OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Canadians will soon be able to subscribe to any homegrown news service they want, either in theme packs or a la carte, the CRTC announced Thursday.
“Canadian news services are an important part of our democracy,” said CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais, in a statement. “With the rules we are announcing today, Canadians, as citizens, will have access to the news services that are of interest to them and will therefore have an opportunity to be exposed to a variety of opinions on matters of public concern.”
The move is like Christmas coming early for struggling Sun News Network which last summer had its request for mandatory carriage rejected by the CRTC. That decision was the impetus for the new framework.
In Broadcasting Order 2013-735, also issued Thursday, the CRTC included a number of safeguards that it said will ensure “greater and more equitable access by the national news services to the Canadian broadcasting system and… provide all parties with the regulatory clarity they require to govern their commercial interactions”.
Specifically, the Commission is requiring all BDUs to offer CBC News Network, CTV News Channel, Le Canal Nouvelles, Le Réseau de l’information and Sun News Network to their subscribers as of March 19. It also set out the following requirements that must be in place by May 20, 2014:
– a requirement to include the programming services in the best available discretionary package consistent with their genre and programming;
– the option to subscribe to these services on a stand-alone basis when they are available in a discretionary package; and
– requirements for the filing of affiliation agreements, dispute resolution mechanisms and factors to be considered in the negotiation of wholesale rates for these services.
In addition, the Commission laid out a number of guidelines concerning the inclusion of these programming services in ‘news neighbourhoods’, where available.
