|
Conventional TV broadcasters are renewing their requests for a fee-for-carriage after a recent CRTC financial report showed that the profits of the biggest private broadcasters dropped by almost 93% in 2008.
A carriage fee would have added between $2 to $10 to a subscriber's monthly bill and generated an estimated $300 million in revenues to the broadcasters. The CRTC argued, however, that the broadcasters failed to prove they had enough economic need for the higher revenues.
Broadcasters say that this recent CRTC report shows profits at private conventional TV stations dropped to a 13-year low in 2008, which proves that the industry needs a fee-for-carriage.
Since the carriage fee was rejected by the CRTC in October 2008, Canwest has been lobbying hard for it. Company spokesperson John Douglas feels the industry is in worse shape than the CRTC report suggests because it was for the broadcast year ending August 31, 2008, before the challenges in advertising began.
Douglas says, " 'the industry is challenged and the model has to be reconfigured and clearly there needs to be change on the regulatory side to reflect the economic realities of the industry right now.' "
Quebecor Media says the CRTC's current regulations are unfair and explains that general-interest TV in our country is " 'seriously threatened unless it is freed from the straitjacket of obsolete regulations.' "
Quebecor wants the CRTC to allow conventional private broadcasters to collect carriage fees, but consumers shouldn't have to pay for " 'the system's glaring inability to adapt to the new media environment.' "
Pierre Dion, president and CEO of Quebecor-owned TVA Group, points out, " 'the fact that they cannot collect both carriage fees and advertising revenues, as the specialty channels can, has pushed private general-interest broadcasters to the edge of the abyss.' " He adds, " 'the CRTC must end this unfair situation and give the over-the-air broadcasters the oxygen they need to continue playing their role as the leading producers of original Canadian content.' "
Source: Marketing, 02/12/2009
|