The CRTC Looking To Deregulate Carriage Restriction Rules

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) is "expected to revise the rules pertaining to mandatory carriage, genre protection and restrictions on the entry of foreign channels," according to William Houston of the GLOBE & MAIL. It is "possible the CRTC will deregulate to an extent that U.S. channels such as ESPN will be allowed into Canada." Although ESPN's entry "seems unlikely, Canadian TV executives just aren't sure." The CRTC "could move to ease or eliminate rules that require specialty channels to keep programming within the bounds of their particular genre." For example, TSN, as a sports channel, "is not allowed to air, on a slow night, a Hollywood movie or a music video," but deregulation "could make that possible." Another "possible change is the CRTC eliminating the must-carry and must-offer rules imposed on cable and satellite companies for carriage of analogue cable channels and category one digitals," which "could result in Rogers Cable or Shaw Cable deciding not to carry TSN." But Houston notes that "wouldn't happen, because TSN offers a strong programming schedule, and consumers would complain" (GLOBE & MAIL, 10/15).