MONTRÉAL, QUÉBEC--(Marketwired - Sept. 11, 2014) - Cogeco Cable Canada (« Cogeco ») will be appearing today at the public hearing held by the CRTC to share its position on the future of Canada's media broadcasting system and regulatory environment. The proceeding, announced in Broadcasting Notice of Consultation 2014-190 isssued in April, is being held in the National Capital Region.
The public hearing is part of the third phase of Let's Talk TV: A Conversation with Canadians, an initiative undertaken by the CRTC, seeking to ensure that the Canadian television system fosters choice and flexibility in choosing channels, encourages the creation of compelling and diverse programs and empowers Canadians to make well-informed choices and better manage customer service disputes with their television service providers.
Below is an overview of Cogeco's position on the CRTC's proposals:
More choices for consumers
- Cogeco fully supports à la carte offering of specialty and pay television services and the build your own package option proposed by the CRTC, both favouring more choices for consumers.
- The most important barrier to the offering of this greater flexibility for Canadian consumers to choose their television services is the various restrictive terms imposed by some television programming service suppliers in the contracts for the distribution of their programming by cable and satellite distributors
- Cogeco endorses the Commission's proposal for a small basic service that includes local Canadian stations, 9(1)(h) services mandated for basic carriage, educational stations, community channel and provincial legislature channel.
- An extended basic service, like the current basic service offered by Cogeco should continue to be allowed and made available to Canadian consumers
- Cogeco proposes to maintain the distribution of the U.S. 4+1 network services as part of the basic service as these services are available for free over-the-air in many areas north of the border and do not involve additional programming costs for its basic service customers.
Wholesale and retail price regulations
- In a flexible and competitive marketplace, the Commission should refrain from re-regulating retail and wholesale rates for the distribution of television services.
Promotion
- Since Broadcasting Distribution Undertakings (BDUs) are best positioned to understand their clients' needs and to promote their services in a communication-efficient manner, the Commission should not involve itself in their promotional activities.
Access and Genre Protection
- Cogeco supports the elimination of access rights for Category A specialty services, particularly for services owned or controlled by vertically integrated groups.
- The genre exclusivity policy should be eliminated. Programming service suppliers should be able to compete in any format, which will result in greater pressure on these suppliers to improve their programming, benefiting both consumers and the entire system.
Simultaneous substitution
- Simultaneous substitution should be maintained as it helps to preserve a distinct Canadian program rights market so that the value of U.S. program rights acquired by Canadian broadcasters for distribution in Canada is not undermined.
"Throughout the years, Cogeco Cable Canada and the broadcasting distribution industry have been faced with multiple challenges and have successfully continued their growth by adapting and meeting the needs of consumers", stated Louise St-Pierre, President and Chief Executive Officer, Cogeco Cable Canada. "As the second largest cable operator in Ontario and Québec, Cogeco Cable Canada strongly believes that continuing to do so is the best and most effective way to satisfy the expectations of Canadian consumers, thus keeping them engaged in the Canadian broadcasting system", continued Mrs. St-Pierre.
To access a transcript of Cogeco Cable Canada's presentation at the CRTC's Let's Talk TV public hearing, please visit the Cogeco's website at http://www.cogeco.ca.
ABOUT COGECO CABLE CANADA
Cogeco Cable Canada (www.cogeco.ca) regroups the Canadian cable operations of Cogeco Cable Inc. Cogeco Cable Canada is the second largest cable operator in Ontario and Québec in terms of the number of Basic Cable service customers served. Its two-way broadband cable networks provide to its residential and small business customers Analogue and Digital Television, High Speed Internet («HSI») and Telephony services. Cogeco Cable Inc. is a telecommunications corporation and is the 11th largest hybrid fibre coaxial cable operator in North America operating in Canada under the Cogeco Cable Canada brand name in Québec and Ontario, and in the United States through its subsidiary Atlantic Broadband in Western Pennsylvania, South Florida, Maryland/Delaware and South Carolina. Through its subsidiaries Cogeco Data Services and Peer 1 Hosting, Cogeco Cable Inc. provides its commercial customers a suite of IT hosting, information and communications technology services (Data Centre, Co-location, Managed Hosting, Cloud Infrastructure and Connectivity), with 20 data centres, extensive fibre networks in Montréal and Toronto as well as points-of-presence in North America and Europe. Cogeco Cable Inc.'s subordinate voting shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX:CCA).