“Customers” beat out “Desperate Housewives” at CRTC hearing: 18 to 1

Cable and DTH providers wanted last month's BDU and specialty hearing to focus on their customers, and in a way they got their wish; over the 12-day hearing the word ‘customer' was heard 601 times. Mathematically speaking, that makes customers as a hot-button topic more than twice as important as ‘fee for carriage,' and 18 times hotter than ‘Desperate Housewives.' Prior to the hearing, Rogers Communications Inc. VP of regulatory affairs Pam Dinsmore told Canadian Communications Reports that fee for carriage had "hijacked" the review process, but the numbers don't entirely bear that out. Although ‘fee for carriage' was mentioned 239 times, that makes it slightly less topical than ‘genre protection' (240 times). And if you tack on to that the 78 mentions of ‘genre exclusivity' the commission can really start to get an idea of how to weigh these issues. And all the talk of the Konrad von Finckenstein-led commission scaling back its market forces approach to regulation may be true; ‘market forces' was, in fact, only said 106 times - Jim Shaw mentions market forces that often in the average letter to the Prime Minister. In comparison, the regulation some see as the antithesis of a market forces approach, ‘guaranteed access,' was mentioned 107 times. Access, say these people, should not be guaranteed, but rather attained through ‘negotiations' (86 times). As the commissioners sift through the 12 days of testimony to determine the future the Canadian broadcasting system, it's safe to say at least two ideals will remain in tact: customer access to the system through BDUs will still require subscribing to a ‘basic package' (mentioned 210 times); and broadcasters will still, and possibly at an increased level, have to meet their ‘local programming' (112 times) obligations. While terms like ‘guaranteed access,' ‘genre protection,' and ‘genre exclusivity' would mean nothing to most people on the street, they would be essentials in any broadcast regulation cross world puzzle. 10 Down: 15-letter term used for purposes of ‘time shifting' (39 times). Answer: ‘Distant Signals' (98 times). These terms are not only the common vernacular of any policy wonk, they have, for better or worse, brought the Canadian broadcast system to where it is today. But there's another regulatory catchphrase growing in popularity. ‘Desperate Housewives,' the saucy, imported, ABC primetime drama, was mentioned 33 times during the hearing, and more than a few by the chair himself, who notes he doesn't watch the show. On that front, commissioner Rita Cugini suggested a market forces approach to dealing with the issue. "By the way, somebody provide a box set of DVDs of Desperate Housewives for the chairman," she said. "It's come up way too often." As heard at the CRTC: Term Times mentioned during hearing Customers 601 Genre Protection 240 Fee for Carriage 239 Basic Package 210 Local Programming 112 Guaranteed Access 107 Market Forces 106 Distant Signals 98 Negotiations 86 Genre Exclusivity 78 Time Shifting 39 Desperate Housewives 33

“Customers” beat out “Desperate Housewives” at CRTC hearing: 18 to 1

Broadcast | May 2, 2008

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