Competition Bureau questions role of penetration-based rate cards in fostering TV channel choice

OTTAWA – The CRTC should keep a close watch on how much television service providers pay broadcasters to distribute their programming to ensure greater competition and increased choice and flexibility for Canadian viewers, the Competition Bureau said Monday.Responding to the Commission’s consultation on a new wholesale code to govern the commercial arrangements between television service providers and television channel owners, the Bureau’s submission took aim at the use of a sliding-scale of prices that a television service provider pays to a channel owner in order to carry a particular channel. These penetration-based rate cards (PBRCs), as they are known, may incent...