CRTC evens out packaging rules for Canadian services

OTTAWA – The CRTC has tweaked the linkage and distribution rules for BDUs.The revisions, which impact class 1 and 2 licensees and direct-to-home satellite operators, are designed to allow more flexibility in the packaging of Canadian specialty services with non-Canadian-originated services, including authorized U.S. superstations, to ensure that all BDUs are competing on a level playing field.The Commission’s old regulations mandated that a Canadian pay television service be packaged in a given discretionary tier with no more than five channels containing any of the non-Canadian-originated services specified in either Section A or Section B of its list of Part 2...