The Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology has released its report on foreign ownership, Opening Canadian Communications to the World, and it has given the cable industry everything it asked for. The committee expressed the view that "… telecommunications common carriers and broadcast distribution undertakings (BDUs) can no longer be separated on the basis of their underlying distribution networks or the services they provide. The committee believes that carriage and content are distinct entities, and that distribution can be separated from programming undertakings. Cultural policy objectives can thus be achieved by treating content and carriage separately."

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Richard Matthews joins the Canadian Association of Broadcasters as VP of copyright and legal affairs. He has worked in the federal public service, including as director of copyright and director of broadcasting policy at Canadian Heritage. He will report directly to Erica Redler, CAB general counsel and senior VP of policy and legal affairs. His focus will be on copyright.

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CBC adds content to Rogers’ VOD service in Toronto
The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. will provide some of its programming on a video-on-demand (VOD) basis to Rogers Cable Inc.’s digital cable customers in the Toronto area, it was announced May 5. The Hockey Night Fever package consists of 3½ hours of documentaries on hockey, including a feature on Maruice Richard, while War and Consequences is a collection of news, current affairs and CBC Newsworld reports that have aired over the past few years. Other upcoming VOD programs include Amazing Space and On a Mission, which is a look at individuals who champion causes. The content will be available initially to about 604,000 digital customers in central Toronto at no additional cost. Mark Hyland, director of broadband and digital services at CBC English Television, told Canadian Communications Reports in October 2002 that the public broadcaster needed to make its content available on-demand to keep current with a broadcast environment increasingly dependent on viewer demand for choice (CCR, Oct. 24/02).

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Saskatchewan telephone company SaskTel appears to have less confidence in the wireless cable business than it did a few years ago, according to information in its 2002 annual report, which was tabled in the provincial legislature and released late last month. The Crown corporation cut its ownership stake in wireless cable operator Craig Wireless Inc. (CWI) in half last year.

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Cable and satellite TV distributors are opposing requests for wholesale rate increases by specialty channels, despite upping their subscription fees by as much as a few dollars over the past year or so. Direct-to-home (DTH) satellite TV distributor Bell ExpressVu LP tells the CRTC that any rate increase must be fair to the distributor, the consumer and other channels, and ideally should be determined by market forces. The satellite TV company opposes the huge rate increases being demanded by The Score and Rogers Sportsnet as part of their licence renewal applications (CCR, March 27/03).

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Coming to a theatre near you…television programming. As movie theatres across the country install digital projectors, the operators are looking at moving toward providing viewers with film alternatives, such as TV programming, at the cinema in non-peak movie times to generate additional revenue.

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Part III cablecos are the big losers in a CRTC public notice proposing to expand licence exemptions to cable systems of up to 6,000 subscribers. Harris Boyd, senior VP of industry affairs and office of small systems at the Canadian Cable Television Association (CCTA), tells Canadian Communications Reports that the association will use the comment period after the commission issues a proposed exemption order encompassing the changes to advocate for better conditions for Part III systems. They are defined as those systems serving high-cost remote and underserved areas, regardless of their size, where there are fewer than two licensed TV stations receivable over-the-air.

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The cable industry is giving a thumbs up to a Parliamentary committee report released late last month, but questions remain as to just how much weight it will have in the lead-up to a Liberal Party of Canada leadership campaign. The House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology released on April 28 its report Opening Canadian Communications to the World, which calls for the complete removal of existing foreign ownership restrictions for telephone companies. The cable industry is particularly pleased with one of four recommendations that calls for the government to “ensure that any changes made to the Canadian ownership and control requirements applicable to telecommunications common carriers be applied equally to broadcasting distribution undertakings.”

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