CRTC Opens Public Hearings

courtesy of broadcastermagazine.com
April 8th, 2008

In opening remarks by Konrad von Finckenstein, Chairman, Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, battle lines for these latest public hearings on broadcasting distribution undertakings and discretionary programming services were clearly drawn.

It's the first broad review of BDUs and discretionary programming services since 1993, Finckenstein noted. He described five key questions that must be addressed, among a number of issues at stake:

1.What should be the size of the basic package?

2.Should there be guaranteed access for certain Canadian specialty and pay services? Which ones and on what terms?

3.Should there be any type of genre protection for guaranteed services? If so, should they be protected from other Canadian services, or only from foreign services?

4.Should there be a fee-for-carriage for over-the-air broadcasters? If so, how much and on what terms?

5.Should BDUs have access to advertising revenues from on-demand services or from local avails?

The CRTC Chair noted that "a host of secondary and tertiary questions, such as the simplification of BDU licence classes, cable/direct-to-home synchronization, dispute resolution and terms of entry for foreign services. However, all of these very important issues can only be addressed once the five primary questions have been answered.

"Consequently, while we have received written submissions on all issues raised in the Public Notice and expect oral submissions on them as well, we will concentrate our questions on these five key issues.

"There will be an opportunity to file final written comments following this phase of the proceeding," he noted.

Following the public process, the Commission will announce the fundamental policy principles guiding its approach to the major issues. There will then be an opportunity for further public comment regarding how any new approaches should be implemented.

The CRTC panel at the hearings includes the Chair, as well as Michel Arpin, Vice-Chairman of Broadcasting; Len Katz, Vice-Chairman of Telecommunications; Rita Cugini, Regional Commissioner for Ontario; Michel Morin, Commissioner; and Ronald Williams, Regional Commissioner for Alberta and the Northwest Territories.

CRTC Hearing Managers Cynthia Stockley, Director of Distribution Regulatory Policy, and Martine Vallee, Director of English-language Pay and Specialty Television and of Social Policy; Annie Laflamme, Director of French-language Television Policy and Applications; Shari Fisher and Raj Shoan, Legal Counsel; and Chantal Boulet, Hearing Secretary are also involved in the hearings

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