Internet policy review threatens higher cable bills
By Deirdre McMurdy, Sympatico / MSN Finance
The federal broadcast regulator has launched extensive hearings that explore whether the internet has become another channel for broadcasting and need to have its own Canadian content rules and other guidelines for its future evolution.
It all sounds sufficiently high concept and non-threatening, but for consumers - specifically the millions of cable customers in Canada - this process has a potentially pricey outcome: if a tax is imposed on cable companies to help pay for the production of new Canadian content, that will almost certainly be passed along to end users. That means internet access will become more expensive at a time when few households are able to pay more for anything.