Carriage fees not a long-term solution to TV woes: CRTC chair

Canada's broadcast regulator continued on Wednesday to reject introducing a fee-for-carriage despite the current troubles affecting TV broadcasting and defended the decision before the Commons heritage committee.

Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission chair Konrad von Finckenstein agreed with the committee that the domestic television industry is in peril, with local stations across the country closing and hundreds of jobs being cut.

Still, he said, introducing a fee-for-carriage is only a temporary solution.

The controversial proposal, most recently rejected by the regulator in October, calls for broadcast distributors, such as cable and satellite companies, to pay conventional networks like CTV and Global for the right to carry their over-the-air signals, similar to how the firms currently pay subscriber fees to specialty and pay channels.

"As a regulator, I get no joy at seeing a station being closed at all. But there's no silver bullet. It needs a comprehensive solution," von Finckenstein said.

However, the committee's MPs continued to grill von Finckenstein and his commissioners.

"As much as you see fee-for-carriage isn't necessarily the solution, the status quo clearly isn't the solution. The status quo means no local in my community," charged Conservative MP Patrick Brown, who represents Barrie, Ont. 

NDP cultural critic Charlie Angus, who represents Timmins/James Bay in northern Ontario, also called on the CRTC to ensure private broadcasters guarantee they will produce local content.

"Where is the CRTC's role? To say [to broadcasters] 'You're making money off specialty services. You're making money in other areas. Where is your commitment to ensure local news?'" Angus said.

Von Finckenstein admitted that introducing a fee-for-carriage is still possible. However he warned that the fee would only raise between $200 million to $300 million — not enough to solve the industry's problems.

So far, the CRTC's approach is to offer struggling broadcasters a shortened, one-year licence renewal term, during which local content rules would be relaxed.