants brought in to speak to certain issues. "We are going to rely heavily on our members. We think that the Commission and the government might like to hear directly from the owners," says Townsend.
However, when it comes to the range of large issues in Ottawa, the CCSA says it still plans to take some of its cues from the big Canadian MSOs. "We are still going to rely on the larger cable companies to carry the ball in a lot of cases and we intend to develop a relationship and work closely with them," explained Townsend.
When the CCTA wound down, there was some thought that Cogeco and its 820,000 customers would join the CCSA, thus enabling the alliance to open an office in Ottawa. However, Cogeco has not yet decided if it will join, said Townsend.
