Rogers and Telus battle over distant signal payment highlights conflicting rulings

By Denis Carmel GATINEAU - Until now the CRTC regime in place to compensate owners of conventional TV signals distributed by cable companies outside of their markets seem to work fairly well. Terrestrial BDUs offer distant signals for ‘time shifting’ purposes. It allows subscribers to watch popular shows at a different time by watching a station in a different time zone. Since local stations are losing advertising money (advertisers only pay for local viewership) a compensation regime was put in place. To distribute such signal, the cable company needs consent from and provide compensation to the owners of conventional television...