Blais warns 9(1)(h) applicants that consumers want more choice, affordability

GATINEAU, Que.—CRTC Chair Jean-Pierre Blais opened the regulator’s hearing on mandatory distribution applications by warning broadcast companies applying for the special licences that consumers are concerned about affordability in their TV services and that they want more choice in the channels they receive. “These services also have a direct impact on consumers’ bills and on the choice of services they receive,” Blais said at the start of a hearing Tuesday, referring to mandatory carriage on basic TV packages as “a great privilege.” “The CRTC is well aware of the impact of the decisions that it could take in this proceeding and recognizes that consumers expect to be able to choose the television services they receive,” Blais said. “We also know that subscribers are more and more concerned with the affordability of television services. This is why we consider mandatory distribution pursuant to section 9(1)(h) to be an exception.” A panel of five CRTC commissioners opened a two-week hearing Tuesday to consider 22 applications, including six renewals and 16 new applications, for mandatory carriage orders under section 9(1)(h) of the Broadcasting Act. Under that provision of the act, the CRTC can order broadcast distributors to offer channels to TV subscribers, or require them to carry the channels on basic television packages under a fixed, regulated wholesale carriage fee. That would mean the channels are automatically carried on basic packages, and depending on how much the broadcast distributors charge for the channels to recover added costs, consumers’ TV bills could rise. As a rule of thumb, broadcast distributors’ retail prices typically reflect at least double the wholesale fee. Blais said 9(1)(h) orders are an exception, though the commission is “nonetheless” required to examine the applications under the Broadcasting Act, for which some broadcasters have waited more than four years to apply for them. The commission will consider the applications, he said, and “in doing so, we will take into account the interests of Canadians.” Blais said the commission will be asking applicants to demonstrate that the channel “meets a real and exceptional need” within the Canadian broadcasting system and “makes exceptional commitments to original, first-run Canadian programming.” He said the CRTC “has set the bar very high for obtaining a mandatory distribution order on digital basic service." The hearing opened with officials from the Legislative Assemblies of Nunavut and the Northwest Territories, which is applying for mandatory carriage of a legislature channel on basic satellite TV packages serving Canada’s North. All Points Bulletin Inc. also appeared Tuesday morning to discuss an application for a mandatory carriage order on basic TV for its existing specialty channel All Points Bulletin, a service that assists law enforcement authorities with clues, tips and leads that can “help resolve matters of interest to the communities they service, both locally and nationwide,” according to a CRTC notice of the applications. The broadcaster is also seeking a renewal of its 9(1)(h) mandatory carriage licence for similar, French-language channel Avis de recherche. Quebecor Media Inc. officials are also scheduled to appear Tuesday afternoon to discuss an application for mandatory carriage on basic TV for all-news channel Sun News Network, with a wholesale carriage rate of 18 cents per subscriber per month. The Cable Public Affairs Channel Inc. is scheduled to appear Wednesday to discuss its mandatory distribution renewal, as well as Quebecor officials to talk about a renewal application for channel TV5. The hearing schedule Thursday includes appearances from CBC/Radio-Canada, which has applied for mandatory distribution for specialty channel ARTV; Aboriginal Peoples Television Network Inc., which has applied for a 9(1)(h) renewal with a higher wholesale fee of 40 cents per subscriber per month; and officials representing Starlight: The Canadian Movie Channel, which is seeking mandatory carriage on basic TV with a wholesale fee of 45 cents. —With reporting by Simon Doyle at sdoyle@thewirereport.ca and copy editing by Nicholas Kyonka at nkyonka@thewirereport.ca

Blais warns 9(1)(h) applicants that consumers want more choice, affordability

News | 04/23/2013 3:29 pm EDT

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