GATINEAU – The CRTC told Rogers Communications on Tuesday that it won’t have to appear at a hearing in December to explain the apparent non-compliance with the conditions of license of its specialty channel G4TechTV.
Last month, as reported by Cartt.ca, the Regulator called both it and Corus Entertainment’s Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) to a December 11th hearing to explain why the channels are still not complying with their conditions of license.
Thanks to recent action taken by Rogers, however, the Commission has decided G4 can avoid the hearing. In its release Tuesday the CRTC noted: “On 2 November 2012, Rogers Broadcasting Limited (RBL) filed a letter with the Commission in which it stated that it takes G4techTV’s non-compliance very seriously. In that letter, RBL further stated the following: ‘we have taken immediate steps to implement programming changes by November 5th, 2012 that, in our view, will bring [G4techTV’s] into full compliance with its nature of service and all other regulatory requirements and policies. Should the Commission deem the compliance measures RBL has taken to be satisfactory, we respectfully request the suspension of our appearance at the December 11th, 2012 show cause hearing.’ RBL also committed to file monthly program schedules with the Commission to confirm its ongoing compliance with its nature of service definition.”
Because of that action, the CRTC believes Rogers is doing enough to get the channel back to its conditions of license, but it will be watching.
“To ensure that G4TechTV’s programming remains consistent with its nature of service definition, RBL must submit G4TechTV’s program schedule to the Commission each month beginning 5 November 2012 and ending 5 November 2013. The Commission will review G4TechTV’s monthly programming schedules for this period, after which time it will determine whether any further action is required,” says the Commission.
At this point in time, OWN executives will still have to appear and defend the channel at the hearing.
