CPAC, airing more content online, questioned on need for 9(1)(h)

The Cable Public Affairs Channel Inc. faced questions Wednesday about what it would do if it lost its 9(1)(h) mandatory carriage fee as the channel puts more programming free online and sees TV subscribers moving to other platforms. At a hearing Wednesday, CRTC commissioner Candice Molnar asked a panel of CPAC officials what the channel would do if it wasn’t granted its mandatory carriage wholesale fee. Ken Stein, chair of CPAC’s board, responded that it would have to return to Parliament to discuss the channel’s nature of service and look at negotiating carriage rates with broadcast distributors. “We’ve given assurances to Parliament that we would run it on this basis,” Stein said. “We would probably go back to Parliament and say, ‘We’re going to have to negotiate a different arrangement because we’re going to have to negotiate rates with the distributors.’” CPAC, a non-profit organization that has a mandate to cover Parliament and federal political events, is collectively owned by Rogers Communications Inc., Shaw Communications Inc., Cogeco Cable Inc., and Quebecor Media Inc. subsidiary Videotron Ltd., and has asked the CRTC to renew its mandatory carriage licence with a wholesale carriage fee increase from 10 cents per subscriber per month to 11 cents. The one-cent increase will ensure the channel can fulfill its mandate, Yves Mayrand, vice-president of corporate affairs at Cogeco and a member of CPAC’s board of directors, told commissioners Wednesday, the second day of the CRTC’s two-week hearing on several mandatory distribution applications. Mayrand said CPAC’s last licence renewal was in 2002 and that it needs to replace its broadcasting equipment to stay on the air as it moves into its next licence term. He said CPAC is also dealing with slowing subscriber growth as viewers move to different platforms, and that reaching more viewers will require innovation and creativity. “CPAC is very respectful of the responsibility we have to remain as affordable as possible, so that we are accessible to all Canadians,” Mayrand said. Phil Lind, a senior Rogers board member and vice-chair on CPAC’s board, said that as technologies evolve Canadians will have more ways to access content and the choices available to them will increase. He said CPAC puts up online, on-demand content and launched a mobile website in 2010. “Later this fall, we’ll re-launch CPAC’s online resource centre for teachers, in an effort to engage a younger demographic in the political process,” Lind said. “It’s our job to innovate, to find ways to better engage Canadians in everything we do.” Lind said the carriage of CPAC on basic TV packages is appropriate because it provides the only economic basis for the public, not-for-profit, advertising-free channel, to continue offering all of its programming on all platforms. Officials with non-profit TV5 Québec Canada also appeared before the commission Wednesday to discuss its request for a licence renewal with mandatory distribution on basic cable and a wholesale carriage fee of 30 cents per subscriber per month. Marie-Linda Lord, president of TV5's board, asked for permission to change its licence to serve both the international French-speaking community and the Canadian French-speaking community under a new service called Nouveau TV5. Suzanne Gouin, president and chief operating officer of TV5, said that within one year of its licence, Nouveau TV5 is committed to opening new offices in Canada’s Atlantic provinces, the Prairies and British Columbia. When asked by commissioner Louise Poirier what would happen if the CRTC denied both of TV5’s requests, Lord said that it would be “a catastrophe.” “There exists the broadcast in French, in the French-language, but that is not a window where francophone communities see each other and talk to each other,” she said. Accessible Media Inc. (AMI) also appeared before the commission Wednesday to argue for a renewal of licences for AMI-TV and AMI-audio, which expire on Aug. 31, both with mandatory distribution on basic, catering to visually impaired people. The company is also proposing a French-language AMI-TV channel that would begin operating in September 2015, and says it needs a guaranteed revenue source to start up. AMI is requesting mandatory distribution of the French-language AMI-TV with a wholesale carriage fee of 30 cents per subscriber per month in the francophone market. English-language AMI-TV is asking for a wholesale carriage fee of 20 cents in anglophone markets and no charge in francophone markets. AMI-audio wants to stay with its wholesale fee of four cents per subscriber per month. Vues & Voix also appeared before commissioners Wednesday to request a licence renewal for existing French-language audio programming channel Canal M, which caters to disabled French-language viewers, with a wholesale carriage fee increase from two to four cents per subscriber per month. The company says it needs the increase to help it to expand and improve programming. Entrepreneur Evan Kosiner discussed his application for a new Described Video Guide before commissioners Wednesday, saying the guide would help visually impaired viewers find television content by announcing the show, the time it's playing and on what channel. The channel applied for a monthly, per subscriber wholesale fee of two cents. The Takten Gyurmey Foundation proposed a new EqualiTV channel, featuring programming by, for and about people living with a disability, which it said is 16.6 per cent of Canadians. The foundation asked the commission for mandatory distribution on basic with a wholesale carriage fee of 25 cents per subscriber per month. On Tuesday evening, charitable group Education Through Media appeared before commissioners to discuss a proposed service called Dolobox Television, a youth education channel with user-generated content. The group is asking for mandatory distribution on basic cable with a maximum wholesale fee of eight cents per subscriber per month. Earlier Tuesday, officials with Quebecor's Sun News Network and Stornoway Communications Limited Partnership's proposed Fusion channel appeared, among others. The hearings continue Thursday with appearances from six applicants, including CBC/Radio-Canada, 8094039 Canada Corp. for Canadian movie channel Starlight, and the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network Inc. —With reporting by Danika Grenier at dgrenier@thewirereport.ca and editing by Simon Doyle at sdoyle@thewirereport.ca

CPAC, airing more content online, questioned on need for 9(1)(h)

Broadcast | April 24, 2013

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CPAC, airing more content online, questioned on need for 9(1)(h)

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