You can always count on government to wordsmith an issue for palatability.  In yesterday’s decision, CRTC’s approval of “value for signal” vs. “fee for carriage” approves the conventional broadcaster’s request to be paid for their signal from cable and satellite providers.   It’ll just take a long time to get there as negotiations for what that fee should be ensue.  In the interim, we expect the cable/satellite providers to appeal the ruling.

As they say in tv, stay tuned.

A potential shake-up day in the broadcast industry as the CRTC is scheduled to release the final decision: Should cable and satellite providers pay for the content they carry from conventional networks like CBC, CTV and Global? Last fall, the networks came up with the crafty angle that suggests without this new revenue stream from cable/satellite providers, local news programming was at risk of disappearing due to cost. All their money – a record high 59% – goes to the purchase of U.S. programming, the majority of which is cancelled by the American network owners after less than a handful of airings.

Reports released last week from the conventional networks say for the first time in history they lost money. The recession appears to be responsible for a maximum 10% fall in revenue Q4 2009, but the bigger contributor is forecasting the “hits” and missing. Oddly, the programming decisions that drive the largest chunk of revenue rest in the U.S. We’ve come a long way baby – not.
<”http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/tv-cable-spat-set-to-resume/article1504951/”>

Having just returned from a week away, Chris Cleaver at /A\Channel London passed along this blog entry. It echoes all that I heard last week from my fellow vacationers, most of whom were American. Their genuine and sincere congratulations for our hockey gold was so unexpected but very much appreciated – as though we earned it for having staged such an excellent party for the world.
Participating sponsors got more viewers than any forecast would have shown, and an unprecedented emotional connection with Canadians. A double-win that should equal sales and revenue increases for their brands in 2010.

Below, a re-publish of NBC’s Brian Williams’ thank-note to Canada….

Thank You Note for Canada

From Brian Williams’ Feb. 26 blog

After tonight’s broadcast and after looting our hotel mini-bars, we’re going to try to brave the blizzard and fly east to home and hearth, and to do laundry well into next week. Before we leave this thoroughly polite country, the polite thing to do is leave behind a thank-you note.
Thank you, Canada:
For being such good hosts.
For your unfailing courtesy.
For your (mostly) beautiful weather.
For scheduling no more than 60 percent of your float plane departures at the exact moment when I was trying to say something on television.
For not seeming to mind the occasional (or constant) good-natured mimicry of your accents.
For your unique TV commercials — for companies like Tim Hortons — which made us laugh and cry.
For securing this massive event without choking security, and without publicly displaying a single automatic weapon.
For having the best garment design and logo-wear of the games — you’ve made wearing your name a cool thing to do.
For the sportsmanship we saw most of your athletes display.
For not honking your horns. I didn’t hear one car horn in 15 days — which also means none of my fellow New Yorkers rented cars while visiting.
For making us aware of how many of you have been watching NBC all these years.
For having the good taste to have an anchorman named Brian Williams on your CTV network, who turns out to be such a nice guy.
For the body scans at the airport which make pat-downs and cavity searches unnecessary.
For designing those really cool LED Olympic rings in the harbor, which turned to gold when your athletes won one.
For always saying nice things about the United States…when you know we’re listening.
For sharing Joannie Rochette with us.
For reminding some of us we used to be a more civil society.
Mostly, for welcoming the world with such ease and making lasting friends with all of us.

– Brian Williams, NBC News