Changes will increase choice for Canadian TV viewers: CRTC

Canada's broadcast regulator unveiled a raft of small changes on Thursday rather than the major overhaul some had expected following the CRTC's first significant review of TV distribution to Canadian viewers in nearly a decade.

Simplifying how TV channels are packaged and supporting local programming were among the top issues the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission emphasized in its changes.

"We have streamlined a number of rules and eliminated those that were no longer necessary," CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein said in a statement.

"These measures will contribute to a more dynamic broadcasting system, which will be in a better position to respond to the opportunities and challenges presented by new media. They will also make it easier for viewers to choose the programs they want."

The CRTC will eliminate most of the rules governing how channels are packaged by broadcast distributors, cable and satellite companies like Rogers, Shaw and Bell ExpressVu.

Currently, companies offer a basic cable package and "bundles" of additional channels. The new rules pave the way for distributors to offer channels in an à la carte fashion (as long as the overall package has 51 per cent Canadian content).

This gives viewers more direct choice in their subscriptions, the commission said.

Local voices

The reduction of local programming in recent years was a key theme during hearings the CRTC held in April. In response, the regulator has introduced a new fund to support the creation of local content.

Broadcast distributors currently provide five per cent of their revenues to fund the production of Canadian programming. On Thursday, the CRTC increased the amount to six per cent, with the new allocation to benefit its new Local Programming Improvement Fund.

"The desire for better local programming in Canada's smaller markets was clearly made evident during this proceeding," von Finckenstein said.

Ian Morrison, spokesman for Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, said the decision is good for Canadian viewers.

He said the federal regulator had rejected most of the cable industry's demands for greater powers to decide what's on TV.

"The CRTC has listened to advice that the cable monopolies and satellite companies are too powerful to be allowed even more discretion to control what's on TV," Morrison said in a statement.

Morrison also welcomed the creation of the local programming fund, which will help support production of news and other local content in markets with fewer than one million people.

The CRTC said the additional cost of the fund — to total $60 million — should not be passed to subscribers.

Increased competition for sports, news

Thursday's decision also lifted the current limit on mainstream national news and sports channels, thus allowing the launch of new entries to join the likes of CBC Newsworld and CTV Newsnet, or TSN and Sportsnet.

Among the demands rejected was the cable firm's call to eliminate all genre protection for specialty channels and to allow U.S. genre channels such as ESPN and HBO to compete with Canadian ones.

The commission decided not to open up other genres to competition yet, but the option remains on the table for future review.

Specialty channels will have more flexibility in the types of programming they are allowed — up to 10 per cent of their shows can be of a different genre. Thus a sports network would be able to show, for example, up to 10 per cent movies.

No to carriage fees

Among other major decisions, the CRTC turned down the controversial fee-for-carriage proposal, in which conventional broadcasters called for broadcast distributors to pay them for carrying their over-the-air signals.

Distributors already pay subscriber fees to specialty and pay channels for the right to carry their signals. Traditional over-the-air broadcasters like CTV, Global and CBC had argued that they too should be paid for their content.

However, the distributors argued that these additional fees would be passed on to the consumers, who would likely be further turned off of the struggling TV industry.

Ken Engelhart, senior vice-president of regulatory affairs at cable company Rogers Communications, said it was a relief to see the idea of fee-for-carriage had been rejected.

He said the CRTC is moving in the right direction on deregulation but had not moved as far down that road as Rogers might have liked.

"We've got a little more flexibility on access and a little more flexibility on what we offer to customers," he said. "Instead of a lot of different rules, they've just said the majority of channels must be Canadian, full stop."

He warned Canadians cannot expect a-la-carte service on analogue channels, but there would be more choice when digital is fully rolled out in 2011.

Rogers also welcomed the prospect of new rules related to advertising in foreign programming on specialty channels and pay-TV. Another hearing will be held before those rules are spelled out.

Broadcasters may be happy to hear that the CRTC will now permit them to negotiate payment when distributors carry their signals to other regions — a popular TV feature known as time-shifting, which allows viewers to watch programming originally destined for other provinces.

The CRTC gave the industry a comfortable span of time in which to adopt the new changes: Aug. 31, 2011, to coincide with the Canadian TV industry's switch from analog, over-the-air broadcasting to digital.

ACTRA, the union representing Canadian actors, said it was relieved the CRTC did not give way to cable firms' demands for more deregulation.

"We've seen what happened when broadcasting regulations were relaxed," ACTRA national executive director Steve Waddell said.

"Canadian drama all but disappeared from conventional channels when expenditure and programming requirements were dropped in 1999. We're relieved that the CRTC is not making the same mistake in cable and specialty."

Waddell also welcomed the increase in the fund to create Canadian programming, and said he hoped to see higher expenditure requirements for over-the-air broadcasters after hearings this spring.