Post Tagged with: "fee for carriage"

Broadcasting Policy Without The Net

The CRTC's release of its much-anticipated broadcasting regulatory policy decision set off a flurry of comments yesterday with broadcasters welcoming the prospect of negotiating fees for their local signals, broadcast distributors warning of increased costs, and the CBC arguing that the decision was a "dark day" for public broadcasters after it was excluded from the negotiating process.  While there is understandably considerable discussion in the decision on programming requirements, the media focus centered on the fee-for-carriage issue.  On that front, the CRTC has opened the door to negotiations, subject to a court ruling confirming the Commission's jurisdiction to implement such an approach.

It seems appropriate that on the day the CRTC released its decision, a new study was published that found Canadians now spend more time online than watching television.  While the world is increasingly moving online, the CRTC decision acts as if the Internet scarcely exists.  The broadcasting policy decision mentions the Internet once (acknowledging that it is a platform for content distribution) and does not including any reference to streaming, Youtube, podcast, BitTorrent, or peer-to-peer (used by the CBC to distribute its content).  The word "consumer" is mentioned five times, though the consumer perspective will be addressed in a second report due later today to Cabinet.

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March 23, 2010 21 comments News

Shaw, Canwest and the Fee-For-Carriage Campaign

Derek DeCloet notes that Shaw's plans to purchase the Canwest TV assets may leave CTV isolated in its campaign for fee-for-carriage.

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February 16, 2010 5 comments News

Fee-For-Carriage Fight Brews In The U.S.

The NY Times reports on the fee-for-carriage fight brewing in the U.S. (where carriage is optional and fees are negotiating).  Denis McGrath highlights some of the key differences between the U.S. and Canada on this issue.

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December 30, 2009 Comments are Disabled News

CRTC Launches Online Consultation Site on Fee-For-Carriage

The Canadian Press reports on a new CRTC online consultation site on the fee-for-carriage issue.  The online consultation runs until December 21st.

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December 1, 2009 3 comments News

Broadcaster Plan Involves More Than Just Fee-For-Carriage

In the weeks leading to the CRTC hearing on broadcasting licences, Canadians were inundated with splashy advertising campaigns claiming that new fees for local signals were either a TV tax or would save local television.  With all of the major broadcasters and cable companies appearing before the commission, the fee-for-carriage (or value-for-signal) issue unsurprisingly took centre stage at last week's hearing.

Yet those convinced that the broadcaster plan was limited to a new fee were in for a rude awakening.  My weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) notes that fee-for-carriage is only part of the story, as broadcasters are also seeking to block U.S. signals, leave some Canadian communities without over-the-air television, and delay the transition to digital television transmission until 2013.

The prospect of blocking U.S. television signals will come as a shock to many, but both CTV and Canwest, Canada's two largest private broadcasters, have asked the CRTC to establish a new program deletion policy. 

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November 23, 2009 24 comments Columns