Cable and satellite companies say the government has no place telling them which TV channels to carry, even after Shaw Communications Inc. sparked an industry-wide dispute this week by dropping a number of local stations across the country from its StarChoice satellite service.
In documents filed yesterday, Rogers Communications Inc., Canada's largest cable company, told the federal broadcast regulator that implementing new rules to give TV channels more power to demand carriage would be "unnecessary and inappropriate."
Rogers, Shaw and several other distributors want to choose how they shuffle channel lineups to make room for high-definition feeds. But many broadcasters, particularly specialty channels, worry they'll be pushed off the dial.
The dispute flared up this week when Shaw announced its StarChoice satellite service was dropping CTV Calgary, Global in the Maritimes, CBC Regina, CITY-TV Winnipeg and Toronto's Sun TV, to make room for high-definition channels that take up more bandwidth. The moves were made Wednesday, and only CTV Calgary was returned to the service after StarChoice was deluged with complaints from angry customers, said Ken Stein, senior vice-president of regulatory affairs at Shaw.
CBC said the move "demonstrates the need ... to require [satellite] providers to carry provincially relevant signals from the main networks."
Regulations require StarChoice to carry one CBC feed in every time zone and offer an equitable number of CTV, Global and CITY-TV stations . The regulator said it is looking into the matter, but it appears Shaw acted within the rules.
Rogers' comments came in a written submission to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, which is revamping the rules in the television sector.
. CTV and Global, in a joint submission, said loosening the rules for cable and satellite companies would "enhance the power" of the distributors.
© The Globe and Mail
