Rogers Communications is going to the highest court in the land to stop broadcasters from collecting retransmission fees.

“Rogers will be seeking leave to appeal the decision,” Rogers spokeswoman Jan Innes told Playback Daily.

Telus is to join Rogers in taking their case to the Supreme Court of Canada.

No word on whether rival cable and phone giants, including BCE and Shaw Communications after they scooped up conventional TV assets of their own, will join the Rogers appeal to the high court.

The legal move follows the Federal Court of Appeal earlier this week siding with conventional broadcasters on retransmission fees from cable and satellite TV operators.

Cable and satellite TV operators took heart from the Federal Court of Appeal judges splitting on the question of the CRTC’s jurisdiction in allowing a fee-for-carriage regime for the industry.

The lower court’s dissenting opinion from Justice Nadon held the Copyright Act disallows royalties to be paid for the retransmission of local signals, and so limits the CRTC’s power to impose its will under the Broadcasting Act.