CRTC seeking news channel data for possible ‘news neighbourhood’ reg

The CRTC is asking broadcast distributors for information on the dial positions of news channels they carry following questions from commission Chair Jean-Pierre Blais last week about the possibility of creating a “news neighbourhood” regulation for the grouping of news channels. Sun News Network, an all-news channel owned by Quebecor Media Inc., said at a CRTC hearing last week that it wants mandatory carriage on basic cable to get a leg up as a “new entrant” in Canada’s broadcasting market. The regulator is consulting on new applications for mandatory carriage on basic TV service with Blais opening the hearings last week by saying the commission has set the bar “very high” and is concerned about consumer choice and affordability in the TV provider market. When officials from Sun News Network appeared before commissioners on April 23, Blais said he may ask the broadcast distributors about a possible “news neighbourhoods” regulation, which would require news channels to be grouped together. “One could agree with your argument that Canadians should have access to a diversity of sources of news, to make sure that we have an open market of ideas, and it is in that spirit that I am asking this question,” Blais told Sun News. At the hearing Monday, Blais informed all broadcast distribution companies that the regulator is asking them to fill out a form asking which foreign and Canadian news channels they carry, their channel placement on the dial, whether they are on basic analog or digital packages, whether they are available a la carte (on their own), and the wholesale fee the distributor pays for each news channel. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission, as part of its approval of Comcast Corp.’s acquisition of NBC Universal in 2011, imposed a condition referred to as news neighbourhoods, which requires groups of news or business news channels on the dial, so that they are carried in adjacent or nearby channel positions. The regulation, or condition, would not require carriage, but ensures that news channels owned by competing companies cannot be placed in the dial’s “stratosphere”—as Sun News vice-president Kory Teneycke called it—where consumers often cannot find it. “That way, unaffiliated news networks could be distributed in that news neighbourhood, and the unaffiliated would not be disadvantaged,” Blais said, describing the FCC policy to the Sun News officials at the hearing. “I am not sure if you are aware of that approach, but presumably what it does is ensure that there is visibility, and I think that some of your points put forward today deal with visibility. You are quite confident that when people see your product, they will want to have it in the longer term,” Blais said. Last year, Bloomberg LP successfully filed an FCC complaint against Comcast for carrying its Bloomberg TV channel outside of a “news neighbourhood.” In May 2012, the FCC ordered Comcast to move Bloomberg TV to a better dial position near other news channels. Blais asked for Sun News’ opinion on the policy if the CRTC was to “consider a similar model, perhaps not identical, but inspired by the FCC approach on a news neighbourhood, with the policy objective of ensuring that Canadians have access to a diversity of views on matters of public opinion.” Sun News officials said they had not looked at the policy and did not have an answer at the time. They said the company would provide an answer in its reply comments on May 2. Rogers Communications Inc. officials appeared at the hearing Monday and said the company offers Sun News a la carte for $2.79 per month, about half of which goes to Sun News, and that the all-news channel is distributed in standard definition on channel 142 and in high definition on channel 567, beside Rogers’ CityNews channel on 566. David Purdy, Rogers senior vice-president of content, said in an interview Monday that the company would move Sun News to a better placement if the regulation is introduced, but that “you can’t change your channels willy nilly” because the movement can frustrate TV subscribers. —With reporting by Simon Doyle at sdoyle@thewirereport.ca and editing by Nicholas Kyonka at nkyonka@thewirereport.ca.

CRTC seeking news channel data for possible ‘news neighbourhood’ reg

Broadcast | April 29, 2013

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