Rogers appears before CRTC in opposition to fee-for-carriage
The Rogers panel which included President and CEO, Nadir Mohamed, Vice Chair,
Rogers spoke to the historical symbiotic relationship between cable companies and the over-the-air (OTA) broadcasting industry whereby every cable customer receives high quality OTA signals and OTA broadcasters receive the broad audience base they need to achieve maximum advertising revenues in their protected local markets. The company cited the broadcasters' ever-increasing expenditures on U.S. programming as the real culprit for the financial issues they face today. Saving local TV is a smokescreen for the real issue - out of control foreign programming costs.
Rogers took issue with CTV's argument in favour of a U.S.-type retransmission consent regime for local signals.
Rogers cautioned in its opening statement of an inevitable downgrading of tiers and drop-off of cable customers if subscribers are faced with a significant increase in their monthly bill without any corresponding value. This would impact the entire broadcasting system and could add to the millions of Canadians who currently get their TV programs from antennas, the Internet and the grey and black satellite market.
About the Company
Rogers Communications is a diversified Canadian communications and media company. We are engaged in wireless voice and data communications services through Wireless, Canada's largest wireless provider. Through Cable, we are one of Canada's leading providers of cable television services as well as high-speed Internet access and telephony services. Through Media, we are engaged in radio and television broadcasting, televised shopping, magazines and trade publications, and sports entertainment. We are publicly traded on the
For further information: For further information: Jan Innes, Vice President, Public Affairs, Rogers Communications Inc., (416) 935-3525, [email protected]
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