Life imitates Coyne

"Let [broadcasters] charge the cable companies for their signals if they like — but let the cablecos choose whether they wish to carry them."

-- A. Columnist, Let us watch what we want, Maclean’s, last week

"Liberal MP Scott Simms asked Rogers if it would endorse a U.S.-style system where the networks collect fees from cable companies, but they don’t have mandated carriage as the networks in Canada do. The company said yes, but only if CTV and Global were willing to give up their mandatory carriage."

-- Globe and Mail, April 21

"The political fight over television carriage fees took a bizarre twist yesterday, when Rogers Communications Inc. told a parliamentary committee it would support the American model for fee-for-carriage.

CTVglobemedia Inc., one of Canada’s largest over-the-air broadcasters, immediately heralded the move as a significant step toward solving the crisis in conventional television."

-- Toronto Star, same day

"In response to testimony delivered to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, CTVglobemedia welcomed statements today from Rogers Communications executives on the acceptability of a fee-for-carriage regime in Canada based on the American retransmission consent model."

-- CTV press release