Government to wait for CRTC report before making decisions on pick-and-pay, Glover says

The federal government will wait to see the results of a CRTC report on how best to implement a pick-and-pay television model before deciding whether to get involved in the process, Heritage Minister Shelly Glover said. “We can’t make any decisions until we see the report because I want to make sure we have a complete picture,” Glover said in an interview Thursday. “They’re going to do their report and we’re going to wait for it … absolutely I’ll be depending on their expertise.” In an order issued last week and announced by Glover Thursday, the federal cabinet asked the CRTC to issue, by April 30, 2014, a report outlining the potential impact of a move to a pick-and-pay regime, under which TV subscribers would pay a monthly fee for basic television channels, plus per-channel fees for only the additional services they want. The report, the order said, should identify “how the ability of Canadian consumers to subscribe to pay and specialty television services on a service-by-service basis can be maximized in a manner that most appropriately furthers the implementation” of Canada’s broadcasting policy, as laid out in the federal Broadcasting Act. It should also focus on the impact a pick-and-pay model would have on consumers and, in particular “their affordable access to a variety of pay and specialty television services, including niche programming.” The order said that the report should also address the effect the model would have on Canadian broadcasters and broadcast distributors, the independent production sector, “programming that reflects the multicultural and multiracial nature of Canadian society,” and “English and French linguistic minorities.” Glover said Thursday that the government’s request is timed to coincide with the broad public consultation the commission launched last month that asks consumers for ideas about the future of the Canadian television system. The Conservative government’s throne speech last month also said the government will implement TV channel "unbundling," or a pick-and-pay regime to give consumers the flexibility to subscribe to the individual specialty channels they want. Glover, who was appointed heritage minister this summer as part of a larger cabinet shuffle, said she expects the commission’s report will give cabinet “a complete picture” of the potential impact a move to pick-and-pay will have on the broadcasting industry, as well as how the commission plans to take the industry in that direction. She said she hasn’t yet decided what role, if any, the government will play in that process, though she added that the government hasn’t ruled out any possible actions. “They’re going to identify steps that they’re going to take in respect of unbundling in their report,” Glover said of the CRTC. “It’s impossible for me to predict what we will be doing until I see that .” Former CRTC vice-chair of broadcasting Michel Arpin said in a telephone interview that the Broadcasting Act allows the government to issue direct orders to the CRTC to implement certain policy objectives, if necessary. “That’s what they’ve done in the past with CPAC, when they told the CRTC to reserve a channel for CPAC and when they told the CRTC to reserve some channels for ,” Arpin said. The government, he added, can also table amendments to the Broadcasting Act if it identifies changes that are necessary to move to a pick-and-pay regime. Glover said she hasn’t ruled out opening up the Broadcasting Act to amendments if changes are needed, though she added that she does not expect the move to pick-and-pay will “interfere with any of the measures that are already contained” in the act. She said the government will not make any changes to the Broadcasting Act’s requirements that service providers offer a basic service package, though she added that there will “absolutely” be “consideration” of some previous CRTC decisions and policies, including its decision to grant some broadcasters mandatory carriage licences that ensure their channels are offered on those basic packages. “We expect to get a full report and then I can proceed in a way that’s responsible, but the commitment is there that we will be unbundling,” she said. Barry Kiefl, president of research group Canadian Media Research Inc., said it is “not uncommon” for the government to ask the CRTC to issue a report on a subject of particular national interest. The last time the government did so, he noted, was in 2009, when cabinet asked the commission to hold hearings and issue a report on a fee-for-carriage, or value-for-signal, regime. “From a government point of view, it’s quite a natural thing for them to have done,” he said, adding that he believes it signals the government’s intention to let the commission take the lead on the move to a pick-and-pay regime. “ would be the people to sort through all of these details to see how it can be accomplished,” Kiefl said. “It sounds to me like they basically want the independent CRTC to review whatever data is going to be necessary to point in that direction.” Arpin said the government’s request is designed to “put some flesh” on its throne speech promise to give consumers more choice in their television subscription options. “Was it absolutely necessary for them to do that at this stage? Personally, I think it’s a bit early,” he said. Glover said she expects that the government and the commission will collaborate on the move to pick-and-pay, adding that broadcast distributors “will also have a role to play.” Some of those television service providers have already made efforts to make their programming packages more flexible to consumers’ needs, she said, pointing to Quebecor Media Inc.’s pick-and-pay service offering in Quebec, in particular. In its request, the government asked the CRTC to consider in its report how a move to pick-and-pay will ensure that “the majority of programming services received by subscribers remain Canadian,” and that broadcast distributors continue to prioritize the carriage of Canadian programming and “particularly local Canadian stations.” Kiefl noted that many in the broadcast industry are concerned that a move to pick-and-pay would result in the demise of some smaller specialty channels, which could lose subscriber revenues if they are no longer bundled together with more popular channels. Glover said the government also wants the commission to consider those jobs as it considers how best to implement pick-and-pay. “That’s another piece to the puzzle,” she said. The government, she added, has not yet established a timeline by which it expects pick-and-pay to be available to consumers, which she said will also be determined after reviewing the commission’s report. “Consumers want choice and I intend to give it to them in a timely fashion,” she said. —With reporting by Nicholas Kyonka at nkyonka@thewirereport.ca and editing by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca

Government to wait for CRTC report before making decisions on pick-and-pay, Glover says

Broadcast | November 15, 2013

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Government to wait for CRTC report before making decisions on pick-and-pay, Glover says

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