CRTC carriage fees hearings prompt court challenge

Satellite TV provider Bell has fired off the latest volley in Canada's ongoing TV industry battle, challenging the CRTC over the contentious issue of carriage fees.

Bell Canada has filed documents with the Federal Court of Appeal calling for a judicial review of a document the CRTC issued last month outlining what is to be discussed at upcoming TV industry hearings beginning Sept. 29 in Gatineau, Que.

On July 6, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunication Commission released a notice of consultation, setting down guidelines for the hearings.

Included in the document was the CRTC's opinion that TV distributors, such as satellite and cable companies, and broadcasters should negotiate some form of compensation for over-the-air TV signals — in essence fee-for-carriage.

If the two sides can't decide, only then will the CRTC step in with binding arbitration.

According to the document, topics to be explored at September's hearings will include how to administer the compensation.

Bell, and other broadcast distributors, have vehemently objected to fee-for-carriage from the start.

"Bell was not given an opportunity to, and did not, file any evidence or make any submissions ... on the issue of the appropriateness of fee -for-carriage," the court documents said.

For Bell, the issue is that the CRTC has simply accepted the notion of fee-for-carriage and will proceed with it, ignoring the distributors' fervent rejection of the model.

Bell is calling for fee-for-carriage to be removed from the CRTC's agenda for the hearings.