Fee-for-carriage

Fee-for-carriage, value-for-signal,negotiation for value, or the "TV tax" all refer to a proposed Canadian television regulatory policy which would require cable and satellite television companies to compensate conventional, over-the-air television stations for the right to carry their local signals. Such a system has long existed in the United States, under the name of retransmission consent.

Various versions of the scheme are supported by most major conventional broadcasters, and all are opposed by virtually all cable, satellite, and IPTV (telephone company) service providers. These efforts have been promoted through a variety of means, including supporting ads on many conventional TV stations and their affiliated specialty channels, and opposing ads on local stations and during the local ad avails of U.S. cable channels (which are inserted by individual service providers).

Various fee-for-carriage proposals have been put before the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) a number of times over the years, and rejected each time until 2009. In the past, broadcasters sought to receive a fixed per-subscriber fee to be set by the CRTC; in 2007, broadcasters suggested a rate between 10 cents and $1.00 per subscriber each month. In some major markets there are nearly a dozen local over-the-air stations, which theoretically could have meant a monthly per-subscriber charge of $10 or more, assuming the CRTC had accepted the high end of the suggested range.

In July 2009, the CRTC indicated it was "now of the view that a negotiated solution for compensation for the free market value of local conventional television signals is also appropriate", and would begin setting a process to determine appropriate value for signal at hearings in the fall. However, following a court challenge by Bell Canada arguing it had endorsed fee-for-carriage without giving carriers a chance to provide input, the CRTC said it would look at the concept de novo at those same hearings.

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