Cable TV signals should be made available to third- parties: Cybersurf

Long-distance telephone and Internet provider Cybersurf is recommending that the CRTC make TV signals available to third-party resellers – just as it currently resells Internet service over Shaw cable lines, for example. The company’s VP of law and general counsel Chris Tacit tells Canadian Communications Reports that if outside companies don’t have access to broadcasting signals to resell to their customers in a triple- play bundle with the Internet and phone service, then a duopoly will develop. "I think what came out in the local forbearance proceeding is that a big part of the competition that is going to take place is going to be competition in the form of the triple-play bundle, involving telephony, broadcasting and Internet services. In some cases, it will be four-play including wireless as well," says Tacit. He adds, "So, if other parties really don’t have the economic alternatives to get access to BDU signals on a mandated basis, what is going to happen is you are going to end up with a duopoly between the cable carriers and the telephone companies for those bundles. We don’t think that is a sufficient or an appropriate form of competition that will really protect the interests of consumers properly." Cybersurf wants broadcast distribution undertaking (BDU) signals to be made available for resale on a mandatory and tariffed basis. At the commission’s local telephone deregulation hearings on September 28, the company asked the regulator to initiate a proceeding under the Broadcasting Act to look at whether making the TV signals available to third- parties should be mandated, and if so, under what conditions. "Right now, it’s permissive, but none of the cable companies are volunteering to do it," notes Tacit. "The commission shouldn’t necessarily wait to render a decision in the forbearance proceeding before embarking on subsequent proceedings to deal with access issues and BDU (signal) resale. We think there is no reason why it couldn’t be started right away." Tacit says that if Cybersurf wins the right to resale TV signals, it would most likely do so initially over cable, but might eventually switch to another form of technology. Being able to offer TV along with its Internet and long-distance telephone services will enable Cybersurf to compete more fairly with cable carriers and incumbents local exchange carriers, notes Tacit. If it doesn’t win that right, then it risks being frozen out of the markets for most bundled services that include local telephony. "It’s a question of market inertia. When we go to resell to customers, those who are reluctant to switch… is often… because they don’t want to deal with vendors for different services when they can get one-stop shopping," he says. "That’s appropriate and that seems to be the emphasis now of the telephone companies as well." It is not the first time that Cybersurf has made this argument before the commission, but Tacit says that the CRTC is paying a lot more attention now then it did last year when the company made similar suggestions during Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) hearings. "When we made our presentation at the local forbearance proceeding, we had a lot of questions directed at our proposal. The commissioners seemed to be genuinely interested in understanding it better and the importance of it, including the resale aspect of it," he notes.

Cable TV signals should be made available to third- parties: Cybersurf

Broadcast | October 24, 2005

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