Comments on: A Montreal cable access channel? http://blog.fagstein.com/2007/09/19/a-montreal-cable-access-channel/ Can you think of a better name? Mon, 15 Mar 2010 10:12:10 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Fagstein http://blog.fagstein.com/2007/09/19/a-montreal-cable-access-channel/comment-page-1/#comment-1710 Fagstein Thu, 20 Sep 2007 06:25:45 +0000 http://blog.fagstein.com/2007/09/19/a-montreal-cable-access-channel/#comment-1710 Thanks for the clarifications Serge. I've updated the post. I agree that seeing them on ExpressVu is unlikely (Global Quebec isn't even carried on satellite), but I wouldn't mind seeing them on Videotron as a digital channel, or even just online as a web service. We'll see what happens. Thanks for the clarifications Serge. I've updated the post.

I agree that seeing them on ExpressVu is unlikely (Global Quebec isn't even carried on satellite), but I wouldn't mind seeing them on Videotron as a digital channel, or even just online as a web service.

We'll see what happens.

]]> By: Serge http://blog.fagstein.com/2007/09/19/a-montreal-cable-access-channel/comment-page-1/#comment-1709 Serge Thu, 20 Sep 2007 06:14:23 +0000 http://blog.fagstein.com/2007/09/19/a-montreal-cable-access-channel/#comment-1709 Category 1 specialty licenses are no longer being given out, and haven't for some time. Before I clicked on the link I thought TV Frontenac was applying to bang its head against the wall. But if you look through their application -- I did, but very very quickly -- they are in fact applying as a community television station in a Class 1 serving area. (In the broadcast distribution world, Classes roughly correspond to the size of the market. They derive from the number of subscribers that the incumbent cableco has in a single serving area.) There are three kinds of community TV channel: community channels, digital community channels, and low-power community channels. Anyone who wants to can start up a digital or low-power channel. The local cableco has to carry your digital community channel. The low-power community channel gets transmitted over the air, of course. But the third kind, the community channel, is the main thing. Either the cableco can elect to provide one or, if they elect not to, a non-profit can supply it, and the cableco has to both carry it on basic cable, and finance it (up to 5% of gross revenues). Given this, almost every cableco creates its own community channel -- they have to follow a whole set of rules to ensure some level of community participation, mind you, but they're still administered by the cableco. If the cableco didn't do this, they'd just wind up paying for someone else's community channel, and without the benefit of being able to run some ads for their services. Now, DTH (ExpressVu and Star Choice) doesn't have community channel requirements, because DTH has a national footprint. So they don't supply their own community channel, and they can't be compelled to carry any other community channel, either. (A recent report calls for changing that. Stay tuned in January.) From the quick moment I took to glance at TV Frontenac's application, they don't seem aware of this, and think they're going to get ExpressVu to (1) carry their local signal all across the country, and (2) get ExpressVu to pay for it. Seems unlikely, given that they're applying under the benefit of rules that don't exist. But hey, maybe they have a few nifty arguments up their sleeves. Or maybe they will sit down and read the Broadcast Distribution Regulations, which are pretty clear on this point, and save themselves some time. An interesting aspect is that they seem to be an already-existing community TV channel within an apartment building complex, or something. Maybe they should go for low-power or digital. Would be nice to see. Category 1 specialty licenses are no longer being given out, and haven't for some time. Before I clicked on the link I thought TV Frontenac was applying to bang its head against the wall. But if you look through their application -- I did, but very very quickly -- they are in fact applying as a community television station in a Class 1 serving area.

(In the broadcast distribution world, Classes roughly correspond to the size of the market. They derive from the number of subscribers that the incumbent cableco has in a single serving area.)

There are three kinds of community TV channel: community channels, digital community channels, and low-power community channels. Anyone who wants to can start up a digital or low-power channel. The local cableco has to carry your digital community channel. The low-power community channel gets transmitted over the air, of course.

But the third kind, the community channel, is the main thing. Either the cableco can elect to provide one or, if they elect not to, a non-profit can supply it, and the cableco has to both carry it on basic cable, and finance it (up to 5% of gross revenues). Given this, almost every cableco creates its own community channel -- they have to follow a whole set of rules to ensure some level of community participation, mind you, but they're still administered by the cableco. If the cableco didn't do this, they'd just wind up paying for someone else's community channel, and without the benefit of being able to run some ads for their services.

Now, DTH (ExpressVu and Star Choice) doesn't have community channel requirements, because DTH has a national footprint. So they don't supply their own community channel, and they can't be compelled to carry any other community channel, either. (A recent report calls for changing that. Stay tuned in January.) From the quick moment I took to glance at TV Frontenac's application, they don't seem aware of this, and think they're going to get ExpressVu to (1) carry their local signal all across the country, and (2) get ExpressVu to pay for it.

Seems unlikely, given that they're applying under the benefit of rules that don't exist. But hey, maybe they have a few nifty arguments up their sleeves. Or maybe they will sit down and read the Broadcast Distribution Regulations, which are pretty clear on this point, and save themselves some time. An interesting aspect is that they seem to be an already-existing community TV channel within an apartment building complex, or something. Maybe they should go for low-power or digital. Would be nice to see.

]]>