U.S. TV stations call for ‘equitable’ remuneration from Canadian carriers

A coalition of American local TV stations said the CRTC's distant television signal policy denies them the “equitable and nondiscriminatory right of remuneration” for the retransmission of their signals in Canada. “Our channels deliver value for Canadians,” Chris Musial, general manager for Buffalo, N.Y. stations WIVB and WNLO-TV, owned by LIN Television Corporation, said in a release Thursday. “We expect the right to negotiate appropriate compensation for the full value that our signals and programming deliver to Canadian markets.” The CRTC's distant signal regime, released in October 2008 in decision 2008-100, requires broadcast distributors to obtain consent from Canadian local broadcasters before carrying their signals in non-local markets. That consent can involve compensation for signal carriage. Foreign broadcasters do not receive distant signal compensation under the Broadcasting Act though they receive distant signal fees under the Copyright Act. According to the release, the U.S. coalition also includes WDIV-TV in Detroit, Mich., owned by Post-Newsweek Stations, a division of The Washington Post Company; and KSTP-TV in Minneapolis, Minn., owned by Hubbard Broadcasting Inc. The Wire Report reported in June that the group had registered with the federal lobbying commissioner to lobby the CRTC on its definitions of “local signals” and “distant signals” and sections of the broadcast distribution regulations related to distant signals and non-Canadian signals. “American TV stations imported into Canada are being denied an equitable and nondiscriminatory right of remuneration exercisable under conditions set out in the new distant station regime,” the release said Thursday, adding that the coalition is calling for “equitable and nondiscriminatory consent and remuneration rights for American over-the-air TV channels imported and retransmitted in distant markets across Canada.” Francis Schiller, a spokesman for the group and consultant with Public Interests Research and Communications in Ottawa, said in a phone interview that the regulations could be changed if there is political will to do so. “Given the positive trade relations between the U.S. and Canada, we think this is something that can be swiftly addressed and corrected,” he said. “This is the beginning of a conversation.” The Supreme Court of Canada is now considering the CRTC's jurisdictional authority to implement a new local signal regime called value for signal, which would give local, over-the-air TV stations the right to negotiate carriage terms with the broadcast distributors that carry their free TV signals. The Supreme Court's decision on value for signal could impact television stations' authority to collect compensation for distant signal carriage. Rogers Communications Inc., which opposes value for signal, said in April that, if the Supreme Court quashes the CRTC's proposed value for signal policy, the company intends to use that decision to launch a challenge to strike down the distant signal regime. Pam Dinsmore, vice-president of regulatory at Rogers, confirmed that in an emailed statement Thursday. "As we argued before the Supreme Court of Canada in the Value for Signal case, we do not believe the Commission has the jurisdiction to create a copyright in a broadcast signal. This would apply both to local and distant signals," she said. "If we are successful at the Supreme Court in the value for signal case (which applies to compensation for carriage of local signals), we will challenge the distant signal consent regime on the same basis. We don't believe compensation for the carriage for a signal is legitimate, whether the signal is Canadian or US-based." Schiller said he was encouraged that Rogers had used retransmission consent rules under the distant signal regime to ask the CRTC for “simultaneous substitution" privileges for its Citytv Toronto signal in New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador. The CRTC denied that request from Rogers in decision 2012-551 issued last month. Broadcast distributors pay carriage fees for local signals in the United States, where research firm SNL Kagan said this week that the fees are rising and are expected to reach a total of $5.5 billion US by 2017 and $6 billion US by 2018. news@thewirereport.ca

U.S. TV stations call for ‘equitable’ remuneration from Canadian carriers

Broadcast | November 8, 2012

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