Don’t increase carriage fees for 9(1)h services: TV providers

TV service providers told the CRTC this week that cord-cutting by Canadians shouldn’t be the reason to give channels with mandatory carriage on basic packages higher monthly carriage fees. Shaw Communications Inc., Quebecor Inc. and Cogeco Inc. told the CRTC in a joint presentation during a hearing this week that they don’t oppose channels continuing to have mandatory carriage, but do oppose increases requested by the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (ATPN) and Vues & Voix. Dean Shaikh, vice-president of regulatory affairs at Shaw, said the companies “object to any expectation that and our customers shelter programming services from the challenges facing the entire broadcasting industry.” APTN is asking for a five cent increase in its monthly carriage fee to $0.36 a month, while Vues & Voix wants an increase from $0.02 to $0.04. The CRTC held the three-day hearing to consider renewals of broadcasting licences for channels with 9(1)h status, which grants them mandatory carriage on basic TV. During its appearance on the first day of the hearing, APTN expressed concern about declines in TV subscriptions and projections that cord-cutting will continue in coming years. Shaikh said, according to a transcript, that the TV providers “should not be required to make-whole individual services based on the most pessimistic prediction of subscriber losses. Moreover, even if cord-cutting over the next licence term is as severe as certain applicants predict, it is BDUs that will suffer the most direct economic impact.” Shaikh also said that Shaw is opposed to a licence amendment requested by Pelmorex Corp., which would require TV providers to carry both the high-definition and standard-definition feeds of both its English and French-language channels in some markets on basic. “The requested terms of carriage would constrain our ability to manage finite capacity,” he said. However, in its reply appearance on the final day of the hearing, Pelmorex CEO Maureen Rogers said the company was not “proposing that every BDU be required to dedicate four channels to our services, only that they make changes in select markets.” Speaking a day earlier, Shaikh said that having to carry both The Weather Network and MétéoMédia only in areas of the country designated as bilingual “may actually be as burdensome for BDUs because of the costs of provisioning different versions of the basic service across our cable and satellite systems.” The Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA), which appeared on the final day of the hearing, told the CRTC it opposes a request by APTN to lower exhibition requirements — the amount of time they must dedicate to Canadian programming. The broadcaster had asked for a reduction in its Canadian exhibition level from 75 per cent to 70 per cent. It said even though it usually exceeds that threshold and broadcasts more than 75 per cent Canadian content, the increased flexibility would allow it to broadcast more international Indigenous programming. It said in its opening statement that “experiences of Indigenous Peoples in other countries directly parallel Canadian experiences with colonization.” CMPA CEO Reynolds Mastin said during his appearance at the hearing that the central concern of CMPA members “is that because of the unique mandate and type of programming that APTN commissions, if we were to see ... even semi-significant reductions it would have a disproportionate impact on that part of the independent production community that produces that kind of programming.” — With reporting by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca and editing by Ahmad Hathout at ahathout@thewirereport.ca

Don’t increase carriage fees for 9(1)h services: TV providers

Broadcast | May 3, 2018

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