CRTC agrees to allow Fox News, NFL Network into Canada
The CRTC on November 18 granted the U.S. cable news network Fox News and the football TV channel NFL Network permission to be distributed in Canada on a digital basis (CCR, April 22/04). The commission determined that the two U.S. services were not partially or totally competitive with any Canadian pay or specialty channels in keeping with current regulatory rules. In comparing Fox News to the Canadian specialty news channels, CBC Newsworld and CTV Newsnet, the commission found, "…While all of these services offer coverage of major world news stories of the day, Fox News offers little or no Canadian coverage. CTV Newsnet and CBC Newsworld, both of which have high Canadian content requirements, provide coverage of many Canadian news events from various parts of the country throughout the day. The commission also notes that Fox News is not a program supplier to either of Canada’s licensed, English-language, specialty news services…" The CRTC also determined "that the programming offered by NFL Network would complement rather than compete with licensed (Canadian) pay and specialty sports services."