The CRTC on Tuesday denied Accessible Media Inc.’s (AMI) application earlier this year to increase the monthly per-subscriber rates broadcasters are required to pay the not-for-profit media company to carry its English-language AMI-tv and French-language AMI-télé channels.
AMI had been seeking a one-cent and two-cent increase per subscriber per month for AMI-tv and AMI-télé, respectively, on a temporary basis until the next licence renewal period in August 2026.
In its decision Tuesday, the CRTC said AMI had not demonstrated an immediate financial need for the monthly rate increases and it did not propose clear and substantial programming changes that would significantly improve the services following a rate increase.
On the matter of AMI’s financial situation, the CRTC noted: “[I]n 2023, AMI-télé reported its highest profit before interest and taxes (PBIT) margin (7.6%) since 2016, while the PBIT margin for AMI-tv in the same year was closer to profitability than in 2022 (-0.8% versus -5.6%). This may result from AMI’s 2022 strategic review aimed at finding efficiencies and cost savings in original content creation.”
Furthermore, AMI’s cash surplus increased substantially from 2018 to 2023, according to its audited financial statements, which the CRTC said would be more appropriate for the not-for-profit to draw upon to offset decreases in BDU subscription revenues that AMI cited in its application, rather than relying on increases to its channels’ monthly wholesale rates.
In addition, while AMI had indicated any additional revenues generated from the requested rate increases would be used to produce 25 additional hours of Canadian content for its two services, AMI did not propose any changes to its conditions of service to formalize changes in programming, and “has not provided detailed plans and evidence regarding the type and quantity of content to be produced,” the commission noted in its decision.
