9(1)(h) Hearing: Starlight brings out the big guns to plead for must carry movie channel

By Perry Hoffman

GATINEAU - Canadian feature films, along with some big-name filmmakers, took centre stage at the CRTC’s 9(1)(h) hearing on Thursday when Starlight: The Canadian Movie Channel, armed with a panel of noted Canadian film personalities such as Paul Gross, Denys Arcand, David Cronenberg and others, appeared to defend its application for mandatory carriage on digital basic. Describing Canadian feature films as the “orphans in our broadcasting system,” well known TV and film producer Robert Lantos argued that the CRTC has to fix this imbalance where Canadians “have been denied affordable access to them” by granting Starlight the requested 9(1)(h) status...