Bell says broadcasters, streamers should pay into fund for mandatory services

Important programs that the CRTC decides are mandatory for broadcasters to carry on their services should be supported by a dedicated fund paid into by both traditional broadcasters and online streamers, BCE Inc. told the CRTC during the first day of a hearing on Wednesday, June 18. The hearing is part of a consultation launched by the CRTC back in January, focused on the market dynamics between the various players in the Canadian broadcasting system. The regulator has been seeking comments on a range of issues — including the discoverability of Canadian content, the challenges of sustaining and growing an audience, and the effectiveness of its current regulatory tools in an evolving digital landscape. One such tool is mandatory distribution of important programs, also known as 9.1(1)(h) services, which Bell argues is supported by a funding model that is both unsustainable and unfair. Currently, services that the CRTC deems mandatory for broadcasting distribution undertakings (BDUs) to carry are financed by wholesale fees paid on a per subscriber basis. However, as cord-cutting Canadians continue to leave traditional TV for online streaming services, the declining revenues among broadcasters puts those 9.1(1)(h) services at risk, said Jonathan Daniels, Bell’s vice-president of regulatory law. He stated that BDU revenues have declined by 21 per cent since 2015, and the sector currently loses about five per cent of subscribers annually. Daniels proposed the creation of a dedicated fund for programs designated for mandatory carriage, financed by both traditional and online undertakings, deducted from their relevant contributions, and based on a set revenue requirement. By doing so, “the CRTC is going to ensure that these services are protected,” argued Daniels. “It doesn't matter if someone cuts the cord, because they're still going to get the same amount of revenue as the CRTC would set.” In a nod to arguments made by online streamers earlier in the proceeding against mandatory carriage, in which they emphasized that the CRTC cannot set the terms or conditions of any carriage requirements, Daniels suggested that the regulator “take a different approach” and focus on the issue of funding those services. BDUs should continue to be obligated to carry 9.1(1)(h) services, while online platforms should be able to carry those services “for free,” if they pay into the fund that Bell is proposing. Streamers should have discoverability requirements, Bell argues Bell is also asking the CRTC to impose discoverability requirements on foreign online streaming services, a move that the streamers oppose. Foreign online undertakings “just won't ever have the do-or-die incentive to make content successful that we have with our service,” said Mark Graham, Bell’s senior vice-president of legal and regulatory affairs. “And so there's going to need to be a regulatory model for promoting discoverability.” Graham proposed requiring foreign streamers to make some of the space in the “shelf” on their platforms available to promote the discoverability of CanCon. Streamers could also be incentivized to partner with Canadian broadcasters through a requirement to include CanCon that is not owned by the streamer, said Graham, noting that foreign streamers do not prioritize investing in CanCon as much as domestic BDUs do. “Maybe part of the bargain is you don't have to make the same investment in Canadian content that, for example, a provider like Bell Media makes, but you do have to use your larger share of the audience to give some visibility to that Canadian content that's available on some of those Canadian services,” said Graham. “That's going to be necessary if we're depending on the Canadian providers for the bulk of the investment in Canadian content, while the bulk of the audience is in the online undertakings,” he added. “You're going to have to make that Canadian content discoverable on the online undertakings and bridge those two things.” Bell calls for reforms to dispute resolution process, negotiation rules The current system for commercial negotiations between licensed programmers and BDUs has seen a breakdown, making it harder for parties to reach mutual agreements, according to Bell. This is partly due, the company contended, to the CRTC’s pursuit of public policy objectives while overseeing negotiations, rather than focusing on commercial outcomes. Additionally, Bell criticized the CRTC for being reluctant to “allow parties to proceed to arbitration” and for taking too long to issue decisions. To address this, Bell made four recommendations that it said would lead to more frequent and easier commercial agreements over time: an automatic progression to arbitration with clear, prescribed timelines once negotiations fail; the ability to consider multiple services within a single negotiation; ensuring mediation and arbitration are based solely on commercial factors, and not public policy; and the use of independent commercial arbitrators to conduct these processes, enhancing capacity and maintaining a commercial focus. While speaking on the CRTC's dispute resolution framework during their appearance Wednesday, Bell's representatives did not discuss the undue preference mechanism or the standstill rule; issues that Bell and Rogers had opposing stances on earlier in the proceeding. phalentm@thewirereport.ca

Bell says broadcasters, streamers should pay into fund for mandatory services

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By Phalen Tynes-MacDonald
| June 18, 2025

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Bell says broadcasters, streamers should pay into fund for mandatory services

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By Phalen Tynes-MacDonald
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