QUISPAMSIS, N.B. – Members of the Canadian Cable Systems Alliance have not yet decided how it will deal with the demise this week of the Canadian Cable Telecommunications Association.
As first reported by www.cartt.ca, the board of the CCTA voted to close down the association less than two months after Shaw Communications resigned its membership. The association will shut its doors forever on Wednesday.
The loss of the CCTA can be overcome by the larger companies with big regulatory arms and more resources. However, for the smaller operators, the loss of the CCTA is devastating and leaves independent cablecos without a voice in Ottawa.
At a board of directors meeting last week, the CCSA struck a committee of one man – Mountain Cable president John Piercy – to figure out what it is the members want and distill it into a report making recommendations to the board. "He’s on an immediate deadline," said CCSA president and CEO Alyson Townsend.
The board discussed everything between maintaining the status quo to getting completely involved in Ottawa. "But I don’t think the resolution will be either one of those extremes," predicts Townsend. "In some fashion, I think we have to be more involved… but there’s no way the CCSA membership could support a CCTA-like structure." The CCTA had 26 employees and lobbied government effectively on behalf of its members.
So, look for the CCSA to define the files it wants to be active on (like copyright and telecom issues) and move forward with focused regulatory goals.
Stay tuned to cartt.ca as this story develops.
– Greg O’Brien
