LGBTQ+ network OUTtv seeks better distribution deals with carriers

Canada’s television channel dedicated to the LGBTQ+ community is asking the CRTC for an amendment to its distribution order to make it more widely available. OUTtv Network Inc. has filed a Part 1 application with the commission outlining its concerns with carriage on broadcasting distribution undertakings (BDUs). When OUTtv’s licence was renewed in 2022, it was placed on must-offer status across English Canada. The company had sought must-offer across both official linguistic groups. With this new application, it is seeking to be placed in the must-carry category. In a must-offer scenario, BDUs are required to offer the service to subscribers, who then have the option to purchase it or include it in a bundle. In a must-carry scenario, BDUs must provide the service automatically to their subscribers. This means subscribers receive the service as part of their basic TV package. “Without default distribution as a basic service, experience has shown that BDUs will refuse to package OUTtv appropriately with a fair and reasonable wholesale fee,” the application states. “We have been unable to improve our distribution on BDU systems (with one exception) and set a fair wholesale fee for such distribution – even where the fee would be expected to be significantly less per subscriber for the BDU than what OUTtv currently receives,” the company wrote. “BDUs do not want to provide better distribution for OUTtv and reasonable compensation,” the channel operator alleged. Asked which carrier was the exception, OUTtv CEO Brad Danks was non-committal. “We can’t provide the information requested on the one BDU who we have agreed to terms with. The CRTC requires this to be confidential mostly for the protection of the broadcasting services so they can have flexibility in their dealings with all BDUs,” Danks told The Wire Report in an email. OUTtv’s resources are declining because of distributor inaction, the company said. In 2019, it generated $4.2 million in subscription revenues, while 2023 numbers show only $3.3 million was brought in. The channel had over 1 million subscribers in 2019; last year it was down to 400,000. The network has been able to stanch the shortfall through advertising. Ad revenues between 2019 and 2023 were up 786 per cent, a cumulative growth of 67.5 per cent each year. The Part 1 application has made a prophet of CRTC commissioner Claire Anderson. When OUTtv’s licence was renewed in 2022, she wrote a dissent calling for more stringent terms on the BDUs. She would have made carriage mandatory, she stated. The licence is set to expire in 2027. ppark@thewirereport.ca

LGBTQ+ network OUTtv seeks better distribution deals with carriers

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By Paul Park
| November 1, 2024

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LGBTQ+ network OUTtv seeks better distribution deals with carriers

Broadcast | By Paul Park | November 1, 2024

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By Paul Park
| November 1, 2024