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The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) hearings into the television 'fee for carriage' issue serves to highlight the absurdities of our regulatory system.

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The CRTC has already ruled on the question, but since it didn't satisfy the traditional TV networks (primarily CTV, CBC and Global), rather than stick with a reasonable decision, it reopened the issue. Now, although the CRTC's mandate is to make such decisions, its chairman is daily begging the broadcasters and cable firms to relieve him of his job and work out a compromise, despite the fact it is obvious that is unlikely to happen.

It is also an attempt to duck the federal government, the CRTC's ultimate boss, that has let it be known that whatever is decided, it should not cost Canadian consumers anything more.

We are seeing the CRTC receiving various self-serving submissions from the traditional TV networks, most designed to make cable firms subsidize them. The CBC proposes a ludicrous new "skinny basic" cable tier that would be cheaper than the present one, give consumers the traditional channels and avoid higher fees if the basic is all a person wants. It's unsatisfactory and ignores the fact what most consumers want is an end to the tier system entirely, allowing them to buy only those channels they actually want to watch.

Where are the CRTC's ground rules? Where is the 'no additional cost' rule? The network solution of just taking it out of cable company profits is unlikely to work; nor is it reasonable for bureaucrats to arbitrarily tell private firms they must subsidize their competitors.

Pierre Peladeau, President of Quebecor which owns both traditional and cable TV holdings, has come closest to a rational solution: let the free market operate freely; hold negotiations on fees for carriage, including for speciality channels, with the proviso the end result will mean no increase for consumers. He says, correctly, that only private traditional networks should be included because the CBC is already generously funded by taxpayers (more than $1 billion a year) and should remain free. And he says, correctly, that consumers must be able to buy only the channels they want, on whatever platform they wish: no more tiers forcing people to spend more than they need to.

It's ironic that in the U.S. cable companies are bailing out networks with offers to buy them. In Canada, the networks simply want a bailout at the consumer's expense. Consumer choice is what matters. Put everything a la carte, (we already pay for CBC, so keep it free). And let the broadcasters figure out the market or fail. If the CRTC isn't going to protect citizens, why have it?