The CRTC said Friday that Rogers Communications Inc.'s regionally licensed cable systems must pay contributions into the Local Programming Improvement Fund (LPIF). The ruling came in response to a request by Rogers for an interpretation of the commission's broadcasting distribution regulations. The CRTC established the LPIF to support local programming for conventional TV stations in non-metropolitan markets with contributions from broadcast distribution undertakings. Prior to April 2010, the LPIF administrator sent Rogers preliminary invoices that did not include the company's regionally licensed systems with fewer than 20,000 subscribers. But on April 1, 2010, the administrator sent Rogers a revised invoice including the regional licences. Rogers refused to pay the new contributions, arguing it met an exception in the regulations that said licensees that have less than 20,000 subscribers do not have to pay into the fund. In the ruling, the commission said the exception applies at the licensee level, but not cable systems operating under regional licences.
Source: The Wire Report, 08/09/2010