GATINEAU – CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein pronounced himself “frustrated” with the months-long public battle between broadcasters and BDUs heading into this morning’s Commission hearing into the future of over-the-air TV.
The public battle lines drawn have the broadcasters in one camp demanding a fee and cable/DTH in the other saying if the broadcasters gain the right to demand one, they’ll fight such a decision and if one does come to pass, the consumer will have to pay much more.
After watching months of back and forth in print, on TV and online, von Finckenstein said he was “frustrated with this confrontational relationship” and scolded both CTV and Rogers executives several times Monday.
A new fee for broadcasters, if granted and then deployed as currently contemplated, “will be passed on to the consumer, we know that,” said von Finckenstein, who wants broadcasters and BDUs to lock themselves in a room, negotiate about all the services and products they provide to and for each other and divide the dollars in the system themselves, and work on growing it together.
“Could you not throw all into the mix – sit down and work out the relationship, what the regime is and come to me for sanction?” he asked CTV.
“Why should I sort this out?
“All of it is a pie,” he said. “Why don’t you guys split it up and come to me and we say yes or no or not.
“It gives us no joy to be in this kind of situation with them,” responded CTVglobemedia CEO Ivan Fecan. “In no way are we happy to be in this place.”
Then, referring to the BDUs, he added: “My partner doesn’t want to talk to me, so here I am.”
After having endured months of rhetoric, along with the rest of Canadians, von Finckenstein (we’re told the “TV tax” term the carriers have pushed really bothers him), concluded he was “disappointed” at the end of day one, especially so with the Rogers Communications team, or so it seemed.
“What I’ve heard from you today is intransigence and that ‘we won’t do anything’,” chided the chair. “Rogers is a fabulous enterprise. I ask you to strongly look at these issues and find, in the best Rogers tradition, to find a solution.”
“I’d like to deal with the Rogers I know rather than the one I encountered today.”
The Rogers he encountered today was flat out against paying anything at all for Canadian conventional broadcasters. While CTV might say it is willing to negotiate, Rogers vice chairman Phil Lind said basically: There’s nothing to talk about.
“We’re not the ones with our hands out,” he said.
Von Finckenstein picked up on his plea for negotiation later in the afternoon when he said to the Rogers panel that the current back and forth between carriers and broadcasters just hurts everyone. “You’re going to drive (Canadians) to the free alternative or over the internet. I am missing something here. Rather than scaring the daylights out of Canadians and drive them away..”
“You’re doing to drive them away with new fees!” added Lind.
“I got that point,” countered the chair. “Believe it or not, I did get it.”
The hearing continues this morning with CBC and Bell Canada up next.
