OTTAWA — Rogers Communications on Monday lashed out against fee-for-carriage, while Quebecor Media called for deregulation to help Canada’s ailing conventional TV industry, in separate appearances Monday before parliament’s Heritage committee.

But the two companies had widely differing views on what’s happening to over-the-air TV and how best to fix it.

Rogers vice-chair Phil Lind said broadcasters’ contention that the OTA system is ‘broken’ is a ‘self-serving fiction.’

OTA is a ‘cyclical’ industry that has been very profitable in the past, and that will rebound once the economy recovers, he stated, adding that Canwest’s and CTV’s specialty profits should be considered with their OTA properties.

But Quebecor CEO Pierre Karl Peladeau stated he had been warning the CRTC, politicians and others for several years that the OTA sector was dying due to fragmenting audiences and ad revenues, and new developments like the Internet.

Peladeau said fee-for-carriage — plus deregulation of CRTC-imposed wholesale rates, and the ability to acquire cross-platform rights — are needed if his company’s TVA network is to retain its Canadian content, which he pegged at 90% of the TV schedule.

Peladeau said lost ad revenues could be recouped by profiting from all platforms.

TVA’s average budget for an original TV drama has fallen to $600,000 an hour from $800,000, and it could plunge to $400,000 if nothing is done, said Grope TVA president and CEO Pierre Dion.

In English markets, Lind said OTA broadcasters have contributed to their financial troubles by overbidding for U.S. programming. He pointed out that Canwest and CTV spent 25% more in Hollywood in the last three years alone, while their other costs grew at about 2% per year.

Rogers regulatory SVP Ken Englehart acknowledged the power of the Internet, but used it to argue against fee-for-carriage. He repeated the argument that distributors would have to pass any fee-for-carriage onto consumers — meaning a $6.50 increase in subscribers’ monthly cable bills in Toronto and Montreal. Canwest and CTV are advocating a monthly fee of 50 cents per OTA signal.

‘It will be difficult for us to pay these fees when people can cancel cable and get those channels for free,’ over the air or on the Internet he noted, pointing out that OTA signals will be crystal clear once the conversion to digital occurs.

For Rogers the solution isn’t fee-for-carriage, but regulatory concessions, such as lower local programming requirements and the $60 million Local Programming Improvement Fund. The LPIF, funded by distributor contributions and set up by the CRTC, will subsidize local programming in small and medium-sized markets.