OTTAWA – With less than a week before the CRTC begins its community television hearing, the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS) has released details on a proposal which it says will hand community channels back to Canadians.
CACTUS suggests that the money that cable companies collect from their subscribers, (which it estimates as more than $100 million per year), be directed to a Community-Access Media Fund (CAMF) which would then be used to establish 250 community-run multi-media training and production centres across the country “in communities that have lost a distinct service on cable”.
The new centres would help to fulfill the objectives of the Canadian Broadcasting Act with respect to community media by enabling Canadians to access both traditional and new media platforms, and to participate meaningfully in both local culture and public discourse, and by extension, with Canadians across the country through content sharing, according to the proposal.
“Canada needs a digital strategy that encourages access to and the adoption of new technologies at the community level,” said CACTUS spokesperson Catherine Edwards, in a statement. “CAMF will fund media centres that will hold over-the-air licenses, be carried on the basic cable tier, and distribute to new media devices, including streaming over the Internet.”
Edwards said that participation would be open to all levels of the community, including individuals, non-profit and community-service organizations, local business, educational, and governmental institutions.
