Commentary: two days in the spin cycle

CRTC commissioners will need to brush up on their math skills to figure out how much carriage fees will actually cost consumers, as well as how much BDUs pay for distant signals and generate from local avails. For anyone attending this week's BDU and specialty hearing, it seems very few of the numbers add up. "Having a background in costing, I know one comes up with very logical but very innovative ways to derive costs," commissioner Len Katz told Bell Video Group on Wednesday. But sorting through these endless tables of self-serving figures certainly doesn't make the commissioners jobs any easier. The first and most contentions sum is the per-subscriber monthly cost of carriage fees. Rogers Communications Inc. says imposing carriage fees will increase monthly cable bills by $10 to $14 in large urban centres. Canwest Media Inc. VP of regulatory affairs Charlotte Bell, however, said on CTV Newsnet's Tuesday evening telecast of Mike Duffy Live that the fees would increase cable bills by $3 at the most, and would result in no increases in some regions. CTVglobemedia's executive VP of corporate affairs, who also appeared on the show, agreed with Bell. Then there's the CBC. On Tuesday CBC executive VP of English services Richard Stursberg told the commission that a total carriage fee of $1.50 for all broadcasters combined could allow broadcaster to double their spending on Canadian drama. At least, that's what he appeared to be saying (at many times it seemed as though the commissioners and CBC were speaking to each other through a broken telephone, so it's possible this statement was interpreted differently by everyone). But the number confusion doesn't end at carriage fees. On Tuesday Rogers said it paid $0.50 per subscriber per month to the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) for access to distant signals, while the DTH providers pay nothing. Wednesday, however, Bell Video Group president Gary Smith said ExpressVu actually pays the CAB a fee that is the equivalent of $0.43 per subscriber per month - Bell acknowledged that the monthly cost was derived by dividing various yearly fees. And although Bell and Rogers have similar interest in the context of this hearing, they continue to find numbers to disagree on, to the tune of $40 million; Rogers sets the value of advertising on local avails at $60 million, while Bell's mathematicians equate it to be only $20 million. Finally, how many channels does Rogers offer on its basic packages? "Anywhere from 39 to 63, depending on how you count," said Katz. Well, I get Rogers basic in Ottawa and I counted before I wrote this. There are 38 channels, so there's one the commissioners can cross off. They're on their own for the rest though.

Commentary: two days in the spin cycle

News | 04/10/2008 1:43 pm EDT

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