Post Tagged with: "pick and pay"

Sun News Network Interviewing Justin Trudeau by Alex Guibord (CC BY-ND 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/o3pCLp

Why the Demise of the Sun News Network May Be a Preview of Things to Come

The abrupt end of the Sun News Network – its owners pulled the plug on the all-news channel without warning earlier this month – sparked considerable commentary with many lamenting the lost jobs, others examining the quality of the content, and some celebrating the end of a service that was controversial from the moment it launched. Largely left unsaid, however, is that its demise signals the beginning of a new era in Canadian broadcasting in which services are allowed to fail rather than being propped up through regulatory or government support.

My weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) notes the Canadian broadcasting system has long been shielded from market forces through a broad array of regulations that offer both financial compensation and marketplace protection. Those rules have been a boon to broadcasters, who have seen some services succeed with limited viewers and original content.

February 24, 2015 — 43 comments — Columns

Forgotten television by the autowitch (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/nUaS

The Future of Television Review is the CRTC’s Make or Break Moment

When Canada’s broadcast regulator embarked on the third and final phase of its consultations on the future of television regulation earlier this year, it left little doubt that a total overhaul was on the table. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) raised the possibility of eliminating longstanding pillars of broadcast regulation by creating mandatory channel choice for consumers, dropping simultaneous substitution and genre protection, as well as allowing virtually any non-Canadian service into the market.

For the growing number of Canadians hooked on Netflix or accustomed to watching their favourite programs whenever they want from the device of their choosing, none of this seems particularly revolutionary. Indeed, policies that reduce options, increase costs, or add regulation run counter to a marketplace in which public choice determines winners and losers.

My weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) notes the CRTC seems to understand that this is a make-or-break moment since policies that worked in a world of scarcity no longer make sense in a marketplace of abundance. Yet the first batch of responses from Canada’s broadcasters, broadcast distributors, and creator community suggests that most see the changing environment as a dire threat to their existence and hope to use regulation to delay future change.

July 16, 2014 — 1 comment — Columns

Government to Mandate “Pick-and-Pay” Pricing Option for Television Services

The government’s Speech from the Throne is set for this Wednesday with a “consumer first” agenda reportedly a focal point of the upcoming legislative agenda. Industry Minister James Moore discussed the speech over the weekend, pointing to a range of targets including wireless competition, wireless roaming fees, and the bundling of television channels that forces millions of consumers to purchase channels they do not want. Moore says that the government will require cable and satellite providers to offer a pick-and-pay option to consumers, though it is not clear which legislative tool they will use to do so. I wrote about the forthcoming throne speech last month, pointing to pick-and-pay services as a potential policy reform.

I also wrote about the benefits of a pick-and-pay system last year, arguing that the “broadcast community has long resisted a market-oriented approach that would allow consumers to exercise real choice in their cable and satellite packages, instead demanding a corporate welfare regulatory framework that guarantees big profits and mediocre programming.” This is particularly true of Bell Media, Canada’s largest media company that has been among the most vocal in opposing consumer choice. In a hearing before the CRTC that focused on consumer choice, Bell said that “we are dreadfully fearful of a penetration decline that would wipe out revenues that are necessary to support the obligations of these services.” It reiterated its opposition when asked directly, claiming “there will be a potentially dramatic penetration drop, and hence volume drop and hence revenue drop, as repackaging moves along the continuum to, you know, set packaging all the way to standalone.”

October 15, 2013 — 14 comments — News

Should Canadians Have to Pay For TV Channels They Don’t Want?

Consumers have become accustomed to lots of choice for entertainment and information services. Music and movie services offer single downloads and a range of subscription models, while newspapers and magazines sell their content as individual issues or subscriptions on multiple platforms.

Yet Canadian cable and satellite providers remain a stubborn holdout. The broadcast community has long resisted a market-oriented approach that would allow consumers to exercise real choice in their cable and satellite packages, instead demanding a corporate welfare regulatory framework that guarantees big profits and mediocre programming. My weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) notes that could have changed had the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission pushed back against Bell Media in a major case involving the terms of broadcast distribution, but a ruling late last week indicated that it remains reluctant to do so.

April 10, 2012 — 23 comments — Columns