GATINEAU – Rogers Cable told the CRTC Tuesday morning that offering distant broadcast signals to its customers in a linear format is a poor use of spectrum and that time-shifted viewing of popular programming can be done much more efficiently and in a more consumer-friendly way via its on demand platform.
During questioning on distant signals by commissioners during the “broad sectoral issues” portion of the conventional stations’ license renewal hearing in Gatineau, Rogers Cable’s vice-president of video product management David Purdy told the panel that given its druthers, the cable giant would rather not offer Vancouver’s broadcast stations to its Ontario customers, to use one example.
One of the issues the Commission is noodling is whether to let conventional broadcasters begin charging a new fee for distant signals this fall, rather than in 2011, the date originally set aside by last year’s new BDU regs.
Instead, said Purdy, “(offering distant signals) is not a smart way to meet the time-shifting requirements of our customers… we intend to turn them off and make that content available on the on demand platform.”
So, for example, if a customer misses The Simpsons on Sunday at 8 in Toronto on Global, they don’t have to wait until 11 for the western Canadian Global station to show it at 8 p.m. PT. They would be able to call it up, on demand, at any time.
Purdy also added that using the VOD platform this way will also let broadcasters perform dynamic ad insertion on content within that stream so ads don’t get stale, for example, while possibly bringing in incremental ad revenue.
Left unsaid is that clearing off a number of linear channels like this opens up spectrum for Rogers Cable – and that the VOD platform is something its DTH competitors can’t offer. Their time-shifting options remain distant signals and PVR boxes – so paying for distant signals is a serious bone of contention for satellite providers like Bell TV, which will appear Wednesday.
Rogers SVP regulatory, Ken Engelhart, added that the only reason cable offers those out of market signals is that its satellite competitors have been allowed to since day one and they responded to be competitive.
Purdy’s message wasn’t quite clearly received by the panel at first delivery, however, as chairman Konrad von Finckenstein assumed Rogers was aiming at acting unilaterally to remove distant signals and try to force broadcasters to place all their content onto VOD.
It’s a work in progress, added Purdy. “We’ve already begun negotiations with broadcasters over distant market signals,” he explained. “We’re very close to an agreement with one major group.” (Ed note: Sources say it’s Canwest.)
In fact, when asked about Rogers’ VOD proposal later Tuesday, Canwest Broadcasting head Peter Viner was complimentary towards the big red machine, saying: “Rogers has been very co-operative in trying to find solutions for distant signals… They have been innovative and quite straightforward with that.”
– Greg O’Brien
