Jim Shaw no-show for CRTC TV hearing

An anticipated showdown between CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein and cable mogul Jim Shaw didn't materialize on Wednesday because the Shaw Communications CEO didn't turn up for his company's appearance before the broadcast regulator.

"I have to say I'm somewhat disappointed in not seeing Mr. Shaw here, given his vociferous criticism," von Finckenstein, chair of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, told the Shaw panel.

"Since I have been subject to his criticisms, I feel I should have been given the opportunity of dealing with them one-on-one with him, personally."

Over the past few weeks, as the CRTC held hearings in Gatineau, Que., into the future of the Canadian TV industry, the fiery Shaw has issued both a statement blasting the proceedings and also a letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper complaining of how they have rolled out.

Shaw also refused to appear at the CRTC hearings about the Canadian Television Fund earlier this year because von Finckenstein was not presiding over them and charged that he had left his "B-team" of commissioners to do so.

Von Finckenstein returned the favour by referring to the Shaw executives present on Wednesday as the Calgary-based TV giant's "B-team," using Shaw's own terminology, he quipped.

Shaw: no to carriage fees, genre restrictions

As expected, company president Peter Bisonnette and other representives of Shaw cable and StarChoice satellite service attacked proposals to introduce a fee-for-carriage and advocated the elimination of genre restrictions so as to allow more competition in Canadian TV offerings.

In his introduction, Bisonnette urged that the issue of carriage fees — in which conventional broadcasters like CTV, CanWest and CBC want to start charging distributors for carrying their respective signals — "must be resoundingly rejected once and for all," adding that introduction of such fees is something that should be considered by Parliament.

The CBC, one of the broadcasters arguing for a carriage fee, already receives enough money via government funding and large private broadcasters like CTV and CanWest only want the fees to "subsidize their own cost of doing business," he said.

"If the CRTC grants a broad fee-for-carriage, broadcasters will keep coming back year after year for increases to fix [any] cracks that come up."

Shaw executives postulated that if a fee-for-carriage is approved, it could prompt U.S. broadcasters whose signals are shown in Canada to also start demanding a fee — something that could cost distributors millions more.

The company's reps argued to eliminate genre protection for specialty channels — thus allowing more foreign channels to be carried by Canadian distributors — and to nix current guaranteed-access guidelines.

The main regulation that should remain, they said, is a basic TV offering that features a preponderance of Canadian channels.

Ken Stein, Shaw's senior vice president of corporate and regulatory affairs, argued that "if [Canadian broadcasters and specialty channels] have to fight to keep on the system, that they would do a better job and, in particular, do a better job with Canadian content."

The Shaw team reiterated their opinion that the Canadian system is strong enough to deal with increased competition and that everyone, from major broadcasters to independent specialty channels, currently has the ability to negotiate fair deals with distributors.

"We feel that the best way to achieve what is set out in the [Broadcasting Act] is by giving Canadians what they want," Stein said.

"We believe that a competitive system will achieve more diversity and will achieve the objectives that are set out in the act."

The hearings continue on Thursday and Monday.