BELOW ARE SOME QUICK QUIPS, a few lines – and their explanations, that we found interesting over the first four days of the CRTC’s hearing in broadcast distribution undertaking and specialty service policy.
Broadcasters as babies (1)
“There is an opportunity for the over the air broadcasters to help themselves. If they were embracing the on demand platform, if they had a CTV on demand or a Global on demand, then we could have a very serious discussion about incremental value for the customer and compensation for that. But we are not having those discussions because we seem to have infantilized the broadcasters and they instead are coming here looking for a tax or a handout, and I don’t understand that.”
– David Purdy, VP and GM, television, Rogers Cable
Broadcasters as babies (2)
“This notion of protecting new services, my experience is that those who receive regulatory protection don’t like to grow up and when they do, they throw tantrums… You can have an end result with a very restrictive regulatory regime where there is guaranteed access.”
– Mirko Bibic, chief of regulatory affairs, Bell Canada
On jumping to conclusions
“Just because I pose questions, don’t think I have reached any conclusions. I am pushing all of the points that you are making to their logical conclusions, to test their validity. Don’t read anything more into my questions than what they are: questions to try to get my head around the issues.”
– CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein
On fee for carriage (1)
“Mr. Chairman, we have had three of the broadcasters, CTV, Global and Rogers spend billions of dollars buying other over the air stations. So it is sort of talking out of both sides of your mouth to say we are going to our bankers and we are putting up $3 billion and we believe that will produce a profit in the future and then coming to this hall and saying we need to have more support, more regulatory support. We put out half a billion dollars for Citytv and all the improvements we are making, and we had no thought of asking for anybody else to pay for it.”
– Ted Rogers, founder and CEO, Rogers Communications
The chair then responded: “Hang on. Hang on. That doesn’t work in your case because you are a BDU as well as a broadcaster. For you it is just a transfer from one pocket to another. You are not in the same boat as CTV or Global or Canwest.”
On fee for carriage (2)
“Surely you don’t expect us to say yes, you can have a fee for carriage and no strings attached? I mean, what is driving all of this is what I keep telling you, it’s local content – (to) make sure that the local stations reflect the community in which they live, et cetera, and also that they use that money for Canadian drama, et cetera. So rather than assuming this is a gift, it clearly will be earmarked to help those broadcasters meet their obligations specifically. To the extent that it is earmarked and specifically designated, would that make the fee for carriage more acceptable to you?”
– von Finckenstein, speaking to Rogers
And Ted Rogers’ response? “No.”
On fee for carriage (3)
“If I take CBC’s submission from yesterday, anytime there is a shock to the system, fee for carriage. If there is a recession, fee for carriage. If labour costs go up, fee for carriage. If the programming is lousy and advertising revenues go down, fee for carriage. I mean, that can’t be the solution to every single problem in the broadcasting industry.”
– Bibic
On the “market forces should prevail” principle
“The BDUs espouse the market force doctrine because they are the market force.”
– Ian Morrison, Friends of Canadian Broadcasters
On upgrading conventional broadcast from analog to digital
“We don’t see the challenge of moving to digital as overly onerous.”
– Glenn Stewart, Crossroads Television director of sales and marketing
On access rules
“Bell suggested yesterday the consumers should decide the fate of services and not the regulator. We say the consumers and not the BDU. (A simple preponderance rule) is more opportunity for consumers to take what they want versus what they don’t want – more opportunity for consumers to avoid services.”
– Jay Thomson, VP regulatory and policy, CAB
On dynamic ad insertion
“If there are ways to bring more advertising into the system and to serve the system, we’re not going to turn our backs on that discussion.”
– Glenn O’Farrell, president and CEO, CAB
On DAI and other developing potential new ad platforms
“You are going to have to free television in order to keep television free.”
– Bob Reaume, Association of Canadian Advertisers
On a small, restricted basic package
“This is not traditional rate regulation in the sense we understood this in the 70s or 80s or 90s.”
– CBC TV EVP Richard Stursberg, responding to a question by commissioner Len Katz on whether or not requiring cable companies to drop their rates if a small basic package is created isn’t rate re-regulation.
On small cable systems
“Independent cable systems are completely under the radar, as is evidence by this room at the moment.” – Alyson Townsend, president and CEO of the CCSA, remarking on the vast swaths of empty seats in the conference room, as compared to the standing room only appearance with Rogers.
On broadcaster spending on American vs. Canadian drama programming
“It’s a blaze that’s completely out of control.”
– Mario Mota, CFTPA, noting that a ratio that was once 5:1 in favour of foreign drama programming is now about 13:1
On specialty services’ genre protection
“They should not fail because they are faithful to the niche service that you have licensed them for.”
– Morrison
Responded commissioner Rita Cugini: “Maybe their nature of service is just a bad idea.”
The hearing continues on Monday.
