Lobbying intensifies in advance of CRTC’s week-long hearings into community television

Lobbying is intensifying among community interest groups as they prepare for a heated debate next week at the CRTC’s hearings on community television. Community television supporters are celebrating a development at the Quebec National Assembly this week, which unanimously adopted a motion in support of the “fundamental role that independent community television plays for communities and for television.” The motion comes in advance of the commission’s week-long hearings, beginning Monday, to examine the state of community television in Canada. “The Assembly invites the CRTC to find a solution that would rebalance financing for community TV in favour of access by the community and citizen expression," Amir Khadir, a Québec Solidaire member of Quebec legislature, said in the National Assembly on Tuesday. The CRTC will hear from 74 special interest groups, corporations and individuals about the role they believe community television should play in the coming years. The Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS) will be the first group to present its arguments to the CRTC Monday morning. Last week, CACTUS held a lobby day in Ottawa, inviting parliamentarians and media to a reception where its members underlined the of importance community-owned and controlled television. CACTUS has prepared an argument that falls in line with Khadir’s statement—that community television must favour community expression. Under the current model, most of Canada’s community television channels are owned and operated by cable companies such as Rogers Cable Communications Inc., Shaw Communications Inc. and Cogeco Cable Inc. Cable companies that have more than 20,000 customers are required to pay a broadcast levy that amounts to two per cent of the revenues collected from subscribers. In 2008, the levy amounted to $116 million. CACTUS wants to use the levy to create a new fund called the Community Access Media Fund (CAMF). Under the CAMF, the levy would be redirected to establish new community-run multimedia training and production facilities in 250 communities across Canada. CACTUS has said that ordinary Canadians do not have enough access to the production facilities that are owned and operated by the cable companies. “You can’t define the community element in the broadcasting system by channels that are owned by for-profit companies,” Catherine Edwards, a spokeswoman for CACTUS, told The Wire Report. “These channels need to be owned and operated by communities.” This week, the Fédération des télévisions communautaires autonomes du Québec issued a release calling for access to a share of financing for independent community television channels. The release said that only 16 of the Fédération’s 46 independent stations do not receive any funding from cable operators. “Financing, even when available for the community channel, serves mainly the programming produced by cable operators themselves and only a small share goes to autonomous for their production of local and access programming,” the release said. The Fédération is also calling for the right to sell and distribute local commercial advertising on community channels, particularly to help finance the transition to digital and high-definition (HD) over-the-air broadcasting. To improve access, the Fédération has proposed that community channel licences be available to all not-for-profit groups producing community programming, allowing non-profit groups to offer programming on the cable companies' community channels. The cable companies say in their submissions that they support the current community television system and that community-generated content is often best suited for distribution on the Internet. “The Internet offers a rich and highly cost-efficient platform for community groups to connect and interact. Indeed, we are seeing many organizations and communities of interest accessing and using social media as a means of reaching and involving their audiences,” Cogeco said in its submission to the CRTC for the proceeding. “It is also likely to be much less costly to launch and promote a virtual web-based community portal than to apply for and maintain a CRTC licence for a community-based television undertaking.” Similarly, Colette Watson, vice-president of Rogers Television, told The Wire Report in February that the current model works. In its submission, Rogers said it gave 12,040 community groups access to 34 community television channels in 2003 and 2004. Shaw wrote in its submission that it represents the best interests of the local communities it covers with its community television stations in Western Canada. The company said it produces 9,000 hours of local content each year through these community stations. The CRTC hearings on the state of community television will take place from April 26 to May 4, 2010. jmigneault@thewirereport.ca

Lobbying intensifies in advance of CRTC’s week-long hearings into community television

Broadcast | April 23, 2010

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