Media moguls at Herb Allen’s recent Sun Valley media summit had more questions than answers when it came to reconfiguring broadcast business models to sell content online that is now available for free. The Idaho retreat looked to media mavens like Rupert Murdoch, Barry Diller, Google CEO Eric Schmidt and cabler John Malone for someone with a God’s-eye view of what’s ahead for traditional broadcasters in the digital realm.

And each in their turn said they were stumped on how to stop new media start-ups from draining profits from their TV business in the same way the Internet and the Googling of everything has from newspapers.

So it was a surprise when CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein produced a new pay model for free local Canadian TV firmly anchored in the past: bump up cable and satellite TV bills. The regulator overcame earlier doubts and hesitations and replaced free TV with fee TV, to rescue broadcasters struggling with debt and expensive U.S. program supply deals.

Put another way, where Sun Valley delegates claimed no omniscience as to how traditional broadcasters standing at the gates of the Internet can be saved – only that consumers will eventually pay for content online, somehow – von Finckenstein decided a shakedown of TV viewers will build and sustain Canada’s digital broadcast model over time.

That’s right. No looking ahead on how to monetize Canada’s next-generation digital frontiers. No recognizing when one era in media is over and another beginning.

Broadcasters that gathered in Sun Valley know their future as an advertising outlet is bleak. But still their talk turned to Time Warner’s TV Everywhere and Comcast Corp.’s On Demand Online as they look to monetize their content online.

Now contrast that with Ottawa, where the CRTC talks about propping up a sunset industry.

Hyper-competition in the digital age requires smart new content, not telling TV viewers to pay for something they already receive for free. Conventional broadcasters should be focusing on niche channels and digital platforms, and wait like their American counterparts for the returns on their investments to come in over time.

Introducing fee-for-carriage compensation because broadcasters continue to pay more for U.S. network series that return less and less over time is like telling Canadians they need to subsidize rotary telephones tethered to the wall when they are using wireless and smartphones in and out of their homes. Content consumed where you can’t move, however big the TV screen, just isn’t going to survive over time in an age of increasing variety and abundance.

So cable and satellite TV operators are right to raise the alarm on fee-for-carriage. Their fear is subscribers will call the broadcasters’ bluff and abandon current TV packages to view addictive content online.

It’s already happening. In my own case, I pay around $100 per year to JumpTV’s Cycling TV service, which streams live and on-demand major pro cycling events, mostly from Europe.

It’s a competitive business. JumpTV was recently dealt a blow when it was outbid by the fledgling U.S. sports channel Universal Sports for the North American rights to the Giro d’Italia. Worse for Cycling TV, it saw Universal Sports next snag the rights to the Vuelta a Espana, another classic cycling stage race that it formerly webcast.

Italian broadcaster RAI told Cycling TV to cough up more for the tour rights than past years because Lance Armstrong has returned to the sport. JumpTV balked, allowing the NBC Universal-owned sports channel to acquire the North American rights and provide daily coverage of the race online and on its U.S. TV network.

I and other disappointed Cycling TV subscribers ended up watching the race for free online via the Universal Sports website – with higher screen resolution than what’s available on Cycling TV.

This year, Universal Sports streamed the Giro commercial free and free of charge, with on-demand viewing included. Next year, Universal Sports could well charge for online viewing, or include commercials, as it adds other pro cycling tour races to its schedule. If so, I’ll purchase my pay-per-view package from them. I like viewing the sport live and on-demand that much.

Next to come was the Tour de France, which aired through July on Rogers Broadcasting’s OLN channel, which secured the stateside feed from Comcast’s Versus sports cable network.

Some days I watched the tour on OLN, but often I followed Lance Armstrong’s progress round France on my computer screen via the streaming Versus or Eurosport services (again for free) via Veetle TV, Justin.TV and other online streaming services.

My question is, why be tied to your living room couch when wireless and Bluetooth technology enables you to view streaming content on a full-size computer screen from anywhere in the house?

No wonder cable and satellite TV operators fear fee-for-carriage. They recognize their subscribers can’t be guaranteed to remain with them when they have so many online choices and options, whether with free online viewing or pay-per-view like Cycling TV.

Conventional broadcasters need to follow their U.S. counterparts and move slowly, yet surely, towards providing consumers with must-see content they will eventually pay for online.

Shaking down TV viewers only betrays an industry that has fallen off a cliff but, like Wile E. Coyote, still spins its legs in the air as it refuses to look down – while the Road Runner draws up from behind to warn ‘beep, beep.’