The Supreme Court of Canada has sided with cable companies in a ruling Thursday on the fee for carriage debate.

The country’s highest court, deciding on whether private broadcasters can pursue first-time compensation for their local TV signals from cable and satellite distributors, ruled the CRTC has no jurisdiction to establish a so-called value for signal regime.

“The provisions of the Broadcasting Act, considered in their entire context, may not be interpreted as authorizing the CRTC to implement the proposed value for signal regime,” the Supreme Court said in a majority decision.

The CRTC has maintained retransmission fees are required to fulfill the objectives of the federal Broadcasting Act, and so any value for signal regime would fall under its jurisdiction.

The high court disagreed as it ruled: “No provision of the Broadcasting Act expressly grants jurisdiction to the CRTC to implement the proposed regime, and it was not sufficient for the CRTC to find jurisdiction by referring in isolation to policy objectives in s. 3 and deem that the proposed value for signal regime would be beneficial for the achievement of those objectives.”

Cable and satellite TV operators successfully appealed an earlier Federal Court of Appeal split decision that granted the CRTC jurisdiction over retransmission fees.

Bell Media, meanwhile, petitioned the Supreme Court to consider upholding the lower court decision, clearing the way for first-time fees for carriage to be negotiated.