TV System ‘Broken’ Without More Money: Broadcaster Tells CRTC

Canada’s largest private broadcaster laid out a scorched earth scenario Monday if it doesn’t get paid for its signals, suggesting more station closings and even yanking signals from cable.

“We are not going to be here operating conventional TV unless we can make a business of it,” CTVglobemedia president Ivan Fecan told the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.

The warning comes as the federal regulator opened two weeks of hearings on whether conventional TV stations must continue to give cable and satellite companies their signals for free, in exchange for a guaranteed place on the cable and satellite menu.

Cable firms are expected to scoff at that warning when it is their turn to testify, as early as Monday afternoon.

For months, Rogers Communications and Bell, which owns the country’s largest satellite operation, have waged an expensive TV ad war containing their own threat – if they are forced to pay for the signals, they will charge their customers up to $10 a month.

To which, Fecan and officials responded, the CRTC should again get into the business of regulating cable firms like Rogers Communications and Shaw Communications to force them to offer a basic package of programs for a low cost set by the regulator.

CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein showed his unhappiness with the bitterness of the battle between the broadcasters and the carriers.

“I am very frustrated by this very confrontational view,” he told a packed hearing room.

“You need each other and yet we have seen, for the last five months, a public battle never seen before and at the end of the day I can see nothing else than the consumer has to pay more.”

Von Finckenstein said it was his job to ensure that broadcasters, which by the CRTC regulations must carry Canadian programming, survive.

At the same time, he said, he did not want Canadian consumers to pay more.

“Is it possible for you (broadcasters and carriers) to work this out and come back to us. I can’t reiterate enough I would like this to be a win-win solution for you, the (cable and satellite firms) and customers,” he said.

Fecan and his executive vice-president, Paul Sparkes, said they did not believe negotiations for so-called fee-for-carriage would break down since the carriers would be face the wrath of subscribers if CTV or other networks went dark, taking with them viewers’ favourite shows, like CSI, House or Desperate Housewives, as well as some sports broadcasts.

Under CTV’s proposal, cable companies would not only lose out on the network signals, but would have to black out shows on American stations that the Canadian network owns rights to.

The executives also said the CRTC could protect consumers by reregulating the cable system and forcing carriers to offer subscribers a basic TV package at a cost the regulator would set.

Failure to act on the issue, they said, would mean they would no longer be able to pay for domestically-produced shows.

Broadcasters have been pleading poverty for several years, but the recession has given greater urgency to their warnings.

Two western stations recently shut down, and there were scant bids for local stations put on the block in Hamilton, Ont., and Victoria.

Fecan said any cable firm “could have bought them for the cost of a two double-doubles and a box of Timbits.”

“But they didn’t and their actions speak louder than all the briefs they’ve filed,” he said of the cable companies’ contention that broadcasters have caused many of their own troubles with bad business decisions, including over paying for U.S. shows.

At a news conference held outside the hearing room, a group of about a dozen Canadian actors called on the CRTC to allow broadcasters to seek a fee for their signals, but added that any new money that would flow to the networks should come with strings.

Actors guild president Ferne Downey said the CRTC should not hand the networks a blank cheque allowing them to just spend on more expensive U.S. programs.

She said the CRTC should insist broadcasters invest at least six per cent of gross revenues on Canadian dramas and comedies.

But Sparkes rejected any more commitments being forced on Canadian broadcasters, saying the new money would only be enough to keep conventional television afloat.