U.S. broadcasters look to resume retransmission row

A group of American TV stations seems to be renewing its efforts to put compensation for signals retransmitted in Canada back on the government’s agenda as it enters into renegotiations of its free-trade agreement with the U.S. and Mexico. The U.S. Television Coalition, represented by Ottawa-based consultant Francis Schiller of Public Interests Research and Communications Inc., reactivated its registration with the federal lobbying commissioner on July 7, after lying dormant for two years. First registered between May 2012 and May 2015, the coalition represents five stations in Saint Paul, Minn., Buffalo, N.Y., and Detroit, Mich., whose signals are retransmitted in Canada. They want remuneration from domestic broadcast distribution undertakings (BDUs) above the compensation derived from the copyright regime. The reactivated registration said the coalition intends to communicate with government stakeholders, such as Heritage Canada, the CRTC, Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED), and the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on the “renegotiation of the retransmission right provisions in the North American Free Trade Agreement.” Previous versions of Schiller’s registration indicated that the group’s focus was on the definition of “local signal” and “distant signal” in the related regulations and that it was looking for “retransmission consent and remuneration rights for U.S. stations under the Broadcasting Distribution Regulations, including as discretionary services under a mandated pick-and-pay channel offering.” Schiller filed 13 reports for communications between June 2012 and October 2014, with people such as MPs, Heritage policy staff, and former CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais and executive director Scott Hutton. The group also participated in the CRTC’s Let’s Talk TV proceeding, where it argued that Canadian broadcast distributors should not be able to transmit their signals for free, and that the distribution of U.S. stations should require affiliation agreements. In June, telecommunications came up in 62 communication reports in the lobbyists’ registry, making it the 19th-most discussed subject, down 44.6 per cent from May, while broadcasting was raised in 33 reports, in 30th place, down 60.7 per cent from May. The June 2017 standings were a 12.7-per-cent decrease and 65-per-cent increase from those logged for telecom and broadcasting, respectively, in June 2016. Last month, the Entertainment Software Association of Canada (ESAC) was the most active of telecom and media organizations on the registry, logging a total of 21 communication reports. Of those, 11 were filed under executive director Tim Gray, with the remainder under Temple Scott Associates consultant Robert Elliot. The pair discussed industry and consumer issues with MPs like ISED parliamentary secretary David Lametti and NDP ISED critic Brian Masse. Gray’s registration indicates that he is broaching issues such as the government’s review of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and a proposal for an “omnibus bill that amends pertinent legislation, including the Copyright Act, the Trade-marks Act, the Customs Act, the Criminal Code, and the Proceeds of Crime Act, for the purpose of increasing enforcement and penalties for intellectual property offences and piracy.” Telus Corp. added an extra body to its lobbying team in the form of Kevin Bosch from Hill and Knowlton Strategies. Bosch recently left Parliament Hill where he was a long-time Liberal staffer and researcher. Telus filed a cumulative 17 communication reports in June for conversations on telecommunications, broadcasting, infrastructure, and health, with the likes of the Canada Revenue Agency chief of staff and policy director, ISED associate deputy minister Kelly Gillis, Minister Navdeep Bains, and Public Service and Procurement Canada chief of staff Gianluca Cairo. Reports were also filed on infrastructure with Global Affairs chief of staff Julian Ovens and policy advisor Sylvain Bedard. BCE Inc. filed 11 reports on broadcasting and telecommunications with Bains and Heritage Minister Melanie Joly, ISED deputy minister John Knubley and Gillis, the Canada-US relations advisor at PMO, Simon Beauchemin, and policy staff at PMO and Finance Canada. Dominic LeBlanc, the minister of fisheries, oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, was targeted by Xplornet Communications Inc. in June among its nine reports, along with senior ISED staff, while Shaw Communications Inc. communicated with Bains as part of its six reports on telecom and broadcasting. TekSavvy Solutions Inc. logged five reports, four under Gayle Alexander Associates consultant Ian Connerty, with ISED policy advisor Parvinder Sachdeva and Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada chief of staff Rick Theis, and one under CEO Marc Gaudrault with Gillis and assistant ISED deputy minister Eric Dagenais on telecom and consumer issues. Alphabet Inc.’s Google Canada filed four reports on science and technology with policy staff at ISED and the PMO and PMO communications director Kate Purchase, while Friends of Canadian Broadcasting filed six reports on talks with PMO policy advisor Maxime Dea, Liberal MP Julie Dabrusin, and Opposition Heritage critic Peter Van Loan. The National Football League (NFL) returned to the scene in June, filing three reports under managing director David Thomson on arts and culture, broadcasting, and international trade with PMO policy advisor Dea and Canada-U.S. relations advisor Beauchemin, Heritage chief of staff Church and other department policy staff, and Finance Canada senior policy advisor Elliot Hughes. Quebecor Inc. also made contact with Minister Bains as part of its three reports, as did the Canadian Wireless Telecommunication Association (CWTA) in its two reports. Minister Joly was contacted by Corus Entertainment Inc. as part of its two June communications, along with reps from the Writers Guild of Canada. Rogers Communications Inc. filed two reports on employment and training and telecommunications with the Employment and Social Development Canada deputy minister and senior assistant deputy minister Kathryn McDade and ISED’s director of policy David McFarlane and associate assistant DM Gillis. Also filing communication reports in June were Netflix Inc., which reached out to Heritage’s Church; Iristel Inc., for contact with Liberal MP Michael McLeod and his executive assistant; the Canadian Network Operators Consortium (CNOC), which filed reports with a pair of Ontario Liberal MPs; and Blue Ant Media Inc., which talked broadcasting and industry with Heritage manager of international trade Annabel Claux. — With reporting by Charelle Evelyn at cevelyn@thewirereport.ca and editing by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca

U.S. broadcasters look to resume retransmission row

Broadcast | July 21, 2017

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