A letter sent to Rogers cable TV customers informs them that the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission requires a new 1.5% service fee for The Local Programming Improvement Fund (LPIF) will be added to their bill starting on August 31 2009.
The CRTC announced early in July that, as a temporary measure for the upcoming broadcast year, cable and satellite companies will contribute 1.5 per cent of their gross broadcasting revenues to the fund, an increase of 0.5 per cent.
At the time, Rogers Communications Vice-Chairman Phil Lind said, "We are profoundly concerned about how these new taxes will affect our customers and the Canadian broadcasting system," Lind says, "and we intend to fight them on behalf of Canadian consumers."
The Local Programming Improvement Fund would get over $100 million to distribute during the 2009-2010 broadcast year under the formula. The fund was first created in October 2008 to support local television programming in markets with a population of less than one million.
"Canadians have made it abundantly clear that they value local programming," said Konrad von Finckenstein, CRTC Chair, in making the LPIF announcement. "We have taken steps to ensure that broadcasters, and particularly those in smaller markets, continue to provide Canadians with programming that reflects their needs and interests."
Television stations in smaller markets will be able to draw on these funds to maintain their spending on local news and other types of local programming. The Commission will consider the appropriate long-term provisions for the Local Programming Improvement Fund at a public hearing to be held this fall.
Appeals over the decision, suchas that tabled by Bell, may affected that timetable.