CCSA will offer focused, but scaled-back, regulatory assistance to its members

While the Canadian Cable Sys-tems Alliance (CCSA) has announced that it is stepping up to fill the regulatory-assistance void left by the closure of the Canadian Cable Telecommunications Associa-tion, it will have to be much more selective as to which matters it gets involved in. "We want a very focused regulatory presence, so we are not going to get involved in everything," CCSA president and CEO Alyson Townsend tells Canadian Communications Reports. "We’re used to doing things in a lean way and we try to be very careful with our members’ money." For its first 14 years, the CCSA primarily operated as a buying group for its membership of 94 independent Canadian cablecos. The association is the third-largest buyer of English-language programming in Canada and has expanded its activities to include bulk purchasing of hardware and services as well. But when the CCTA shut its doors in February (CCR, Feb. 10/06), the independent cable companies lost their regulatory voice in Ottawa. The general consensus is that the larger cable BDUs that were CCTA members – Rogers Cable Inc., Shaw Cable Inc., Vidéotron ltée and Cogeco Cable Inc. – have the in-house resources to represent themselves. That divergence of interests and scope of operations between the largest and the smallest of the CCTA’s membership was a factor in its undoing – and an opportunity for the CCSA to grow its mandate. "I think that CCSA member companies feel like they have a different perspective, a different story to tell," says Townsend. "So with the demise of the CCTA, this seemed like a natural evolution for the CCSA to step into that role." However, this new representation will have to be comparatively scaled back. "The loss of the CCTA has presented the independent cable operators with a major challenge," says Chris Edwards, who as legal counsel will be leading the CCSA’s regulatory focus. "It will be difficult for them, with the larger BDUs no longer sharing the costs, to fund a regulatory approach as robust as that offered by CCTA." With finances and agenda in mind, the CCSA will carefully weigh what issues it gets involved in. Townsend says there are two thresholds a regulatory matter has to meet to prompt involvement by the association: it has to have a direct commercial impact on CCSA members, and it has to be a critical business issue for independent cablecos. As well, the CCSA will mostly limit regulatory assistance to issues specific to smaller companies. Says Townsend: "At times interests may be aligned with the larger companies and in some cases they’re very closely connected." The CCSA plans to take advantage of these instances to conserve its funds by letting the larger BDUs fight the battles that affect the entire industry. She adds that costly tools such as industry studies will, for the most part, remain the domain of the Rogers and Shaws of the Canadian cable world. While the CCSA hasn’t yet had a meeting to determine which issues it will get involved in, it has already made a decision not to enter the current account stacking battle between cable and direct-to-home satellite providers (see story on p. 6). Edwards says the account stacking issue raised in Public Notice 2006-41 is an early example of a matter where the interests of independent cable providers and large BDUs align. For that reason, the CCSAs board has instructed the association to leave this matter to the larger cablecos. "The account stacking matter is a nice expression of the targeted approach that these smaller BDUs will have to take, using the CCSA as their vehicle," Edwards adds. "In addition, we expect to support and cooperate with the larger BDUs on many regulatory matters." According to Townsend, the question of which issues the CCSA takes on will be settled by committees made up of member companies. And even though the association’s diverse membership could, at some point in time, result in some members being on opposite sides of an issue, Townsend is confident that the CCSA will approach issues with a steely resolve, saying they will ensure they have a cohesive and agreed path in all matters they get involved in. In these matters, the CCSA doesn’t feel it represents only its members, but the customers of independent cablecos as well. "The companies that we represent are very closely connected to their customers," says Townsend. "They run into them in the grocery store, and if something has changed on their cable system they will hear from their customers." Members of the CCSA serve about 850,000 Canadian households and more than a million and a half Canadians. Their services – HDTV, VoIP, high-speed Internet, and video on demand – are essentially the same as the those offered by the large cable providers, but the fact that they serve fewer customers, more often in rural areas, ensures they have different priorities than the big players. As much as anything, the new regulatory focus of the CCSA will give the members a voice in Ottawa. Ottawa-based Harris Boyd, the CCTA’s former VP, will be the primary regulatory advisor to the CCSA, which Townsend says will help strengthen the New Brunswick-based association’s position in the capital. " all have stories, and that’s something that we would like to provide to the CRTC: the opportunity to speak directly to these owners," says Townsend. "I think the CCTA did a good job, that the were well represented. We will just do it in a different way."

CCSA will offer focused, but scaled-back, regulatory assistance to its members

News | 05/19/2006 4:00 am EDT

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