OTTAWA – The CRTC said Monday that it won’t be moving into the regulation of access to the inside wiring of commercial properties such as hotels and nursing homes.
The potential for such regulation arose from a dispute (what else?) between Bell ExpressVu and Rogers Cable. In February 2005, the DTH company asked for an expedited resolution on its complaint that Rogers was contravening section 10 of the Broadcast Distribution Regulations by not allowing access to its plant inside such buildings.
The Commission instead called for comments on possible regulatory amendments to section 10, which really speaks only to single family homes and MDUs (multiple dwelling units: apartments and condos).
"Having considered the record of the proceeding, the Commission has determined that mandating access to such wiring in these properties by subscribers and by competing BDUs would not contribute significantly to the competitive health of the broadcasting distribution market or significantly advance end-user choice," says Monday’s decision. "For these reasons, the Commission concludes that its intervention to regulate competitive access to wiring in commercial and institutional properties is not warranted at this time."
For example, says part of the explanation: "Having considered the information filed and the comments received as to the size of the potential market, the Commission is of the view that the estimates of the number of ‘units’ in commercial and institutional properties provided by the parties to this proceeding likely overstate the size of the market for BDU services," it reads. "For instance, many of these units, such as the individual rooms in a university dormitory or a hospital, are of a type that may not have wiring, or may house residents who would not be likely to subscribe to a BDU’s television services. In some such commercial and institutional properties, television service may be shared by the residents of a number of units through the use of ‘common rooms.’ Consequently, the number of potential revenue-generating units in commercial and institutional properties may actually be considerably less than the estimated total number of units in these properties."
However, given concerns raised by some intervenors on how telecom infrastructure is delivering broadcast TV and that cable is delivering telephone that perhaps the telecom and broadcast rules in this market should be harmonized, the Commission said it would keep its eye on this part of the industry.
"(T)he Commission concludes that it would be inappropriate to harmonize the broadcasting and telecommunications regimes with respect to inside and in-building wire. The Commission notes, however, that, given the increasing use of telecommunications facilities to deliver broadcasting services, and of broadcasting distribution facilities to deliver telecommunications services, it may be necessary, at some point in the future, for the Commission to consider the various circumstances under which one regime or the other might apply to particular facilities, and to ensure that differences in the two regimes remain reasonable and appropriate," it said.
