CAB and CCTA express concerns over Industry Canada’s spectrum policy revision

The Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) and the Canadian Cable Television Association (CCTA) are concerned that the federal government’s proposals for revising the country’s spectrum policy spell bad news for their members. The two associations warn in their responses to Ottawa’s Revision to the 1992 Spectrum Policy Framework for Canada document (DGTP-004-02) that some proposed revisions could hurt their members’ ability to gain access to affordable spectrum. In its September 30 comments, the cable association notes that small rural cable operators, who use very high capacity microwave to transmit signals, could be severely affected by the department’s current licence fee structure. "The microwave facilities are the only technology that cable operators have to transport the local, regional and extra-regional broadcast signals to Canadians living in those communities. The licence fees associated with the facilities are prohibitively expensive and are quickly becoming a barrier to sustaining their business and service," the CCTA writes. The association points out that while the government must take into account the socio-economic elements and the competitive environment in which the spectrum is being used, it must also balance its policies against the move to more market-driven forces. In this regard, the CCTA wants the department to consider the elimination of the spectrum aggregation limit that any telecommunications or broadcasting undertaking can hold at any one time. In its submission, the CCTA gets on its soapbox to once again preach to the government that it should take a balanced approach to regulating the industry and that includes the enforcement of penalties against illegal activities. "Increasing theft of satellite services (the ‘black market’) and unauthorized use of U.S. services in Canada (the ‘gray market’) is having a disruptive impact on Canada’s broadcasting distribution sector," the organization writes. In its September 30 comments, the CAB proposes several "broad picture" issues that should be considered as Industry Canada addresses new spectrum management policies. The broadcasters lobby group fears that public safety issues will supplant any concerns broadcasters have about the transition to digital TV. It also indicates that as in the United States where the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) mandated the switch to DTV by 2006, Industry Canada seems to have the same approach with the possibility of adding a mobile allocation to the upper analog television band. "As recently as 2001, television broadcasters were being assured that the DTV Allotment Plan, released after extensive industry and public consultation, would remain in force until after the DTV transition has been completed," the CAB writes. "Now they are being told that policy imperatives with respect to public safety services require much earlier abandonment by TV of certain TV spectrum that had been an integral part of the DTV rollout plan for Canada." While the CAB makes some valid points in its submission, the association seems to reach past the scope of the consultation by demanding specific recognition for broadcasters as an "essential radiocommunication category with respect to safety and national security." The CAB also argues that the general public isn’t being taken into account in the development of spectrum policies. "There is a tendency for this to happen especially with respect to the use of broadcasting spectrum, where only the originating portion of the radiocommunication link (the Broadcasting Transmitting Undertaking) remains licensed by the government. But radiocommunication in the true sense exists only when there are two ends to the circuit," the CAB writes. "A transmission that is not received by anyone is not ‘communication’ at all; rather, it is simply a tree falling in the forest that no one hears."

CAB and CCTA express concerns over Industry Canada’s spectrum policy revision

News | 10/10/2002 4:00 am EDT

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