Nice summary article from the Globe today on the troubles hitting Canadian private broadcasters and the strategies CTV and Global are putting forward to correct them. The language is apocalyptic; every business is facing the same financial troubles these days, and when the recession lifts and ad revenues return, wonder if the privates will be willing to forgo fee for carriage. Anyway, interesting to speculate if CBC might jump on the same bandwagon, thus wreaking havoc on the CTV/Global arguments. But why not? Digital/specialty channels are being carried by cable/satellite fees; why shouldn’t their be a level playing fee (or better yet, cut the fee-for-carriage fees for the specialties, and let all the channels compete for eyeballs.
Globe and Mail, March 4 2009
Filed under: CanWest, CBC, CRTC, CTV Tagged: | fee-for-carriage
Agreed. A level playing field is the best option.
If conventional broadcasters want fees for carriage, thats fine. But the silly simulcast rules for cable must be dropped. If I will now have to pay to see my local channels, I do not want to be forced to see that same signal on the American channel I am also paying for. Let’s level the playing field completely. Those that have a sound business model with survive, those that don’t, tough!