By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Bell is asking the Federal Court of Appeal to review whether the CRTC was allowed to automatically renew its broadcasting licences without notice or consultation.
The CRTC approved all of the broadcaster’s 66 television and specialty channel licences until August 2026 on an administrative renewal basis. But Bell still had an outstanding appeal in the form of Part 1 applications to the CRTC asking it to reduce the regulatory burdens on it because the financial climate for broadcasters has changed from when the licences were last renewed for a five-year term in 2017.
“There is a very real risk that the Renewal Decision could result in the delay and deferral of the Part 1 Applications, and it could very well prejudge the issues in those applications to the detriment of Bell Media,” the company said in the application for leave to appeal dated last month. “As a practical matter, it may result in Bell Media’s licences being administratively renewed for a nine-year term, rather than the initial five-year term set in 2017 following a public hearing.”
Bell is accusing the regulator of breaching section 18(2) of the Broadcasting Act, which stipulates the need for a public hearing before a renewal decision and accuses it of failing to provide a notice of intention to make such a decision.
“The Renewal Decision is likely to have serious adverse impacts on Bell Media,” the application for leave to appeal said. “It will impair Bell Media’s ability to evolve in the competitive landscape of the Canadian broadcasting industry in the face of a growing presence from digital media broadcasting undertakings (DMBUs, or companies who provide consumer broadcasting services over the internet).”
Bell announced in June its plan to slash 1,300 jobs, close six AM radio stations and sell three others due to tough industry dynamics.
In July 2022, the CRTC renewed Bell’s licences administratively until August 2024 without a public hearing, but did not challenge the decision then.
That’s until this past August, when the CRTC renewed Bell’s licences for another two-year term until August 2026 without notice, which came after the aforementioned Part 1 applications filed by Bell in June requesting regulatory relief for its English-language television stations and discretionary services.
In the aftermath, Bell sent a letter on August 16 disputing the automatic renewal without notice or hearing. To address its concerns in the immediate term, Bell asked the regulator to decide on Bell’s Part 1 applications within the next four months and no later than March 1, 2024, to give it time to implement changes ahead of the expiry of its current licence term of August 2024. But it said it did not receive a response, the court application said.
The telco said it believes this is a novel application before the court because it does not recall another challenging an administrative renewal without notice, consultation or public hearings.
What isn’t novel, though, is support for Bell’s concerns in what it calls onerous regulatory obligations and the need to provide immediate relief from those commitments.
Other broadcasters have complained about a rough advertising market and the fact that the CRTC still has a long way to implement the Online Streaming Act, which will force foreign digital platforms to contribute to Canadian content enrichment.
Pure media company Corus requested a reduction in its Canadian content contributions, which was met by pushback from creative unions.
Rogers has similarly asked that the commission amend its Cancon obligations to allow it to expand the categories of PNI to include more programming categories in exchange for increasing to 100 per cent its independent production spending.
And Quebecor also filed its own Part 1 requesting that its Cancon obligations be lightened before threatening to close two weekend newscasts in Quebec without regulatory approval. It ended up backing off that plan.
