Bell to negotiate for value for signal for CTV stations

Bell Canada Enterprises Inc. announced Friday that, with the final acquisition of its media division, the company now supports value for signal. “he model planned by the CRTC allows TV broadcasters and TV service providers to negotiate VFS on a level playing field,” Bell said in a release Friday, when it announced the completed, $3.2-billion acquisition of CTV and the official creation of its media unit, Bell Media. “Bell supports this straightforward approach to promoting access to local and national programming, and today announces Bell TV will not pass on costs associated with VFS to its subscribers.” In February, broadcasters celebrated a Federal Court of Appeal decision that said the CRTC has the power and jurisdiction to implement its controversial value-for-signal regime. The CRTC released its value-for-signal policy decision in March 2010, but referred it to the court for a determination on whether it had the jurisdiction to implement it. The policy will give local, over-the-air television broadcasters the right to negotiate “value” for the carriage of their signals with cable and satellite distributors. In the event that negotiations fail, local broadcasters will have the power to pull or “delete” their programming from broadcasting distributors. The court decision capped a long and at times tense battle between broadcasters, which said they needed the extra revenue, and broadcasting distributors, which said any new fees for over-the-air channels would be passed onto consumers. Bell was one distributor opposed to value-for-signal, but now that it has acquired CTV and its group of 27 television stations, the company has changed its position. Bell said Friday that its support for value for signal will not impact consumer prices. Last year, following Bell’s agreement to purchase CTV and Shaw Communications Inc.’s acquisition of the broadcasting assets of the former Canwest Global Communications Corp., industry insiders said Shaw and Bell may have more to gain than lose by putting their over-the-air stations on the negotiating table for carriage fees. Bell said Friday it fulfilled all regulatory and legal requirements and closed the CTV transaction Friday, about 90 days earlier than originally expected. As part of its regulatory approval from the CRTC, Bell said it is proceeding with the implementation of its $240-million tangible benefits package to support the Canadian broadcasting system. The company said it plans to update its 2011 financial guidance to reflect the CTV acquisition when it delivers its first-quarter results on May 12. George Cope, president and CEO of BCE, said in a statement that the CTV acquisition “leverages our strategic investments in broadband networks and services and enables our promise to deliver the content Canadians want most across every screen—smartphone, tablet, computer and TV.” In the release, Bell said the acquisition of CTV “levels the competitive playing field in a marketplace where Bell's major competitors are integrated communications and broadcast companies.” BCE’s Bell Media unit will include CTV and other Bell content assets. The unit will be led by president Kevin Crull and includes all CTV television stations, 33 radio stations, and 29 specialty channels, including BNN, Discovery Channel, The Comedy Network, TSN and RDS. As previously announced, Ivan Fecan retired Friday as president and CEO of CTVglobemedia and CEO of CTV Inc. The company also announced Friday a new mobile package of Bell Media content available to all wireless providers “on commercial terms.” The package includes live or on-demand programming from TSN, RDS, CTV News Channel, BNN, MTV and The Comedy Network. "This is the content that smartphones, tablets and fast mobile networks are built for, and Bell Media is proud to make it available to all Canadians through their mobile provider of choice,” Crull said in a statement. news@thewirereport.ca

Bell to negotiate for value for signal for CTV stations

Broadcast | April 1, 2011

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