Source : Canadian Press

OTTAWA - The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission is tightening its rules to limit concentration of media ownership.

The changes, announced Tuesday, mean any person or company can own only two of the three different types of outlets - radio, television or newspapers - in a single market.

The regulator is also limiting ownership of broadcasting licences to ensure any one group doesn't control more than 45 per cent of the total television audience share as a result of a deal.

"The whole thing was a great concern," CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein said in an interview.

"Everybody is concerned about it, because the trend is there . . . toward media concentration. On the other hand, we want to make sure there is a plurality of voices and a diversity of programming."

The regulator also will not approve transactions between cable and satellite companies that distribute television services, which it says would result in one group effectively controlling the delivery of programming in a market.

That measure would effectively prohibit any merger of BellExpressvu and Star Choice, Canada's two main satellite TV services providers. Some analysts have said the two companies should join forces to become more effective competitors with cable TV operators.

Von Finckenstein said Tuesday's restrictions do not apply retroactively to existing media conglomerates.

While the new limits restrict ownership of the types of media owned, the rules about how many newspapers and radio and TV stations may be owned have not changed.

Companies can own:

-only one TV station per language in a single market;

-two AM and two FM radio stations in the same language in large markets;

-three radio stations, but only two per frequency band, in smaller markets.

A CRTC spokeswoman said there are no restrictions on the number of newspapers a company can own, since the commission does not regulate the print media business.

That raised questions about how the commission can stop owners of television and radio stations from also buying a newspaper.

A CRTC source said if such a hypothetical instance arose, it's unlikely one of the company's radio or television broadcast licences would be renewed.

Von Finckenstein later said it would take a "very, very exceptional case" for an exception be made to the new ownership rule, although he didn't entirely rule it out.

"If you came forward and say you want an exception to that rule, you'd have to demonstrate why that exception should be made, what's the rationale, and how it overall would benefit the broadcasting system and would be in the interest of Canada to do that," he said.

"With any rule you can make an exception."

The regulator called for public hearings last March amid concerns Canadian broadcasting was becoming too concentrated following several large consolidations.

The CRTC raised the issue of "diversity of voices" after CTV's acquisition of CHUM Ltd. and CanWest Global Communication's (TSX:CGS.A) takeover of Alliance Atlantis Communications.

Many of the country's big media companies argue that consolidation is necessary in today's fast-changing media climate, where print, broadcast, newspaper and online operations are converging.

Ian Morrison of the group Friends of Canadian Broadcasting welcomed the CRTC's decision.

"The CRTC is recognizing that as a result of media concentration, there are levels of concentration that could well pose a threat to diversity and, therefore, democracy," he said.

"Although I would quibble on some of the details, I think this an example of the CRTC doing its job."

However, several unions including the Directors Guild of Canada, the Canadian Media Guild and the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union - the country's largest media union - lined up against the decision.

The unions have in the past expressed concern about the implications of greater media concentration.

The Canadian Media Guild said the CRTC had "blown a chance" with its ruling to address media concentration in Canada.

"This decision that they've come out with doesn't change any of the status quo. It allows all of the status quo, and people have been complaining about the status quo for years," said guild president Lise Lareau.

"There's nothing new in this. This essentially embodies the status quo."

The paperworkers' union echoed the media guild, claiming in a release the CRTC had "taken the smallest step possible" to constrain local media concentration.

"The new policy does nothing about media empires that currently have a stranglehold on some large markets, such as Vancouver, or about what happens on a national level," stated Peter Murdoch, the union's vice-president of media.

Winnipeg-based CanWest, which owns a string of big city daily newspapers from Vancouver to Montreal as well as the Global TV network, declined comment, saying it needed time to review the regulator's decision.

Likewise, Rogers Media - a division of Rogers Communications Inc., the cellphone and cable TV giant that also operates Rogers Broadcasting and Rogers Publishing - also had no comment. Spokeswoman Jan Innes claimed the decision does not have "any significant impact on Rogers."

Rogers Broadcasting has 51 AM and FM radio stations across Canada. Its television properties include five Citytv stations which it bought from CTVglobemedia Inc. in June for $375 million.

CTVglobemedia also declined comment.

Other media companies, including Torstar Corp. (TSX:TS.B) - parent company of the Toronto Star, Canada's biggest circulation newspaper - did not return calls.

© Canadian Press

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