Source : Edmonton Journal

CRTC hearing scheduled for October, but licensing is uncertain Edmonton Journal

MONTREAL - Twenty years after the arrival of pay-per-view television, Canada's broadcast regulator has opened the door to new options across the country.

Hearings on the addition of new pay-TV channel will begin Oct. 24, but the only two licence holders, Astral Media and Corus Entertainment, have voiced their opposition to new players they say would dilute consumer offerings.

Four groups have responded to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission's proposal call for new general interest pay-TV stations. They all devote much of their offerings to cinema. Only one offers services in French and English.

It wasn't certain whether licences will be issued.

"The applicants must clearly show that there is a market demand for the proposed service," said the proposal call issued last January.

Astral Media, which has offered its pay-service for two decades, is preparing its reply. The French-language movie network Super Ecran is seen in more than 460,000 Quebec homes, 90 per cent which have digital television service.

The chain's four stations show films and series television without commercial breaks. This formula has allowed it to lead the Quebec market among specialized channels.

In 2004, subscriptions to Super Ecran and The Movie Network grew by seven per cent, due to the development of its digital and satellite services.

Following a difficult start in the 1980s, pay-TV has become profitable, said Johanne Saint-Laurent, vice-president and director general of Astral Tele Reseaux, which offers the French pay-TV service.

She said it's not certain there is place for several players in the market. The United States has five or six pay-networks, the most popular being HBO. But they are 10 times larger than Astral, she said Tuesday.
  
Consumers won't necessarily be the winners with an increase in the number of channels, Saint-Laurent added. She said people will have to subscribe to more than one service to have access to as many first-rate movies.

Alberta's Corus Entertainment, which operates Movie Central in Western Canada, also criticized the process before the CRTC.

Astral and Corus will face Quebecor's Archambault Group and Spotlight Television Ltd., which is associated with BCE, owners of BellExpressvu. The two other players are Allarco Entertainment of Alberta and Toronto's The Canadian Film Channel, which will air only Canadian productions.

It was Spotlight that asked the CRTC to seek new pay-television offerings. Company president George Burger said the new players will bring fresh air to the industry and force it to be more creative.

If they obtain licences, their new services would not be available before the fall in 2006.

© Edmonton Journal