The CRTC denied an application Monday from FreeHD Canada Inc. that would have required Telesat Canada to allocate satellite capacity for the company's television distribution services. FreeHD Canada is a new satellite distributor that originally intended to launch in August 2011, but delayed it to the first quarter of 2012. The company said the launch was delayed because it could not acquire satellite capacity by its original deadline. In December, FreeHD asked the commission to order Telesat to allocate all capacity on its Nimiq 5 satellite to the company. FreeHD made the request under the Telecommunications Act, which says the commission may allocate satellite capacity to a broadcaster it the carrier and the broadcaster cannot reach an agreement. The company said its application was necessary because it had no other satellite capacity options. FreeHD also said Telesat unjustly discriminated against it by not allocating satellite capacity. In December 2006, Telesat sold all of the Nimiq 5 capacity to Bell Satellite TV. In March 2008, half of the capacity was resold to Colorado-based Echostar Corp. The following year, Bell entered into a contract with Telesat to build a new satellite and agreed to transfer its remaining capacity on Nimiq 5 to Echostar. Telesat told the commission that FreeHD's application should be dismissed because FreeHD does not qualify as a broadcaster under the Telecommunications Act. The company also noted that the satellite's capacity was already allocated. The commission said Monday that, at the time of negotiations for Nimiq 5, FreeHD was not a Canadian broadcaster, nor a satellite distributor, and that Telesat has no obligations towards the company. "Granting the order requested by FreeHD would retrospectively disrupt and significantly interfere with commercial relations and could have a significant adverse impact on the Canadian satellite industry," the commission said.
Source: The Wire Report, 01/31/2011