Olympic channel deserves an answer from CRTC
March 17, 2010 · 23 Comments
The Canadian Olympic Committee has been trying for more than two years to get a license to launch an amateur sports channel.
This initiative is clearly well intended. It is aimed at raising revenue to finance amateur sport and fund the country’s elite athletes. It would help cash-strapped amateurs achieve their goals at the highest level, which is the Olympics.
The proposed channel would give athletic associations a platform from which to promote their sports. Inspired by watching world class athletes competing in events such as the triathlon and Nordic skiing, kids would become interested in participating. That’s the concept anyway.
It has health care ramifications, all of it good. A population that is active and exercises is a healthier population and less of a burden to the health care system.
But, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission has refused to move on the COC’s license application. After more than two years, Olympic body is still waiting for an answer.
Why? For starters, the Canadian TV and cable industry is against the COC channel, mainly because it wants mandatory carriage, meaning every cable and satellite distributor in the country would be required to carry it.
The TV industry believes mandatory carriage is unfair. Only a handful of channels, educational services mostly, have been given that preferred designation. And it’s a guaranteed revenue producer. The COC would ask for a subscription fee of 60 cents per month. Taken from at least eight million Canadian households, that adds up to gross annual revenue of $58-million (before advertising and sponsorship revenues).
The cable and satellite distributors want no part of the channel, because the 60 cent fee would increase rates, a cost that would be passed onto the consumer.
However, Brian Cooper, the Toronto marketing executive who’s leading the COC’s bid for a license, says that polling shows Canadians are overwhelmingly in favour of paying to finance such a channel.
There are other reasons for the industry’s opposition. Rogers’ cable operation already distributes a large number of sports channels, and it also happens to own the four-feed Rogers Sportsnet. The COC channel would represent competition.
TSN could argue that it doesn’t get the benefit of mandatory carriage, so why should another sports channel? As for the CBC, it hopes at some point to launch its own sports channel, consisting of amateur content, but it won’t receive mandatory carriage.
One TV executive said he opposes the COC channel, with its mandatory carriage stipulation (and guaranteed revenue) on principle, because raising money for good causes isn’t the CRTC’s mandate.
“If the CRTC is in the business of using the broadcast system to funnel funds into notable causes, then it should also approve a health care channel and a homeless channel,” he said. “That’s not what the CRTC is about.”
The COC is facing plenty of opposition, but the channel is a worthy endeavor and it deserves a yay or a nay from the CRTC.
“There’s no question the COC has been treated poorly by the CRTC,” a TV source said. “The CRTC should give them an answer, even if the answer is no. I think they’re getting what I call a ‘Canadian no’ from the CRTC, which means they just aren’t getting an answer. That’s typical of somebody who doesn’t want to give you bad news.”
Filed under Article Posts · · 
Email This Article
I would cheerfully pay 5 or 10 bucks a month for an amateur sport channel the proceeds from which go to support amateur sport in Canada.
I'm REALLY hoping that the CRTC was just waiting to get the Cable vs Network debate out of the way before dealing with this.
This deal would:
1. Promote participation in sports other than the commercial enterprise sports of hockey, football, basketball, baseball…….. and (heh heh) poker, darts, Nascar and others currently 'featured' on some sport channels.
2. Generate money to fund and promote amateur sport.
3. Give our amateur and international athletes exposure within the country. Too many of them toil in anonimity here while being stars overseas.
4. Give our kids exposure to the wonderful roll models we saw during the games all season long and every year.
But you won't……… they're only asking for 60 cents.
…and then there are those of us who DO support this type of Canadian channel. I don't believe it should be mandatory for carriage but I do think it should be available. I would subscribe to it.
Hear Hear! I agree outsider. There are people that are passionate about amateur sports in this country and it is shame that that the CRTC won't give the COC application the time of day and it is almost pitiful that TSN and Sportsnet is not boosting up amateur sports coverage and it is also unfortuate that CBC has decided to postpone Sportsplus (which has 70%) amateur sport coverage due to the fact that cable companies like Rogers won't carry it on their carrier.
Given the major success of the Vancouver Olympics, I am quite certain that people in Canada now want to follow their athletes more closely.
Just what we need…to pay for ANOTHER channel that nobody wants!!!!!!
Most (if not ALL) Canadians are sick of watching second- and third-rate Canadian programming that is mandated and we don't need another stuffed down our craw. Despite Mr. Houston's comment, I believe there are a pile of mandated stations THEN a process that says for every non-Canadian channel you must add another Canadian channel. That's why for every extra cable channel we want, we have to buy a package with 5 to 7 channels we'll never watch. Sick of it. Let us pay for only the channels we want to watch.
Hear! Hear!
The technology is in place that would allow us to select the channels we want. I have just done the exercise and selected the channels that I want and watch (even included the once in a blue moon ones).
If I allow $1 per month for the cable channels ($.60 for the channel and $.40 for the cable provider) and $.40 for the over-the-air channels (no fee for the network/station, so no pain for the provider), I would be paying $19.00 per month. My current (mandatory) basic cable package is $49.00. My savings: $360.00 per year.
Pretty soon a whole lot of cable channels would see their subscriber income either severely reduced, or disappear. In any case, they’d go out of business.
Advertisers would know that surviving channels have willing payers as their audience and motivated consumers are at a premium.
This way it is the consumer who decides what is relevant to them and not the CRTC.
Win-win-win if you ask me.
Pretty typical weak showing from the CRTC, hoping that support for this endeavour will just die on the vine rather than just saying "no, we're not interested." Heaven forbid they should actually have to make a decision on something, that would just be too much for them.
a channel no one will watch…. they could have jamie campbell.. he could continue to do his restaurant soundbites for events and we wouldnt have to hear him !
For the first time ever I agree with the CRTC! I dont want to pay for this channel, and probably wouldnt watch it. If ti can survive on its own then let the traditional advertising model support it. Nobody is watching the CBC anyway make Saturday daytime content all about amature sports with a portion of the advertising going to the athletes.
"Nobody is watching the CBC…" If that is the case, why does the network constantly rank in the top 3 in the ratings? That out of over 200 channels available…
CBC is also the most widely available channel in Canada. You can really only compare them with the other two OTA channels available nationally. To say that CBC gets better ratings than a channel like TSN (which isn't true on some nights) or Showcase isn't fair.
Nevertheless, it ranks in the top 3 – some nights it is number 1 – that means someone is watching. To say "no one is watching the CBC" is completely false and misleading.
I think only a few Canadians will tune into a COC channel if it happens. Let's face it, we areall fairweather fans of Olympic sports, and only when the Olympics are on. The exception being Men's hockey.
I don't want tax dollars to fund any channels – CBC included. Who decided that the Canadian identity needs to be broadcast? It's state-sponsored propaganda if that is the case.
Bill,
I've always wondered, is there anything that prevents say the COC from partnering with Euro-Sport to pick up their feed and either have Can-Con commentators like Alpine skiing for years, or else just re-broadcast the Euro-Sport feed?
Or, is there any chance that Euro-Sport could apply for a Canadian channel? Any history there?
Thanks in advance.
do you happen to know what channels do receive this mandatory carriage winfall? what a joke that is – here's a novel idea, how about getting the CRTC and cable giants out of the way and allow us to pay for what we want? – perhaps that includes an amateur sports channel which would be better than the amateur sports network that Rogers broadcasts
Oh, snap!
Totally agree with you Charlie….
"However, Brian Cooper, the Toronto marketing executive who’s leading the COC’s bid for a license, says that polling shows Canadians are overwhelmingly in favour of paying to finance such a channel." – Why is it I am never polled, and neither is anyone I know….WHO exactly is saying they would pay for this?
I somehow doubt that Canadians are champing at the bit to pay for another channel nobody will watch. Don't we have enough of those already???
Yeah I agree with you Charlie. I'd gladly pay to actually watch a sensible amateur sports channel. The fact that it's taken until 2010 for this thing to even be discussed as a possibility is mind-boggling. Shouldn't everybody pretty much benefit from this? We, as viewers, can watch certain amateur competitions that we want to and even name brands that distribute sporting equipment and gear for these non-spectator sports would hit an audience that they usually wouldn't be able to outside of the Olympics. Seems foolish for this NOT to happen really. I can see how an overwhelming majority of people would pay 60 cents for this type of sports coverage.
Mr. Houston do you know if the proposed channel will cover other amateur sports that aren't at the Olympics? A lot more Canadians play team sports at an amateur level than the vast majority of individual sports featured at the games.
Great point, Doug.
I read somewhere that it did but IF the PROPOSAL doesn't include that I believe that it would be a reasonable condition for the CTC to put on COC for it's approval.
Canada needs this.