Companies, groups, to watch Blais in early days for indications of regulatory approach

Broadcasters and telecom providers will watch upcoming CRTC decisions for any indications of what direction its new chair will take towards industry regulation, industry insiders told The Wire Report on Monday. Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s office announced Friday that senior public servant Jean-Pierre Blais will become the CRTC’s new chair effective June 18 and for a five-year term. A former assistant deputy minister of cultural affairs at the Heritage Department, and, until his appointment, assistant secretary of government operations at the Treasury Board Secretariat, Blais has experience at the CRTC, where he started as a general counsel in the 1990s and climbed to the position of executive director of broadcasting. Simon Lockie, chief regulatory officer at new entrant wireless carrier Wind Mobile, said in an interview that industry players will be watching Blais closely during his first few months in office to get a better feel for how he will lead the commission. “The entire industry will be watching with great interest how he deals with his first few items,” Lockie said. Lockie and other industry players contacted by The Wire Report on Monday said Blais has a reputation as an intelligent and fair-minded public servant. “I’ve heard nothing but good things about him,” Lockie said. He said industry players will watch Blais to determine how he will apply the commission’s work of enforcing the telecom and broadcasting acts. Jean-Francois Mezei, a consultant with Montreal firm Vaxination Informatique, said Blais’ early decisions will reflect instructions he receives from the federal Conservative government, which in 2006 issued a policy directive for the commission to rely on market forces as much as possible. Mezei said industry players will start to get a better understanding of potential government policy directions when they start to meet with Blais, probably within “a couple of weeks” of when he takes on the job. “That’s when the parties might get a better feel for what his real mandate is,” he said, adding that the commission’s early decisions under Blais will help shape their understanding of any new policy orientation. “My gut tells me within six months we’ll start to get a feel for it.” Lockie said Wind will be concerned with how Blais promotes competition and ensures “there’s a level playing field” in the wireless industry. He said Wind will look at how the Blais-led commission responds to Wind’s request for CRTC intervention to gain access to Vancouver’s underground subway lines to build wireless network infrastructure. “I think that’s a critical one,” Lockie said. “I’ll be watching with interest.” Ted Woodhead, vice-president of telecom policy and regulatory affairs at Telus Corp., in an email identified five “major challenges” Blais will face as chair. He said those challenges include enforcing the CRTC’s rules on vertical integration; responding to increasing industry consolidation; reacting to changes in technology and the way broadcasting is distributed and consumed; developing a national wireless consumer code; and implementing and enforcing the federal government’s anti-spam legislation. “Jean Pierre Blaise comes to this important position with a wealth of experience in cultural, regulatory and policy matters,” Woodhead said. “That experience will be critical as he works to take on a whole range of challenging issues in the face of today’s changing technology and cultural landscape.” Lockie agreed that the wireless industry will be keen on seeing Blais’ leadership as the commission determines whether it should establish a national wireless code for consumer protection. Ken Engelhart, senior vice-president of regulatory affairs at Rogers Communications Inc., said in an interview that other big decisions under Blais’ leadership may include a new decision on fee-for-carriage, wholesale Internet access regulation, and a delayed CBC licence renewal now scheduled for November. Engelhart said industry players will have a chance to hear Blais speak about vertical integration—in which large companies own broadcast and broadcast distribution assets—during a to-be-scheduled hearing on BCE Inc.’s $3.38-billion agreement to acquire Astral Media Inc. Engelhart said Rogers will pay close attention to all issues before the commission but he does not believe that any one decision will serve as a test of Blais’ opinions or leadership style. “I don’t know if anything is going to be, particularly, a test,” he said. “He will look at the facts and the law on each case and, with the other commissioners, they’ll do what they think is best.” He said he does not anticipate Blais will favour the broadcasting sector as a result of his work at Heritage Canada. Those with an eye on the CBC’s upcoming licence renewal hearing should not assume Blais will lean one way or another towards the public broadcaster, he said. “When you’re a party before the CRTC, all you really hope for is that the commissioners who are listening to your case are listening with an open mind,” Engelhart said. “I think Jean-Pierre most certainly will do that. I think he’s fair and he’ll listen to what the CBC has to say.” Michael Janigan, executive director of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC), said he believes Blais will be more sensitive to the need to protect Canadian culture than other candidates for the position may have been. “I don’t think you can spend that amount of time in Heritage without having some kind of knowledge and appreciation for the difficulties in fostering Canadian culture through the communications media,” he said. “But what that means in terms of results for stakeholders depends by and large on what’s put in front of him.” Janigan, who said he worked with Blais on telecom issues during Blais’ time as CRTC general counsel, said the incoming chairman has well-rounded experience to deal with issues that come before the commission. “Blais has an understanding and experience in both telecommunications and broadcasting,” Janigan said. “He’s seen it from the perspective of a regulator and he’s seen it from the perspective of policy making from the government.” Janigan added: “He’s the umpire and he’s going to call balls and strikes as he sees them.” One of the top issues facing the commission is whether to regulate growing, over-the-top, online content services like Netflix or Apple TV. That regulation could take the form of requiring them to pay fees to support the Canadian broadcasting system. The CRTC last year opened a “watching brief” on online services, but this spring, without a permanent chair in place, put off holding another fact-finding exercise. Engelhart said he expects the issue of over-the-top services to be periodically reviewed, and that it would be unwise to think that Blais, due to his background with the Heritage Department, would apply Canadian content regulations to online services. “Any regulator, they usually like to wait to see if there's a problem before they act,” he said. In a memo to commission staff Monday, Blais said he was honoured to accept the appointment “at this critical moment in the communications sector.” He noted CRTC’s “institutional wisdom about when and when not to regulate” and emphasized the interests of the public, saying they “expect to be consulted and to be heard” and place “high expectations” on the CRTC as the industry faces constant change. “Canadians want communications services that are affordable; they want choice and they want access to high-quality content on all platforms. They seek reliable, quality services,” he said. “Canadians are looking to the CRTC to contribute to Canada's growth, competitiveness and economic strength, as well as its cultural and creative vitality in all its diversity.” news@thewirereport.ca

Companies, groups, to watch Blais in early days for indications of regulatory approach

News | June 11, 2012

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Companies, groups, to watch Blais in early days for indications of regulatory approach

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