CAB welcomes Canadian Heritage’s Part II fee study
The Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) says it welcomes Canadian Heritage’s study of Part II licence fees (CCR, March 29/05) “This is a file that we have been actively pushing and we welcome the study,” says the CAB’s Sandra Graham. She adds that the Part II fees are still a tax, regardless of whether or not the department factors into its study such factors as simultaneous substitution and the cost of spectrum management in putting a value on a broadcast licence. The money goes into the government’s consolidated fund, she notes, and is not used for matters connected to broadcast regulation. She further points out that broadcasters have other requirements, such as airing Canadian content, that are fulfilled in exchange for the simultaneous substitution protection.