Reuters: Regulatory News: Canada's broadcast regulator to phase out local programming fund

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Canada's broadcast regulator to phase out local programming fund Jul 18th 2012, 22:18 Wed Jul 18, 2012 6:18pm EDT * Regulator says fund has done job, no longer necessary * Public broadcaster decries decision, says consumers won't gain TORONTO, July 18 (Reuters) - Canadian cable and satellite companies are to stop paying into a fund to support local television programming within two years and must reduce customer bills accordingly, the broadcast regulator said on Wednesday. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) said the four-year-old fund had done its job. Public broadcaster the Canadian Broadcasting Corp (CBC) disagreed, seeing the move as another funding cut for local television. "We are satisfied with the support it has provided during a difficult economic period," said Leonard Katz, the CRTC's vice-chairman of telecommunications and chair of the hearing panel. The Local Programming Improvement Fund was created in 2008 to help rural broadcasters maintain and improve local content amid spiralling costs and falling advertising revenue. The regulator said that a rebound in advertising and a successful transition to digital broadcasting had improved the financial situation of the country's broadcasters. It said that cable and satellite companies that had passed on the fees to their customers have until September to explain the steps they are taking to reduce their bills. The biggest cable companies in Canada are Rogers Communications Inc, Shaw Communications and Quebecor Inc's Videotron. BCE Inc offers a satellite product. The CBC, which received some of the funding for television stations located in official-language minority communities, expressed astonishment at the decision. "Let's not pretend that this is good news for consumers," said Hubert Lacroix, chief executive of CBC. The CBC was already reeling from a sharp drop in federal funding announced in April. "It's hard to see how this decision will lower cable rates. Rates are not regulated by the CRTC. It only means that instead of some of that money going to support local programming, it will go towards the bottom line of cable and satellite companies," he said. In 2010, C$100 million ($99 million) was disbursed to 78 television stations from the and in the following year 80 stations received C$106 million in funding, the CRTC said. It will be phased out by the end of August, 2014. Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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