Ethnic broadcasters urge CRTC to maintain buy-through requirement

GATINEAU, Que. — Asian Television Network International Ltd. was one of a number of ethnic broadcasters with Category A third-language channels who on Thursday urged the CRTC, as part of the regulator’s two-week hearing on the future of television, to maintain its buy-through requirement for those channels. The CRTC said in a discussion document issued in August that it is considering eliminating the current rule, under which consumers must subscribe to "Fairchild TV, Telelatino, Talentvision, Asian Television Network or Odyssey if they want to subscribe to any other Canadian or non-Canadian channel in the same language, i.e., Cantonese, Italian, Spanish, Mandarin, Hindi and Greek.” Instead, TV providers would have to offer a Canadian third-language channel for every non-Canadian third-language channel they carry. The CRTC would create one type of licence for both Category A and Category B ethnic and third-language channels and would “harmonize” the requirements of licence. Eliminating that rule would be damaging, said Prakash Naidoo, ATN’s vice-president of sales. He said it would “result in a reduction of Canadian programming contributions by these services and in turn a reduction of service to Canadian ethnic minority communities,” as Category A services have higher Canadian programming obligations. He said that would go against the CRTC’s objectives “to foster the creation of compelling programs made by Canadians and fostering local programming.” In some cases, channels might not survive, Naidoo said. Connie Septhon, director of corporate affairs at Fairchild Television Inc., told the commission that without the buy-through requirement, “the will have every incentive to substitute us.” “Eventually, it will probably force us to … lower our wholesale fee. And by lowering our wholesale fee, that is preventing us from being able to provide the amount of Canadian content that we are currently providing,” she said. Odyssey Television Network Inc. vice-president John Maniatakos told the CRTC that maintaining the buy-through is “necessary for Odyssey to remain in business, with the current CPE requirements, and to be able to effectively cope with the added competition of foreign third-language services.” Because they do not have Canadian programming requirements, foreign channels have a price advantage, he said. If the current CPE and Canadian programming requirements were maintained and the buy-through requirement was eliminated, the foreign channels would “continue to have the lowest prices,” he said. It would also “would put Canadian third-language services at a great disadvantage and also affect their ability to function as a healthy business model,” he added. “There is a point where too much competition can lead to cutting corners and poorer quality of programming in order to offer a more attractive price," Maniatakos said. "Lower quality of programming offered in Canada will likely lead subscribers to find alternative non-Canadian platforms in order to watch higher-quality programming. This would not only be detrimental to Canadian third-language services but to the Canadian broadcasting sector as a whole,” he said. Ethnic Channels Group Ltd., which does not own any of the five Category A channels affected, said that if the CRTC keeps the buy-through requirement, it should limit the wholesale cost of Category A channels. “This puts tremendous financial pressure on Canadian consumers, limits access to other ethnic Category B services, and could drive people away from the regulated system,” Ethnic Channels CEO Slava Levin said. The CRTC should put in place a maximum wholesale rate of $1.50 for ethnic Category A channels, he said, and “if the commission is not inclined to amend the buy-through policy, we recommend eliminating the buy-through for ethnic services as proposed by the commission in its working document.” Frank Alvarez, CEO and president of Festival Portuguese Television, which also doesn’t own a Category A ethnic channel, said the CRTC’s proposed approach would “allow subscribers to bypass Canadian third-language services completely in favour of the foreign services.” He proposed that the CRTC should instead require subscribers to receive a Canadian third-language channel for every foreign third-language channel they subscribe to. If the CRTC does go ahead and eliminate the buy-through requirement, Alvarez added, TV providers should be required to offer a “Canadian third-language service for each foreign third-language service in the same language that it offers subscribers.” “This change will at least require a BDU to offer a balanced selection of third-language services in the same language,” he added. — With reporting by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca and editing by Derek Abma at dabma@thewirereport.ca

Ethnic broadcasters urge CRTC to maintain buy-through requirement

Broadcast | September 18, 2014

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Ethnic broadcasters urge CRTC to maintain buy-through requirement

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