Von Finckenstein would like to stay on in 2012, sources say

CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein would like to remain on the job for the time being but a term renewal beyond January 2012 appears unlikely, industry sources say. The Conservative government's public skirmishes with the regulator over the past few years—on issues such as wholesale usage-based billing and whether Globalive Communications Corp. can operate in Canada as a Canadian-owned carrier—has made it difficult for the government to reappoint the chair without appearing awkward, industry insiders say. “I don't think he has a snowball's chance of getting reappointed,” one industry source said on a background basis. Although the Conservative government never expressed it publicly, sources add that it also disagreed strongly with the commission's value-for-signal policy. Three sources familiar with von Finckenstein's position in Ottawa said in background interviews that the chair's wife, Ursula Menke, the commissioner of the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC), is not due to retire for about another year. That is part of the rationale for von Finckenstein's desire to stay on at the commission beyond the end of his five-year term ending Jan. 25, 2012. The chair of the CRTC turned 66 on April 4. “He's done a great job and deserves to be renewed,” Michel Arpin, the former vice-chair of broadcasting at the CRTC who worked under von Finckenstein until September 2010, said in an interview. “But the story of CRTC chair appointments does not show that there have been a lot of renewals. The only chair to be renewed was Pierre Juneau, and he only stayed a year in his second term.” Arpin said von Finckenstein likes to keep busy and speculated that he would be interested in a renewal even if it was for a short-period of time. Sources say that filling the potential vacancy is low on the government's agenda and that it has not yet begun a serious search. They say the government would prefer a francophone as chair, but other than that, as one source said, “I don't have a sense that they know what they're looking for.” Arpin said Prime Minister Stephen Harper personally made the call to select von Finckenstein as chair in 2007—as the process unfolds for most CRTC chairs. “It's a political appointment,” Arpin said. “The appointment of the chair is really the privilege of the prime minister, even if it's moved by the minister of heritage.” Sources say that Tom Pentefountas, the CRTC's new vice-chair of broadcasting who was criticized early this year for receiving a patronage appointment, remains a candidate for the chairmanship. But they add that appointing Pentefountas as chair would leave another high-profile vacancy on the commission. Industry insiders maintain that the chair's job is a difficult one to fill. “It's not a line of work to go into if you want to be liked,” one informed source said. Another added: “It's a tough job. I think you have to be a bit of a button for punishment these days to want that job. The world is changing so fast. It's very hard to please anybody.” Von Finckenstein, a former justice of the Federal Court and former head of the Competition Bureau, was hired in 2007 at a GCQ level-nine salary range of $251,600 to $296,000. That falls below the top GCQ range, level 10, which pays $296,600 to $349,000 and is significantly higher than the level-five range commissioners are hired at, which pays $135,300 to $159,200. Sources say the chair's pay scale should help attract qualified candidates. Sébastien Gariépy, press secretary to Heritage Minister James Moore, did not respond to emails or phone messages for this story. Tim Warmington, a spokesman for the Heritage Department, responded by email, saying only that an “announcement regarding the chair of the CRTC will be made in due course.” Whatever the government's plans, von Finckenstein will be looking to clear a few major items off his desk before January. The chair will be on deck to issue important decisions before the new year on wholesale usage-based billing and is expected to take part in CRTC hearings this October on interconnection issues. In what is expected to be one of the largest of final items on von Finckenstein's agenda, the commission will also hand down a decision this fall for a regulatory framework to govern a vertically integrated broadcasting industry. The decision is expected to establish new rules related to dispute resolutions, broadcast distributors' packaging practices, “head starts” for distributors' exclusively owned broadcast services, and other issues. “The country is waiting to see what comes out of the vertical integration hearing. That's going to be a huge proceeding, a landmark in Canadian communications,” David Elder, a communications lawyer at Stikeman Elliott in Ottawa, said in an interview. Arpin said von Finckenstein is the right man to deal with vertical integration given his experience as commissioner of competition. The CBC's broadcasting licence renewals, originally scheduled for this fall, would have been a major hearing for the chair to take part in, but they have been delayed until the spring. Von Finckenstein will also oversee a hearing in December on French-language television licence renewals and the commission's release of a report this fall on over-the-top content services. Elder said that report, which follows a fact-finding consultation on the issue last spring, will be consequential for the commission and von Finckenstein before he departs. “That's got to be one of the most fundamental issues the commission has faced,” he said. “It's how to deal with this unregulated and in some cases offshore content that's competing in a more direct way with established Canadian content.” Some sources predict that von Finckenstein will not suggest any bold regulatory solutions to deal with over-the-top services when the commission issues its report. “In a lot of ways, he called the proceeding to call people's bluff,” one industry insider said. “He can now check the box and say, 'I gave everybody a chance to tell me that it was a horrible thing, and it's not clear.” Arpin said von Finckenstein has done a good job as chair of the CRTC during a dynamic time for the broadcasting industry, given the 2008-09 recession, global consolidation, technological developments and the introduction of new platforms. Through all of that, von Finckenstein has made the CRTC “more transparent and predictable then before,” Arpin said. Arpin pointed out that the government will be faced with other decisions next year on whether to renew or appoint new candidates for positions on the commission. Commissioner Candice Molnar's term runs out on Jan. 6, 2012, commissioner Rita Cugini's on April 10, 2012, commissioner Michel Morin's on Aug. 5, 2012, and telecom vice-chair Leonard Katz's on Oct. 11, 2012. sdoyle@thewirereport.ca

Von Finckenstein would like to stay on in 2012, sources say

Broadcast | August 25, 2011

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