Time might be right for caps on cable bills: CTV boss

It might be time to start regulating cable rates again in order to save local television programming, CTVglobemedia president Ivan Fecan said on Thursday.

"Imight ask why everyone here in Canada is so afraid of cable," Fecan said at a Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) hearing.

The federal regulator is reviewing the company's TV licences, at a time when conventional broadcasters say they are struggling to survive financiallyafter beinghit by both plummeting ad revenues and fragmented viewership.

Fecan and other media companies, including as Canwest Global and the CBC, want the CRTC to let them charge cable companies for the right to carry their signals, something called fee for carriage.

The cable companies have said if they have to pay, they'll pass the cost on to subscribers, whowill see their cable bills increase.

Fecan wants the regulator to step in on behalf of consumers, noting that cable costs have been regulated in the U.S.

"They're depending on you to put their interests above any corporate or lobby group, be it broadcaster, [cable or satellite company] or union," Fecan said. "If the [cable and satellite companies] insist on holding subscribers hostage, perhaps it's time to regulate basic cable rates again."

Rogers Communications vice-chairman Phil Lind warned earlier this week that if cable firms are forced to pay fees for conventional TV stations, they should have the choice of whether to carry them at all.

The fee-for-carriage idea has been rejected by the CRTC twice in the past.

Broadcasters would also like to see regulators take action on the transmission of U.S. signals, which are allowed on the cable dial but compete directly with Canadian stations that pay to broadcast the same shows and are fighting for ad dollars.

Thursday's appearance was the third time in a week that Fecan has made an impassioned public plea for government and regulatory help. His company is set to close local stations in Brandon, Man., and in Windsor and Wingham, Ont. Fecan said if the situation is not improved, more stations could end up closing.

"This is not a cash grab or greed from a private broadcaster; this is real. We're not bluffing," Fecan said.

Hesaid that there is no hope for the Brandon and Wingham stations but that Windsor might be salvageable if a proposed CRTC fund for local programming is meaty enough.

"If the [fund] comes soon enough and is of a quantum that makes a difference, that is one we would reconsider, for Windsor," he said.

The broadcasters are also pushing back on the regulator and the government over the impending switch to digital signals from analog. TV stations will mothball their old transmission towers and convert to new digital ones, but the cost of trying to reach the entire Canadian population is unreasonable, they complain.

They would like the government to help with the conversion.

CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein bristled at the suggestion that the broadcasters could choose not to offer the service in some areas.

"We're not going to countenance a solution whereby eight per cent of the population gets cut off and doesn't get a signal. It's not part of our reality," he said.