Public consultation before closing TV stations unwarranted: Bell, Rogers

GATINEAU, Que. — CRTC Chairman Jean-Pierre Blais floated the idea that the commission should require a public consultation before a broadcaster closes a TV station during the last day of its hearing on English-language TV licence renewals. The question was put forth by Blais to BCE Inc., Corus Entertainment Inc. and Rogers Communications Inc. during the reply phase of the hearing Thursday. Currently, broadcasters can shut down local stations without a public consultation over their decision to so. “Canadians have told us a lot that they value over-the-air (OTA) television,” Blais said. Earlier this year, CRTC data showed that the revenue earned by private over-the-air stations has dropped 17.9 per cent over five years, while a report released ahead of the CRTC’s proceeding on local and community television warned that 50 per cent of Canada’s small- and medium-market local TV stations could close by 2020. Blais told Bell representatives that “what I’m suggesting is that, it’s not that you couldn’t close the station, but there at least be a public process before you do so, so you could be accountable to viewers you serve.” On a several occasions during the hearing, he also raised concern about providers, including Bell and Rogers, shuttering some local news stations, as well as some broadcast retransmitters. Robert Malcolmson, Bell’s senior vice-president of regulatory affairs, responded: “If you’re agree to a condition of licence not to close stations or to consult before closing stations, we’re not in a position to do that, no.” He added that operators would like to be as flexible as possible and that five year term of a licence renewal “is a long time.” Susan Wheeler, vice-president of regulatory for media at Rogers, said that she doesn’t see the value in having such a consultation when the business decision is already made. “As a large company, who banks on the trust and loyalty of Canadians, we would take it upon ourselves to explain that business decision to the public without a regulatory requirement to do that,” she said. Blais also suggested other ways that the commission could create an incentive to prevent the closure of local stations, including a condition of licence that would require broadcasters to “operate all the ” in the ownership group. In its decision on local and community TV, the CRTC gave vertically-integrated broadcasters additional flexibility in how they can allocate funds, but made it contingent on those companies not closing any of their stations. Blais added that if one station is declining in the group, then others in the mix can, presumably, pick up the slack. “Everybody wants flex, everybody wants to be considered as a group, but they calculate loss on a licence-by-licence basis,” Blais said. “It can’t be both.” Kevin Goldstein, Bell’s vice-president of regulatory affairs for content and distribution, said while that may have been the case years ago, broadcasters are in a landscape now where both conventional and specialty, for example, could be declining at the same time. Bell also addressed the issue of having a condition of licence to ensure independence of local news stations, which came up in the hearing on Wednesday. The company said in its opening remarks that such a condition was unwarranted because it has made strides to improve the independence of news within its organization. —With reporting by Ahmad Hathout at ahathout@thewirereport.ca and editing by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca

Public consultation before closing TV stations unwarranted: Bell, Rogers

News | December 2, 2016

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Public consultation before closing TV stations unwarranted: Bell, Rogers

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