CRTC to hear from 94 groups on community television policy framework
By The Wire Report
Created 04/07/2010 - 5:13pm
The CRTC’s upcoming hearings on the state of community television are attracting broad interest as the commission prepares to hear from 94 organizations this month, including cable providers, industry groups, unions, consumer rights groups, charities, community organizations and individual Canadians.
Over the course of seven days, the commission will hear from the groups on how to approach a community television policy framework that hasn’t been amended since 2002.
The hearings will begin April 26 with testimonials from the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS) and Shaw Communications Inc., who have opposing views about how to approach community television policy.
Shaw, along with other cable providers like Rogers Communications Inc. and Cogeco Cable Inc., has recommended only minor changes to the current policy framework.
“The Commission should maintain a policy framework that provides broadcasting distribution undertakings (BDUs) with increased funding and maximum regulatory flexibility,” say Shaw’s written comments to the CRTC, submitted Feb. 1, 2010.
CACTUS argues that the cable providers, who operate community television stations across the country, have professionalized the sector at the expense of community access.
The organization has proposed a plan to give communities control of the local airwaves through the creation of a new, over-the-air “community-access” licence and a Community Access Media Fund to support stations.
Most groups are expected to fall somewhere in between a potentially polarized debate.
The hearings will take place at the CRTC Monday April 26 to Tuesday May 4.
Copyright ©2010 Hill Times Publishing Inc.
Reproduction or retransmission of any kind without permission is prohibited.
Over the course of seven days, the commission will hear from the groups on how to approach a community television policy framework that hasn’t been amended since 2002.
The hearings will begin April 26 with testimonials from the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS) and Shaw Communications Inc., who have opposing views about how to approach community television policy.
Shaw, along with other cable providers like Rogers Communications Inc. and Cogeco Cable Inc., has recommended only minor changes to the current policy framework.
“The Commission should maintain a policy framework that provides broadcasting distribution undertakings (BDUs) with increased funding and maximum regulatory flexibility,” say Shaw’s written comments to the CRTC, submitted Feb. 1, 2010.
CACTUS argues that the cable providers, who operate community television stations across the country, have professionalized the sector at the expense of community access.
The organization has proposed a plan to give communities control of the local airwaves through the creation of a new, over-the-air “community-access” licence and a Community Access Media Fund to support stations.
Most groups are expected to fall somewhere in between a potentially polarized debate.
The hearings will take place at the CRTC Monday April 26 to Tuesday May 4.
Copyright ©2010 Hill Times Publishing Inc.
Reproduction or retransmission of any kind without permission is prohibited.
It is an interesting time for Canadian telecom consumers.
From Canadian Broadcasting Magazine:
CRTC Audits Reveal Abuses of Community Channels -- CACTUS
CRTC audits of community channels operated by Canada' largest cable companies from 2002 through 2005 (the last year in which the CRTC monitored them) show numerous abuses, said the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations today.
From Canadian Broadcasting Magazine:
CRTC Audits Reveal Abuses of Community Channels -- CACTUS
CRTC audits of community channels operated by Canada' largest cable companies from 2002 through 2005 (the last year in which the CRTC monitored them) show numerous abuses, said the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations today.
In 2002, the CRTC found that 11 of the 13 systems it audited, including Shaw, Cogeco, Access, Eastlink, and Rogers, could not be evaluated because of missing tapes, tape malfunctions, and inconsistencies between logs and tapes.
Rogers routinely exceeded the maximum of two minutes per hour of promotional ads allowed (sometimes by as much as 7 minutes), and doubled the 15-second limit for sponsorship messages. Its OHL hockey program contained 24 ads in one episode and another 41 two nights later-but none of the ads were indicated in the Rogers logs. As for On Line with Rogers, aired in Guelph, the CRTC wrote the hour-long show was "similar to an hour long promo of their services."
Community channels were created in the 1970s to enable Canadians to actively participate in their own broadcasting system. The CRTC's current policy requires cable companies to ensure that at least 30% of their community channels' schedules consist of "access program": that is, produced by members of the community. The companies have been having difficulty meeting this minimum (reporting only 27% access production last year). The CRTC audits found that Cogeco, Rogers, Shaw, and Persona all classified staff-produced news and other programming-even MTV promos in one instance-as "access programming". Some Eastlink systems reported no access programming at all.
"The CRTC's data show that Canada's 'community' channels have become promotional tools for cable companies," said Catherine Edwards, spokesperson for CACTUS. "Canadians should know that cable companies collected more than $120 million from them last year so that they could have an entry point into their own broadcasting system, but very little of that money is being spent on training or access." In 2004 the CRTC concluded there did not "appear to be any promotion of community access on any of the channels monitored."
CACTUS has proposed that the millions collected by cable companies for community access be directed to a new fund that would enable more than two hundred Canadian communities to run 21st century multimedia training and distribution centres. CACTUS says they would bring back significant quantities of local programming to communities of every size. "Apart from generating thousands of hours of new Canadian hyper-local content, the money earmarked for community expression would be administered by accountable local bodies," said Edwards. "At no new cost to Canadians, they would receive training and access the newest digital tools and technologies."
CACTUS has posted a summary of the audits and the audits themselves on its web site at cactus.independentmedia.ca. Copies of the audits were obtained under an Access to Information request.
"Given the widespread abuse of the community channel revealed in these audits, we were disappointed that the CRTC today denied our seventh request to release more recent information about the performance of cable community channels" said Edwards. "The letter said 'Logistical challenges and third-party privacy issues do not make this feasible at this time.' We wonder when would be a good time, if not now?".
FROM www.digitcom.ca :
The cable companies are seemingly always at war against the CRTC, for instance, and the phone companies are buying up new territory and trying to box out the ostensible competition. As consumers, we're constantly being told that things are getting better on the Canadian telecommunications landscape and that we should be patient because, like a superhero flying over the Rocky Mountains with discounted services in his hands, competition is on the way.
FROM www.digitcom.ca :
The cable companies are seemingly always at war against the CRTC, for instance, and the phone companies are buying up new territory and trying to box out the ostensible competition. As consumers, we're constantly being told that things are getting better on the Canadian telecommunications landscape and that we should be patient because, like a superhero flying over the Rocky Mountains with discounted services in his hands, competition is on the way.
One of the more compelling arenas in which all of this action is taking place is with the way Canada’s telecommunications giants are handling community television channels. According to audits conducted by the CRTC from 2002 to 2005, the last year that they performed such audits, various “abuses” were uncovered. Furthermore, out of the 13 systems audited, 11 of them could not be completely evaluated due to inconsistencies between logs and tapes, lost tapes, and malfunctions. The Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS) says that Canada’s community channels have become little more than promotional tools for thecable companies.
“Canadians should know that cable companies collected more than $120 million from them last year so that they could have an entry point into their own broadcasting system, but very little of that money is being spent on training or access,” says Catherine Edwards, spokesperson for CACTUS.
According to data from the audits, Rogers “routinely” exceeded the maximum of promo ads allowed, often by as much as seven minutes. Another example points to the program “On Line with Rogers,” which the CRTC described as “similar to an hour long promo of their services.”
CACTUS has posted complete summaries of the audits here. You can also obtain copies of the audits through an Access to Information request.
One of the more convincing proposals from CACTUS regarding this issue is that the money collected by cable companies intended for community access television be “redirected” to a new fund that would allow over 200 Canadian communities to run multimedia training and distribution centres of their own rather than relying on the futile experiments that are community television networks.
Further to these points, the notion that the plunder from these and sundry issues must be somehow passed down to the consumers if the big giants aren’t saved the yoke of additional taxation is, as you might imagine, exceedingly odious.
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Written by: Jordan Richardson. www.digitcom.ca
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