CRTC says CBC has 30 days to propose new programming model for Bold channel

The CBC has 30 days to find a way to come into compliance with its licence for its Bold specialty channel following a CRTC decision Wednesday. The CRTC on Wednesday denied the CBC’s application to change the nature of its Category 1 specialty television channel, called Bold. In a long-standing dispute, the CBC advised the CRTC on Oct. 26, 2007 that it wanted to rebrand its Country Canada channel as Bold. The CBC sought to modify the channel’s program schedule from programming aimed at rural Canadians to high-end drama and the performing arts. The CBC argued that the changes could be made without amending the channel’s nature of service, or its broadcasting licence description. On Nov. 27, 2007, the CRTC advised the CBC that it would need approval to amend the condition of licence to launch Bold. But in March 2008, the CBC moved ahead with its plan, officially rebranding Country Canada as Bold. The CBC maintained that the new programming schedule was in line with the niche nature of service under the original Country Canada broadcasting licence. “The service, though originally intending to commission and develop original programming, never achieved the penetration and revenue projections and so has had to depend on off-the-shelf programming that is from a rural perspective. Consequently, the overall schedule has never been from a rural perspective,” the CBC argued in a letter to the commission in November 2008. “In the information age, where one lives is less of a factor and a rigid view of bold’s nature of service is inappropriate and will not allow bold to be relevant, attract or even retain television viewers.” The commission then decided that the CBC’s programming changes were inconsistent with Country Canada’s original nature of service—which aimed to provide “rural Canadians with distinctive programming focused on the rural experience”—and said that a hearing was necessary to settle the matter. On Wednesday the CRTC determined that approving the CBC application “would negatively impact the integrity of the licensing process since the proposed nature of service is too broad to ensure that bold provides programming of particular interest to rural Canadians in accordance with its original licensing decision.” The CBC now has 30 days to provide the CRTC with an alternate programming proposal for the channel.

CRTC says CBC has 30 days to propose new programming model for Bold channel

Brief | April 14, 2010

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CRTC says CBC has 30 days to propose new programming model for Bold channel

Brief | April 14, 2010

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