ITV regulations not responsible for ITV innovations: Bell ExpressVu

Satellite TV operator Bell ExpressVu LP has fired back at broadcasters in the CRTC process contemplating a new test for must-carry interactive television (ITV) content, Broadcasting Public Notice 2002-63 (CNM, Feb. 20/03). On March 7, ExpressVu countered the Canadian Association of Broadcasters’ (CAB) request for a loose definition of "programming-related" material with its own request for a two-year moratorium on ITV regulation. "If the Commission were to adopt ExpressVu’s proposal for a two-year moratorium on creating any new regulations for ITV, it would have the opportunity to monitor developments closely and make a determination, based on actual marketplace developments, as to what, if any, new regulations may be required," ExpressVu argues in its submission to the commission. "Innovation and experimentation can take place with speed and flexibility, and based on commercial arrangements, with section 9 of the Regulations providing the important safeguard that broadcasters believe is necessary." ExpressVu takes exception to the CAB’s second-round comments in the proceeding that listed 18 examples of ITV applications now available that it said would fall outside the scope of the proposed WGN test for obligatory pass-through and that would be unlikely to make it to air in Canada since cable operators and satellite television providers would be in the position of gatekeepers. Paul Armstrong, ExpressVu’s director of regulatory and government affairs, writes in a note to Canadian NEW MEDIA: "The CAB trots out 15 or 20 interactive applications from other countries, and tells the CRTC that unless they create regulations, then none of that stuff will get developed in Canada. But that’s where they are wrong. We took a look at the CAB’s examples, and went back to the countries of origin. None of those countries have regulations that require distributors to carry the ITV enhancements of broadcasters for free, like the CAB wants in Canada. None of those countries force the distributors to make the broadcasters’ applications work, regardless of the cost. Rather, the applications cited by the CAB were all developed in a free market, where programmers and distributors worked on a commercial basis – with risks and rewards shared by both parties. "Let’s face it – most of these ITV applications can’t even be classified as ‘broadcasting’ under the Broadcasting Act. "That’s why ExpressVu’s position makes more sense. The Commission’s lengthy report on interactivity concluded that there were a number of things happening, but no one is quite sure where it is all going to lead (CNM, Oct. 30/02). We suggested that the Commission simply stand by and let the technology and market develop in a free-market system. Each of the major and satellite operators have invested heavily in infrastructure to help make interactivity work – they aren’t going to sit by and let those investments idle. For our part, we intend to be the nation’s leader in interactivity. But let’s be prudent and let the market determine the most efficient business models and the pace of development." In its own March 7 comments, the Canadian Cable Television Association (CCTA) also takes aim at the CAB’s proposals for a loose definition of program-related material. "CCTA strongly opposes the term ‘programming-related’, as suggested by some parties in their comments in this proceeding. This term suggests that non-programming material on a subsidiary signal that is not directly related to the specific program being distributed would nonetheless be treated as broadcasting…In CCTA’s view, this approach would be legally suspect. Non-programming data that is related to programming provided by the service, but that is not an essential element of the program being aired at the time, should not and cannot be treated as broadcasting for regulatory purposes."

ITV regulations not responsible for ITV innovations: Bell ExpressVu

Broadcast | April 3, 2003

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