The CRTC’s regulatory tweaks for Canadian TV released Thursday will be the hot topic of debate at the Canadian Association of Broadcasters convention, which gets underway Sunday.

‘This will define the conference,’ CAB president and CEO Glenn O’Farrell said ahead of the Nov. 2-4 Ottawa talk fest, as his members chew on the CRTC denying them much-needed subscriber fees from cablers and satellite TV operators.

‘We’re all informed, as of Thursday afternoon, as to the new road map. This will educate and inform our position going into the convention as to whether these are all good news or bad news stories,’ O’Farrell added.

CAB delegates will get a chance to grill Konrad von Finckenstein first thing Monday morning when the CRTC chair explains his rationale for nixing the fee-for-carriage proposal, while at the same time introducing a host of other rule changes for the digital transition.

Later that morning, regulatory execs including Canwest’s Charlotte Bell, Bell Canada’s Mirko Bibic, Astral Media’s Sophie Émond and Rogers Communications’ Ken Engelhart will get a chance to weigh in on the CRTC decision during a mid-morning panel.

With a CAB convention designed more to play on market realities than promote ideas, delegates will also attend panels on the business case for local newscasts, the digital TV and radio transition, PVRs and webcasts, and Canada’s changing demographics.