Nov. 27 (Bloomberg) -- CanWest Global Communications Corp. urged Canada's broadcasting regulator to force cable and satellite operators to pay to carry its signal, seeking new sources of revenue as conventional television viewership slides.

``We believe that private conventional television stations should receive subscriber fees to help ensure that we have access to a steady stream of funding,'' CanWest Chief Executive Officer Leonard Asper said at a public hearing at the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission today. His Winnipeg, Manitoba-based company owns the Global Television network.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization at CanWest's Canadian TV unit fell 75 percent last year as the company lost viewers to specialty channels, which charge cable and satellite companies for the right to show them. Cable operators such as Rogers Communications Inc. oppose CanWest's proposal, saying the move will increase costs for consumers.

The television regulator, based in Gatineau, Quebec, will rule next year what conditions conventional channels must meet to get their licenses renewed. The CRTC said it's looking at a range of issues that include whether to force channels to devote a share of their revenue to producing Canadian shows, how to accelerate the switch to high-definition television and whether channels in big cities should subsidize those in small markets.

``The alarm bell is ringing on the financial side,'' Pierre Belanger, a communications professor at the University of Ottawa said in an interview. CanWest's argument is ``irrefutable'' and the question is ``how, not if,'' he said.

Balance

The CRTC will find a balance between giving more revenues to the conventional television stations, charging more to customers and shrinking the specialty channels' revenues, Belanger said. Still, CanWest and others will face stringent conditions on any revenue increase they get, he said.

CanWest also is lobbying for more advertising time, saying product placement in its shows shouldn't count toward the 12 minutes of ads the company is allotted under CRTC rules. Ad sales growth in Canada slowed to 1 percent a year from 1998 to 2005, compared with 4.3 percent from 1991 to 1998, said Asper, 42.

CanWest and other broadcasters argue that new technologies, such as people using personal video recorders to skip ads, are forcing them to charge less to advertisers and that product placement, or ads contained in a show, would help them deal with this phenomenon.

Allowing CanWest to charge for service and loosening advertising rules may boost sales by as much as C$47 million ($41.5 million) a year, National Bank Financial analyst said in a note last month to clients. Total sales fell 5.1 percent to C$2.88 billion in the latest year ended in August.

Advertising

``Advertising is no longer the largest revenue stream in the Canadian television system,'' Asper said. In 2005, subscription revenue exceeded ad revenue by more then C$2 billion, he said.

Conventional television's viewership fell to 41 percent in 2005, from 47 percent in 1999, while that of specialty channels rose to 36 percent last year, from 23 percent in 1999, according to Nielsen Metered Data.

CanWest shares rose 13 cents, or 1.3 percent, to C$10.40 at the 4 p.m. close of trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alexandre Deslongchamps in Ottawa at adeslongcham@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 27, 2006 17:16 EST