OTTAWA – The Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS) said today it has received a letter from the CRTC indicating the Commission is deferring consideration of almost 60 complaints filed against community TV channels until their cable licence renewals this fall.
The complaints were filed by CACTUS in partnership with community groups earlier this year, and were concerned with cable community TV channels operated by Eastlink, Cogeco, Shaw and Rogers. According to CACTUS, the channels either fail to air adequate local content (generally 60% of the program schedule) or adequate citizen-generated content (generally 50% of the schedule) — or both.
In a news release, Cathy Edwards, executive director of CACTUS, states the Commission’s deferral is “the latest in a series of CRTC failures to enforce community channel policy.”
In the release, Edwards referenced other instances when the CRTC chose not to take action regarding previous complaints filed by CACTUS and its members.
“Under Access to Information requests, CACTUS discovered that CRTC audits of community channels from 2002 to 2005 revealed that the majority of cable companies did not air enough local and access content. No remedial action was taken,” Edwards wrote.
“After inviting CACTUS to produce an 170-page analysis of cable community channels logs in 2011, revealing widespread non-compliance with CRTC policy, the Commission itself refused to consider the data,” Edwards said in the release. “CACTUS received a 4-page letter from CRTC staff stating, ‘In most cases, BDUs meet the minimum requirements regarding the broadcast of access and local programming.’ Staff refused to share the basis for this conclusion and nothing was done.”
Edwards went on to write: “As far back as 1986, the Report on the Task Force on Broadcasting recommended that community TV should be separately licensed from cable systems. Today’s deferral underscores this point. How can citizens address problems with community channel service if they have to wait 5-10 years for a cable licence renewal? And why should cable companies care, if there’s no licence to lose?”
