CRTC Releases Yet Another "Paternalistic" Community TV Policy

Ottawa (August 28,2010) After eight long years of complaints from the Canadian public that they have been excluded from "community TV channels" on cable, the CRTC yesterday released a new community TV policy for Canada that is little better than the existing policy.

As dissenting Commissioner Michel Morin dubs it, "The Commission’s paternalistic community model" leaves community cable channels and the money that is collected from Canadians for "local expression" firmly under the control of cable companies. Catherine Edwards, Spokesperson for the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS) noted, "The Commission ignored the request of the Canadian public—which was made abundantly clear at these hearings—that the time has come for community broadcasting to be in the hands of communities, as it is in all Western countries that have a community sector. This is how it operates here in Canada in the community radio sector. Why not TV?"

Licences for communities to run their own channels were introduced in 2002, but there was no funding formula. The CRTC’s analysis acknowledges that a lack of funding explains why so few community licenses have been requested, yet the new policy denies communities access to the Local Programming Initiative Fund that is available to private broadcasters, denies access to commercial advertising, and denies access to the more than $120 million collected annually from Canadians for "local expression", but which instead goes to cable companies for their professional regional channels.

Edwards reflected, "What’s particularly sad is how outdated the Commission’s model of community TV is. Approximately 40% of Canadians don’t subscribe to cable, so a cable channel as a digital townhall for Canadians just doesn’t work anymore. We also presented data to show that the majority of the more than 300 unique community channels and studios that once existed on cable have already been closed. This evidence appears to have been ignored. The relatively minor tweaks to the existing policy do nothing to address the closures."

CACTUS proposed a new model of community broadcasting that would offer access to digital technologies, tools and training in every community across the country, available on all platforms, not just cable. "It’s a real missed opportunity," said Edwards.

Contacts: Catherine Edwards, CACTUS (819) 772-2862

More than 3,000 Canadians Endorse Community Ownership of Community TV

Campbell River Community TV, Vancouver Island

Ottawa (April 23/2010) New analysis done by the Community Media Education Society (CMES) of the thousands of submissions filed in the CRTC’s review of its community TV policy shows that more than three thousand Canadians support community ownership and control of community TV, said the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS). The submissions are a key part of the evidence before the CRTC as it assesses its policy in this area, along with the testimony at a hearing beginning Monday

“Canadians are passionate about their right to access their own broadcasting system,” said CACTUS spokesperson, Cathy Edwards, “Even letters that support the old status quo of cable company control strongly support the existence of a community channel and the importance of local content.”  The CMES analysis found that the majority of letters appearing to support continued cable authority over communities’ TV channels may not have understood that cable companies have virtually eliminated Canadians’ ability to create and produce their own programs on community channels.  “Cable companies have so thoroughly eroded the access concept by replacing community-produced programs with their own productions, that many of those who wrote the CRTC were  grateful simply to have been guests on programs made by cable companies.”

"Transferring control of the community TV channel to communities themselves means that access will no longer be a whimsy of a few large companies,” said Edwards. "At the CRTC’s first community TV hearing in 1971, intervenor after intervenor asked that community TV be run by communities themselves. We need to listen to Canadians.”  Community control is standard in Canada’s community radio sector, and in every other country with community TV. 

CACTUS will answer questions about the details of the Community Media Access Fund plan for community ownership and control of community TV on Day One of the CRTC hearing beginning April 26^th.  The CMES analysis of the submissions to the CRTC is available on the CACTUS website at cactus.independentmedia.ca.

CACTUS Contact: Catherine Edwards, (819) 772-2862
CMES Contact:  Richard Ward (403) 613-0869

Canadian Community Television Policy Hearings Scheduled

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.

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.

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 21^st 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.

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.

This round of information, coupled with CTVglobemedia VP of Corporate Affairs Paul Sparkes’ cutting critique of Rogers’ Phil Lind’s recent piece in the Toronto Sun, certainly doesn’t appear to win many public relations points for the cable companies or thetelecommunications giants.

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.

Did you like this post ? TheTelecomBlog.com publishes daily news, editorial, thoughts, and controversial opinion – you can subscribe by: RSS (click here), or email (click here).

Written by: Jordan Richardson. www.digitcom.ca 

Letter from Canada (French Below)

Illustration from an article entitled: "How cable companies and the CRTC’s lenience are killing what’s left of community TV"
....from the Fast Forward web site.

This is a letter from Catherine Edwards

Dear Friends of Community TV

1) CBC Television national is going to air a story tonight or tomorrow about the payout of $3,000 per person in Campbell River for the sale of their cable-cooperative to Shaw. This was a highly controversial sale last year, which was approved by the CRTC in a closed hearing in less than 10 minutes. Campbell River TV had just celebrated its 50th anniversary of programming.

2) A new community programming service on Les-iles-de-la-Madeleine just got its license--and for the first time in Canadian history--was awarded the 5% cable levy from Eastlink, because the company did not have plans to operate a community channel on the islands. However, not a week had gone by when 2009-544 was announced, which
exempts cable companies from seeking licenses in systems having fewer than 20,000 subscribers. (The previous limit had been 6,000, and before that... 2,000.) It's part of the CRTC's trend toward increasing deregulation, and another example of how community television continues to be negatively impacted by cable industry market conditions and regulations. The result for Television des Iles is that Eastlink is no longer going to provide the cable levy. See the CACTUS web site for more info.

3) If you're a community television organization and you haven't already done so, please list your organization on the CACTUS web site. As we start to get more press as we near the hearings, we need the site to be up to date... Just today, the CBC
reporter who contacted us was puzzled that there appear to be only five community television organizations in the country!

To post your information:

- a) Create an account (from the front page... you just pick a name and password for yourself).

- b) Go to "Create Content".

- c) "Create a Media Organization"

- d) Fill out the form... takes a minute or two at most.

If you have questions, don't hesitate to get in touch. Thanks a lot! It's important.

Cathy Edwards
Canadian Association of Community TV Users and Stations
(CACTUS)
(819) 772-2862
cactus.independentmedia.ca

Chers amis de la television communautaires:

1) La Television Radio Canada/CBC (anglais) va montrer une reportage ce soir ou demain au sujet du $3,000 qui est en train d'etre payer a chacun des membres du cooperative CRTV (Campbell River TV) a l'ile de Vancouver, pour avoir vendu leur
service du cable a Shaw l'annee passee. Pour ceux qui n'ont pas suivi l'histoire l'annee passe, la vente etait tres controversial, mais elle etait approuve par le CRTC en moins que dix minutes sans question, dans une auditoire close.

2) La television des iles, la premiere "service de programmation communautaire" au Canada pour recevoir tous le 5% de cablodistributeur Eastlink, l'a perdu comme resultat de 2009-544. Voyez le site de web de CACTUS pour l'histoire complete.

3) Si vous etes un canal communautaire, s'il vous plait inscrivez-vous sur le site de CACTUS pour etre compter... on commence a avoir beaucoup de circulation. Aujourd'hui, par exemple, la journaliste de Radio Canada m'a demande "Pourquoi il y a seulement 5 canaux dans la liste? Est-ce qu'il n'y a seulement que 5 canaux communautaire au pays?" Ces visites vont augmenter pendant les auditoires, et nous avons besoin de credibilite. Merci!

Pour le faire:

- a) Creez une nouvelle compte (vous pouvez le faire vous-memes en choississant un nom et mot de passe)
- b) Choissez "Create Content"
- c) Choissez "Add a Media Organization"
- d) Remplissez l'information demandee.

Sous vous avez besoin d'aide, n'hesite pas a nous contacter... votre membre de TVR9, Francois Gauthier (la Vallee-du-Richelieu) a traduit la majorite de notre site comme benevole, mais pas tous les details.

Letter Asking for Support of Canadian Community TV

Dear Friends of Community TV,

I want to thank all of you for your interest and interventions so far on behalf of community television in Canada.

We are slowly being heard. The CRTC "Diversity Hearings" held in the fall of 2007 received over 1500 interventions on behalf of community television, even though the focus of that hearing was not community TV.

In the spring of 2008, the cable distribution hearings, which proposed to remove the community channel from the basic cable tier also received many interventions in opposition. The CRTC last week released their rulings from this hearing. For now, the community channel is safe in the basic cable package, although it (and other channels in the basic cable package) no longer necessarily have low numbers.Because of the number of interventions on behalf of community television, the CRTC also committed to do a full review of the community TV sector in 2009.

In preparation for those hearings, on the strength of my research into community TV policy and practices in other countries, I have been asked to write a report summarizing my findings.

So all this is good news, and it has only been possible because of the interventions of many of you at each of these hearings. As a CRTC policy analyst whom I met at the Quebec Federation of Independent Community Television stations told me two weeks ago, they get lobbied by the cable industry and invited to events all the time, hearing that industry's point of view. It is much more difficult for them to get an accurate picture of how the public feels, unless we persist in writing to them at hearing time.

Consequently, I would like to ask for your support via another intervention this coming week for Campbell River Community Television. It is cable co-operative (owned by its 13,780 resident members) on Vancouver Island that has been providing cable service and a community television channel run by volunteers for 50 years. As such, it's one of the few remaining community
channels in English Canada that has genuine access by its community.

In April of this year, Shaw Cablesystems received approval (without a public hearing) from the CRTC to offer competitive service within their license area. Shaw mailed an offer to buy the cablesystem for $3,000 per member to each household in the community (which is not legal... the proceeds of a non-profit society cannot be distributed among its members) and rumours also started to be circulated that if the co-operative didn't sell to Shaw, that Shaw would have the power to cut off or interfere with the co-operative's access to channel signals and bandwidth. In fact, the latter is also not legal under CRTC regulation. (It's like different long-distance telephone providers all being allowed to use the Bell/Telus phone network.)

The co-operative also had a clause in its constitution that stipulated that 75% of the total membership had to approve any sale in writing. That clause was rewritten to be only 75% of the members present at any given meeting (a process that the BC Societies Act has also confirmed as not legal), and fewer than 500 members present at an August meeting voted to sell to Shaw.

This week, the CRTC is asking for public opinion on the sale of the co-operative to Shaw, and the dead-line for comments is next Thursday, November 13th. This hearing is also a "closed hearing", in that the commissioners who will decide will do so on December 8th in Ottawa/Gatineau, with no opportunity for the Campbell River residents to appear in person.

So, while you may not wish to comment on details of a sale process about which you know very little, CACTUS, and the "Save the Campbell River TV" committee would like to ask for your help in writing in this week to share your experience of:

a) the importance of community TV channels that are genuinely accessible by the community (please share any details of what
participation at your local community channel in the past has meant to you)

b) for those of you who live in areas serviced by Shaw, your first-hand experience of what happens to community TV in a Shaw service area

c) your support for the idea that no further sales should be approved that could further weaken the position of the few surviving genuine community-access television channels in English Canada, prior to the sector review in 2009.

If you have a specific interest in the details of the transaction in Campbell River, the attached document is CACTUS' draft intervention to this process, which outlines the key events that have occurred, with links to the Campbell River Television Association's own web site and to relevant documentation.

But even without knowing all the details, it is CACTUS' view that a sale of a 50-year-old locally run cable service and community channel should not be allowed to pass until all information are openly available and understood by the community. We would like the CRTC to delay this hearing and to move it to the community in question, so that a full and open process can occur.

If you would like to lend your support:

1) Click this link before next Thursday:

http://support.crtc.gc.ca/rapidscin/default.aspx?lang=en&applicant=n2008-13

2) Click to put a checkmark in the box next to:

200811879 Shaw Cablesystems.

Then Click "Next". The rest of the process is pretty self-explanatory, but
just in case...

3) If you oppose the sale to Shaw, click the drop-down box that says:

"My comments are in OPPOSITION".

4) On that same page, either:

a) Type your comment directly into the comment box, or
b) Attach a document with your comments.

If you type your comment directly into the comment box, copy it (highlight
and click Ctrl-C), because you will be required to send a copy of your
comment to Shaw later in the process.

Click "Next".

5) If you want to present your point of view in person, indicate this and
why on the next page. Click "Next".

6) On the next page, fill out your contact information, and make sure you
click the final box, indicating that you are going to send a copy of your
intervention to Shaw. If you don't do this, your intervention will not be
included on the public record.

Click "Next".

7) Click "Submit".

8) Either mail, fax or e-mail a copy of your comment and your contact
information to:

Shaw Cablesystems Limited
630 - 3rd Avenue North-West
Calgary, Alberta
T2P 4L4
Fax: 403-716-6544
E-Mail: michael.ferras@sjrb.ca

Thanks and good luck! Your support does make a difference.

Cathy Edwards
Canadian Association of Community TV Users and Stations
(CACTUS)
cactus.independentmedia.ca
1 (819) 772-2862