The Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) is dissolving after failing to find a solution to an impasse with some of its members.
Chairman Elmer Hildebrand said the organization, which represents Canadian radio and television broadcasters, has decided to close this June.
Hildebrand has been trying since December to help the CAB find common ground between broadcasters and cable operators, who have been forcing increasingly different views on the industry.
Cable companies like Rogers Communications Inc. and Shaw Communications hold television assets themselves–Citytv and Corus’ specialty channels respectively–but they also have diverging views from local TV giants CTV and Canwest.
After reviewing its strategy, the organization concluded that local TV operators wouldn’t be able to find a common ground with the cable companies.
Both Canwest and CTV have been pushing for fee for carriage, a new charge for cable companies to carry over-the-air television signals, an approach that has created a major rift between the two sides.
Last November, James Careless, a long-time media journalist who has covered the CAB for 20 years, wrote an article under the headline "Is the Canadian Association of Broadcasters Doomed?" for Radio World International, suggesting the fight over fee for carriage could ultimately cause the association to unravel.
"No, I’m not surprised, because the landscape has changed so radically," he told Marketing when told of the news late Thursday afternoon.
For decades the CAB was a forum for broadcasters to resolve disputes and present a unified voice for the industry. But during the fee-for-carriage PR fight and subsequent hearings before the CRTC, the CAB seemingly played no meaningful role, he said. "The only reason they have been quiet is because their members are on both sides of the issue," he said.
In the past, it was clear who the CAB was working for, and though its members would sometimes disagree they could usually work their problems out internally. But with the introduction and rapid growth of specialty TV properties, many of which are owned by cable companies, the differences between members became intractable and the CAB virtually impotent.
"That is what killed them," Careless said. "It is still a shame because for many years the CAB was a very powerful organization."
"It had become obvious some time ago that the three sectors, television, radio and specialty [channels], all in the same room couldn’t really sort out their priorities in a manner that the association could actually do their work," confirmed Hildebrand.
"It was my hope to be able to peel off the television and the specialty [channels] and maintain the organization as a radio-only association."
The Canadian Association of Broadcasters was established 84 years ago to represent the radio industry and pursue common concerns, though it later branched into television broadcasting when both industries began to share similar interests.
Hildebrand said he hopes to form a new organization that solely represents radio broadcasters.
Industry reports have indicated that independent broadcasters like Channel Zero, Glassbox, APTN, OutTV and TV5 could form their own lobby group as well.
Careless suggested the broadcasters may also want to "cobble something together" to present a united front and reduce infighting. "It is going to hurt the broadcaster," he said of the CAB’s demise.
The organization had struggled in the recession, laying off 14 full-time employees last January in response to "economic and market realities." At that time it said it planned to operate with "reduced resources and a more focused approached to advocacy."
A month prior to that, Glenn O’Farrell, who had been CAB’s president since 2002, left the organization. He is now CEO of MédiadeNovo. The CAB presidency has remained vacant ever since.
