Looser rules for foreign broadcasters by Paul Vieira

OTTAWA - The federal broadcast regulator, after months of intense pressure and scrutiny, has watered down the rules governing the entry of foreign third-language broadcasters -- opening the door for the likes of RAI International to get access to Canadian airwaves.

The revised policy from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, released yesterday, garnered applause from most stakeholders, from cable companies that distribute channels to Cabinet ministers of Italian heritage.

Charles Dalfen, the CRTC chairman, said in an interview the policy needed to be revisited after a July decision that blocked six third-language services -- including Italy's RAI International -- from broadcasting in Canada.

"We frankly didn't like that outcome because the Broadcasting Act requires us to balance objectives. One objective is increase diversity in choice, and the other objective is to protect Canadians. While we were certainly protecting Canadians by denying [RAI], we weren't achieving the other part," Mr. Dalfen said in his first comments regarding the controversial RAI ruling.

Last July, the CRTC ruled cable companies and satellite distributors could not carry RAI International because it would be in direct competition with a domestic network, Corus Entertainment Inc.'s Telelatino. This sparked outrage in the Italian community, who in turn put pressure on their Liberal MPs -- such as Pierre Pettigrew, the Foreign Affairs Minister, whose Montreal riding has a strong Italian presence.

But under the revised CRTC policy, RAI International would be available to cable and satellite subscribers as long as they buy a package that includes Telelatino, which broadcasts programming in Italian and Spanish. This condition would also apply to any foreign third-language broadcaster that offers programming in Cantonese, Mandarin, Greek or Hindi, given there are Canadian equivalents available on the airwaves.

"It was quite clear to us there was this growing demand for these services," Mr. Dalfen said. "But by applying our old [regulations], the broadcasters somehow couldn't get through the door."

The CRTC chairman added a key factor in its decision was a fear ethnic Canadians were turning in droves to grey-market satellites.

"It was a part of it, not the whole part by any means, but certainly a part of it ... because [consumers] couldn't get these services in Canada," Mr. Dalfen said. "And that's not a great outcome for the system."

RAI International's Canadian sponsor, Rogers Communications Inc., said it is pleased with the ruling and expects the Italian state broadcaster to reapply shortly to the CRTC.

"We are dying to launch RAI," Phil Lind said, adding the majority of Italian-Canadians live in southern Ontario, where Rogers is the dominant cable distributor.

He said he also expects other third-language broadcasters -- most notably Portugal's RTP and Spain's TVE -- to quickly get bids before the CRTC given yesterday's developments. "There will be a race to see who's first."

Meanwhile, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters -- which opposed RAI International's earlier application-- welcomed the revised CRTC policy because domestic broadcasters are protected.

"The CRTC was under a significant amount of pressure to adopt new policy that would ... favour foreign businesses over the interests of Canadian businesses. We applaud the commission for resisting that pressure," said Glenn O'Farrell, the CAB's president. "The CRTC recognized that competition must support some greater good, not just the sheer blood sport of competition for the sake of competition."

However, Shan Chandrasekar, chief executive of Canada's Asian Television Network, admitted his channel is bound to lose viewers due to the new policy.

"It will definitely have some repercussions within the market," Mr. Chandrasekar said. "The addition of any service in the same genre, in the same language and in the whole competitive environment certainly takes a few eyeballs away."

© National Post