Canada’s Nets Not Coined By Cable Canada’s biggest broadcast TV networks may be forced to reexamine the way they do business after federal regulators at the Canadian Radiotelevision and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) rejected a proposal that would allow the networks to collect millions in new fees. Led by CTV and CanWest’s Global Television, the broadcast networks had proposed charging cable and satellite carriers for their TV signals, a move valued at C$300 million to the broadcasters. CRTC’s decision to dismiss the request now leaves the networks with some tough decisions to make during rough economic times. The fees would have been worth approximately C$75 million in annual revenue for Global TV, a large amount, especially considering that many networks have already begun to see their profit margins shrink. CTV is privately owned and CanWest is publicly traded. CanWest officials have gone on record as saying that they are not yet looking at layoffs, but noted that Canada’s big TV nets are going to have to rethink their business models. In making their ill-fated proposal, the networks had argued that they shouldn’t be forced to give their signals for free to distributors, who then offer them as part of their subscriber packages and make millions in the process. CRTC representatives said that the networks simply didn’t make a convincing enough argument that they really needed the money. Despite CRTC’s dismissal of the offer, the regulator did make one concession to the networks, allowing them to negotiate with cable carriers to charge for carrying “distant signals.” That could be worth up to C$93 million a year for the broadcast TV sector at large. France’s Public TV Ads Cut France’s National Assembly has approved a plan to remove advertising from public television. The initiative, spearheaded by President Nicolas Sarkozy, was enacted on all four of the nation’s public channels early this year. Additionally, the new plan will allow Sarkozy to select the chief of the French public broadcasting company, France Télévisions. According to Sarkozy, the goal of the plan is to restore quality programming to public networks whose content has suffered due to competition for ads with the private sector. However, opponents of the initiative have said that it will invite abuses from the president, particularly when it comes time to campaign for his 2012 reelection. On January 5, networks gradually began to remove advertising, starting with primetime and overnight programming. To make up for the funding lost by eliminating ad revenue, two new taxes — a 0.9 percent tax on the revenue of Internet service and telephone providers, and an added 1.5 percent tax on the ad revenues of private TV channels — will be imposed. Although Sarkozy is meeting with widespread criticism from politicians and members of the media, there is a long historical precedent of presidents reorganizing the structure of France’s public TV system. Remembering Janet Fine It’s been a year since the untimely passing of longtime VideoAge contributor Janet Fine. To commemorate this tragic milestone, we take a look back at the life and times of the versatile writer, sister and aunt. An expert in TV, film and media in the Middle East and India, Fine was the former Hollywood ReporterIndian bureau chief and contributing editor for Egypt’s Transnational Broadcast Studies , as well as a Dubai-based correspondent for Millionaire Magazine . In addition, Fine covered the Middle East region for Varietyand served as editor of the Cairo-based Starwood International Group Sheraton Hotel Magazine Sojourn. A prolific writer, Fine also penned five books with her own Mumbai, India-based publishing company. And of course, she made invaluable contributions to VideoAgeas our own Middle Eastern correspondent for many years. But she wasn’t all about work. Fine was also an accomplished classical Indian dancer, a patron of the arts, and an all JA N U A R Y 2 0 0 9 (Continued on Page 4)
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