Independent broadcasters want their HD added to satellite services
MONTREAL — The licence renewal applications of Bell and Shaw’s satellite TV distribution services prompted 156 replies, the vast majority of which were comments from individuals upset Shaw Communications plans to discontinue a free basic TV service it set up for people who lost access to over-the-air stations during the digital transition.
The Local Television Satellite Solution was promised and provided by Shaw in 2010 as a tangible benefit during its acquisition of CanWest’s television assets, including Global TV. The company proposed spending $15 million to send free equipment to affected households and offer a free basic TV service to them. It accepted applications until funds were exhausted, and promised to provide the service until the end of Shaw Direct’s licence term, which was to end in 2017 (it was administratively renewed until August 2019, and Shaw chose to keep the program running, even providing equipment upgrades).
In the end, the program was more popular than anticipated, and 31,500 households signed up. Shaw, of course, no longer owns TV stations, having sold them to corporate sister Corus Entertainment.
Cartt.ca sampled 11 of the interventions from individuals, and found many of those who receive the service are now complaining it’s being shut down, and want the Commission to require Shaw keep it running or provide an alternative free-to-air satellite distribution.
Shaw instead is offering people with LTSS to continue receiving TV service for $25 a month (the CRTC-mandated “skinny basic” price), and have also offered a promotion for $10 a month to sign up for two years.
“For me, and the many thousands of members benefiting from LTSS, the circumstances in effect five years ago haven't changed. We are still located outside the range of established OTA TV-signal transmitters,” writes John Vertegaal of Mission, B.C. “Shaw Direct has spent its resources. There are no future costs involved aside from possible end-point hardware upgrades.”
Vertegaal and other interveners made particular mention of no longer being able to receive CBC Television, which they felt went against the spirit of the public broadcaster’s mandate.
Steven James May, a Humber College professor and TV blogger, also opposed Shaw’s request to end the program. “Review of Shaw Direct’s licence by the CRTC must include meaningful discussion of the LTSS and the merits of continuing the LTSS in some form beyond August 2019,” he wrote. He said it was never explicit that the program would end at the end of the licence term, and noted broadcasters like CBC and TVO referenced the LTSS as a mitigating factor when shutting down portions of their large networks of rebroadcasting transmitters.
Even former CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein (who oversaw the Shaw-CanWest merger) said he thought Shaw should continue the service, telling CBC News in the story which likely spurred more than a few submissions: “I don’t understand why they would not.”
Broadcasters, particularly small ones, also filed interventions related to Bell and Shaw’s satellite service renewals. A group of 24 independent stations, the Local Independent Television Stations Group [Groupe V Média, Télé Inter-Rives, RNC Media, Stingray, Jim Pattison Broadcast Group, Thunder Bay Electronics, Stirling Communications (NTV), Miracle Channel, CHEK Media Group and Channel Zero (CHCH)] asked the Commission to ensure more of their stations are distributed in high definition on satellite.
Satellite distribution is of particular concern to smaller market independent stations, many of whom operate in rural and remote areas where up to half of their audience watches them on satellite, say the broadcasters.
Both Bell and Shaw have said they will distribute all local independent TV stations, but not all of them are carried in HD.
The LITS group said 10 of its stations are only in SD on at least one of the two satellite services. Télé Inter-Rives, which operates affiliates of three French-language networks in eastern Quebec, said the HD distribution of its Radio-Canada affiliate in Rivière-du-Loup could mean an increase in viewership of 41% as it repatriates regional viewers who tune in to Montreal or Quebec City stations for the higher quality of signal.
Another concern of the LITS group was the strictness of Shaw’s regional breakdown, noting that viewers in Eastern Ontario should have access to Gatineau stations, and those in those in northern New Brunswick should have access to a TVA affiliate which operates on both sides of the Quebec-New Brunswick border. It also noted CHCH has transmitters in eastern and northern Ontario and should be included in those lineups, too. Shaw Direct’s CRTC licence lists which individual stations should be included in each regional basic package.
Rogers had specific concerns regarding the distribution of OMNI Regional. One of Bell’s proposed amendments would allow it to substitute an over-the-air OMNI station with an OMNI Regional signal, to avoid duplication. Rogers is asking for a condition of licence requiring that substitution be of the appropriate regional feed for each region, that for viewers in Eastern Canada it’s only the OMNI.2 signal that’s replaced instead of OMNI.1, and that replaced channels be in the same “channel neighbourhood.” The Commission had previously rejected a request to require such a replacement be on the same channel.
Corus and Quebecor also intervened, each supporting Bell’s plan to ensure local stations are distributed in appropriate local markets.
