IN THEIR FIGHT against fee-for-carriage (or in CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein’s now-preferred vernacular, "value-for-signal"), Canada’s broadcast distribution undertakings plan to fire every bullet in their chambers and lob every grenade they can lay their hands on to put a stop to it.
It will happen and is happening behind the scenes, on the airwaves, on Parliament Hill, at the Regulator and in the courts. Lobbyists are in full lobby. Researchers are in full search. Government mandarins are mandarining and being mandarined. TV and radio appearances for the executives of the big BDUs are being planned. Expect a full blitz…
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GATINEAU – So much for our idea of just “getting on with this.”
The CRTC today announced that we will be starting all over again on the fee-for-carriage file and the hearing into group based licensing for television companies and other issues will now begin on November 16th rather than on September 29th.
In Latin, the proceeding will examine “de novo” (that means, “brand new”, or “of new” or “from a new beginning”…) “the establishment of a framework for the negotiation of a fair market value of the conventional and distant television signals carried by cable and satellite providers,” reads…
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OTTAWA – In light of Tuesday’s CRTC announcement to push its fee-for-carriage hearings back to November, Bell told Cartt.ca that it will withdraw its court appeal.
Bell Canada filed an application in the Federal Court of Appeal last week alleging that the Commission has denied interested parties the opportunity to comment on the issue of a negotiated, fair market value for local conventional signals.
www.crtc.gc.cawww.bell.ca
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TORONTO – Consultations around the Canada Media Fund (CMF) will be ongoing forever, and any issues not captured in its inaugural guidelines could be incorporated later, Canadian Television Fund (CTF) president and CEO Valerie Creighton noted during a virtual townhall held Thursday.
The guidelines must be finalized and approved by the CMF board by April 1, the date the new fund is set to replace the CTF. The $300-million-plus CMF will have two streams – convergence (TV component with a tie-in to at least one other platform) and experimental (no TV connection needed).
Given the deadline to produce the guidelines, there…
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OTTAWA – Bell Canada’s application to the Federal Court of Appeal over the Commission’s fee-for-carriage decision, as reported by Cartt.ca this morning, has led to a week’s delay in the deadline to file comments on for the September 29th hearing.
The “policy proceeding on a group-based approach to the licensing of television services and on certain issues relating to conventional television” is still set to begin at 10 a.m. on September 29th but the deadline to file comments for that hearing has now been extended by a week, to August 17th.
Yesterday, “the Commission was served by Bell Canada and…
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HALIFAX – Today at noon, Halifax listeners discovered a new radio station, LITE 92.9 FM, a new Rogers Broadcasting launch.
Featured artists include Michael Buble, Elton John, Beyonce, Fleetwood Mac, Billy Joel, Madonna, Rod Stewart, John Mayer, and Sarah McLachlan.
"Listeners are going to love what they hear", said Danny Kingsbury, Rogers’ project manager for LITE 92.9, in a press release.
"Launching this station in Halifax, one of Canada’s most beautiful and dynamic markets, will dramatically expand what we can offer our advertisers. At the same time, we are offering a true alternative listening option for a very important sector of Halifax,”…
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OTTAWA – In less than 24 months, the CRTC has gone from telling the industry there isn’t enough evidence to allow local broadcasters to charge BDUs for their signals, to indicating it wants to use next month’s hearing into the TV biz to decide how – and how much – can be charged.
This ride towards fee for carriage (or “value for signal” as some are now terming it) has been a long and bumpy one, culminating in last month’s Commission release which said the Regulator now favours it and that the industry now needs to negotiate its way to…
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GATINEAU – One option for getting over-the-air television to every Canadian when the transition to digital happens come August 31, 2011, appears now to be off the table.
Both Shaw Direct (formerly Star Choice) and Bell TV (formerly ExpressVu) have told the CRTC that since the Regulator insists on pushing ahead with distant OTA signal charges and increasing the Local Programming Improvement Fund, they no longer have any interest in offering up their satellite platforms to help small market local broadcasters serve everyone in their contours once the transition to digital happens in 2011.
Since Bell has twice presented this “Freesat”…
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GATINEAU – After receiving clarification from the CRTC, Bell TV is willing to put its satellite platform FreeSat back on the table as a possible solution to transitioning smaller over-the-air television stations to digital by August 31, 2011. Bell made the about-face after the CRTC told it that it would not necessarily be excluding FreeSat contributions in determining the market value of over-the-air TV signals.
In a July 21 letter to the CRTC, Bell TV noted “implementation of the proposal would remain dependent on acceptable outcomes in the local/distant signal negotiations and the LPIF.
Further details will…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has officially asked the Federal Court of Appeal to decide whether ISPs are the same as broadcasters.
As Cartt.ca readers know, the Commission released its highly anticipated new media report in early June, but said that it would ask the court to clarify the status of ISPs, and whether the Broadcasting Act should apply to them when they provide access to broadcasting through the Internet.
Click here to read more from the CRTC’s broadcasting order.
www.crtc.gc.ca
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