The CRTC has okayed and drawn up a plan for fee-for-carriage, but stopped short of making it official on Monday without court approval.

Noting that it received ‘conflicting legal opinions’ on whether it has the authority to impose fees between broadcasters and cable companies, the federal watchdog has asked the Federal Court of Appeal to clarify its jurisdiction under the Broadcasting Act.

‘The current dispute between conventional broadcasters and distributors threatens the overall integrity of the broadcasting system,’ said CRTC chief Konrad von Finckenstein in a statement. ‘Broadcasters and distributors have a symbiotic relationship. The time has come for them to put their differences aside and work together to ensure the continuation of conventional television.’

If given the green light, the federal regulator has a plan at the ready — revealed as part of its new group-based television policy — that would see broadcasters and cable/satellite companies negotiate among themselves on the value of over-the-air signals. Private broadcasters would have the option once every three years to haggle with distributors over the value of their signals.

By entering negotiations, the broadcasters would give up the regulatory protection that keeps them on the more favorable, low end of the dial. If they are unable to strike a deal, they will be allowed to pull their signal off the BDUs in question and, further, to block other channels from airing shows to which they hold the Canadian rights.

The proposal brings to mind the recent network/cable squabbling in the U.S. that led to blackouts of the beginning of the Academy Awards for some three million New York-area viewers.

The CRTC has asked for a speedy decision from the court but it could be months, possibly a year, before the it gets an answer on its authority, says Ian Morrison of the watchdog group Friends of Canadian Broadcasting.

‘The CRTC’s decision was rather complacent,’ Morrison tells Playback Daily. ‘It was kind of fiddling while Rome burned,’ he adds, referring to the recent closure of local TV stations.

Networks that led the pro-fee campaign last year, CTV and Global in particular, were silent late Monday while distributors howled over the prospect of paying for over-the-air signals.

‘The commission has decided to penalize our customers and impose fees for services that are available free over-the-air for anyone with an antenna or on the Internet,’ commented Rogers vice-chairman Phil Lind in a release.

The federal watchdog, which twice turned down broadcasters on the same issue, was perhaps swayed by the impact of the recession, which shed hundreds of jobs and closed several local stations last year. Figures released last week also show a sharp drop in revenue for broadcasters in 2009 due to a decline in local and national ad sales.

While the private networks are in line for more revenue, the same cannot be said of CBC, which, under the CRTC’s plan, is not allowed to negotiate with cable companies — reason being that any possible blackouts of the Ceeb’s signals would go against the Broadcasting Act’s stipulation that the network must be available across Canada by the ‘most appropriate and efficient means.’

‘We are specifically excluded,’ noted regulatory exec Steven Guiton. ‘[The CRTC] found a solution for private broadcasters but they exclude us from the solution.’ He says the Ceeb is now left to make some difficult decisions that will ultimately result in reduced services and programs.

Elsewhere in the voluminous group-based policy, the CRTC indicated that it plans to reintroduce minimum spending levels on Canadian programming. It proposes that CTVgm, Canwest and Rogers should be required to spend at least 30% of their gross revenues on Canuck shows, with added emphasis on ‘programs of national interest’ including dramas, documentaries and award shows.