TORONTO and OTTAWA – The CRTC should rethink its decision to delay considering applications for mandatory basic digital distribution.
That message seems to be picking up steam, and not just with the independent broadcasters who currently have 9(1)(h) applications before the Commission. The Canadian Conference for the Arts (CCA) waded into the issue this week, calling on the Regulator to rescind BRP 2010-629.
“Our request is based on the fact that in our opinion, due process and transparency were gravely missing in the Commission’s decision to impose a moratorium”, the CCA wrote in a letter to CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein this week. “Without due process, smaller independent broadcasters are in fact exposed to an unmanageable level risk arising from the consolidated nature of ownership in the communications industry today.”
That’s a view shared by independent broadcasters ZoomerMedia TV and Stornoway Communications.
“We put in an application last June, and I was in communication with the Commission on a monthly basis from the Fall right up until August”, Stornoway’s president and CEO, Martha Fusca, told Cartt.ca on Thursday. “And at no time was there any indication that we would be handed a two year moratorium. Quite frankly, I don’t think that any number of companies will make it to that point.”
Stornoway has also written to the CRTC to express its “profound disagreement” with the decision to delay considering these applications until June 2012. It called the decision “unfair” as well as “inconsistent with broadcast policy objectives.”
ZoomerMedia TV’s president and CEO, Bill Roberts, has made no secret of his wish that the Commission change its mind on the decision.
In its letter, the CCA voiced its concern that the Commission will continue to contemplate the launch of new non-Canadian services, but not new Canadian services, during the two year delay.
“This means that programming themes that would otherwise be developed by, and for, Canadians, could very well end up being occupied by non-Canadian services”, it continues. “Such a result would be another failure of the Commission in its responsibility as Steward of Canadian culture with respect to the Broadcasting Act.”
The arts advocacy and cultural policy development organization also pledged its support for a proposal in Commissioner Morin’s dissenting opinion to implement an objective, numbers-based model to measure 9(1)(h) worthiness.
“This would establish a level playing field with ever more powerful and vertically integrated BDUs”, the CCA added. “It would also protect small broadcasters from arbitrary and unexpected decisions by the Commission, of which the object of this intervention is the most recent example."
Fusca agreed wholeheartedly. “There are so few incentives for BDUs to carry channels that they don’t own. They’ve been put in a position, through regulatory means, to squash competition. That’s the way the market works; if you can get rid of your competitor, you will.”
She speculated whether some of the Commissioners did not fully comprehend the impact that voting for the moratorium would have on companies like hers, and said that she hopes that the CRTC would consider setting a hearing in early 2011 to consider the outstanding applications.
“All we’re talking about here is having an opportunity to be heard", Fusca continued. "We just want this dealt with in a timely fashion. Timeliness, openness and fairness, that’s all I ask for.”
