OTTAWA – More than 3,000 Canadians have pledged their support of community ownership of community TV, according to the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS).
After new analysis of the submissions filed in the CRTC’s review of its community TV policy, CACTUS said that 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”, said CACTUS spokesperson Cathy Edwards, in a statement. “Canadians are passionate about their right to access their own broadcasting system.”
CACTUS also said that community control is standard in Canada’s community radio sector, and “in every other country with community TV”.
The group is scheduled to appear on Day One of the CRTC hearing on Monday.
