Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore announced today an Order-in-Council directing the CRTC to hold hearings and report back on a fee-for-carriage system in Canada. Facing the prospect of a federal election sooner rather than later, the government wants to avoid nettling voters with an edict that would invariably push cable fees up for customers if a fee-for-carriage system were to be adopted. One possible option is to allow cable and satellite customers to opt-in or out on local programming.
The CRTC has announced a public hearing in December to tackle the issue. On the discussion table: The impact of a compensation regime on consumers, and in particular, its impact on affordable access to a variety of local and regional news, information and public affairs programming; and ow the application of such a regime would impact the various components of the communications industry as it adapts to the new digital environment, and in particular, the implications on current and emerging business. models.
