GATINEAU – So much for our idea of just “getting on with this.”
The CRTC today announced that we will be starting all over again on the fee-for-carriage file and the hearing into group based licensing for television companies and other issues will now begin on November 16th rather than on September 29th.
In Latin, the proceeding will examine “de novo” (that means, “brand new”, or “of new” or “from a new beginning”…) “the establishment of a framework for the negotiation of a fair market value of the conventional and distant television signals carried by cable and satellite providers,” reads the CRTC press release from this morning.
As first reported by Cartt.ca, on August 4, Bell Canada filed an application in the Federal Court of Appeal alleging that the Commission has denied interested parties the opportunity to comment on the issue of a negotiated, fair market value for local conventional signals. So the Regulator was forced to allot more time for this re-examining of an issue that’s been well studied already.
There are more than 100 stories on Cartt.ca alone that mention “fee-for-carriage”. Sigh.
“By proceeding this way, the Commission will ensure a fair, open and transparent hearing and remove any uncertainty on its outcome,” concludes the Commission.
The amended PN can be found here.
