TVA union asking CRTC to stop Quebecor from closing newscasts
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Bell said if Quebecor follows through on an announcement to end two newscasts without commission approval, the CRTC has no choice but to fine the company due to repeated violations of its conditions of licence, according to an intervention in the case.
On June 2, Quebecor’s TVA made the decision to this week end the two CFCM-DT weekend newscasts in Quebec, one day after it filed a Part 1 application asking the CRTC to remove that obligation due to financial constraints. The CRTC followed up with a letter to the company last week expressing concern that it would snub its nose at the normal process of first getting commission approval before it reneged on its obligations.
While Bell acknowledged the financial losses from maintaining local news programming and recognizing that Quebecor’s request would give it the needed flexibility to manage local news spending, it said it is “highly concerned” about the way Quebecor is going about it.
“We certainly understand the crisis facing local television stations and their news operations,” Bell said. “However, that is not a sufficient reason for a broadcast licensee to abandon its [conditions of licence or COL] without prior Commission approval.
“Moreover, the Commission typically denies a licensee’s request for amendments where there is non-compliance with regulatory obligations; specifically, the Commission has refused to grant relief where the non-compliance relates to the same obligation that the licensee has sought to remove because approving the requested amendment would call into question the integrity of the licensing process.
“Therefore, if the Commission allows CFCM-DT to abandon its COLs without sanctioning them, this will undermine regulatory compliance and set a precedent to other licensees that COLs can be ignored,” Bell added.
Bell noted that the Online Streaming Act, which amends the Broadcasting Act, gives the CRTC the ability to levy fines against broadcasters who fail to comply with their conditions of service. Bell pointed to one criterion for establishing whether a fine is warranted – a history of repeated violations.
Bell pointed to Quebecor’s decision to cut the signal of its TVA Sports channel to Bell viewers on the first night of the NHL playoffs in April 2019 because it said the terms of the distribution were unfair. The CRTC held an emergency hearing after the signal was cut and found Quebecor had violated the terms of the agreement and forced it to continue to provide the signal.
“We submit that if TVA proceeds to unilaterally eliminate its weekend newscasts on CFCM-DT, then the Commission must proceed to initiate proceedings against TVA and levy an AMP against them,” Bell said. “If not, then the Commission must expressly permit all licensees to implement changes to their COLs while simultaneously applying for Commission approval for those changes.”
Quebecor has said that it wants to work with the CRTC to maintain local news programming, and said it would file a response to the concerned commission letter shortly.
Meanwhile Local 687 of the Syndicat canadien de la function publique, the union representing TVA employees, filed an application asking the CRTC to make an order restraining Quebecor from proceeding to cut the newscasts.
“By acting in this way, TVA Group is ignoring the equitable right of all Canadian citizens to comment on its request to abolish weekend newscasts at CFCM-DT,” the union said.
On the substance of the matter, Bell has agreed that the CRTC must focus on immediately relieving broadcasters of onerous regulatory obligations. In fact, it led its first intervention in the implementation of the new broadcasting framework with the need for the commission to address just that, as the process to implement the new bill will take a very long time.
Last week, Bell cut 1,300 positions and axed six AM radio stations due to the climate.
Corus and Cogeco have similarly requested that immediate relief be granted independent of the C-11 implementation process, which will force unregulated online streamers to contribute to the system and thereby reduce the pressure on Canadian broadcasters.
Corus has asked for its Canadian programming expenditure requirements to be reduced from 30 per cent to 25 per cent of previous year’s revenues and to reduce from 8.5 to 5 per cent its obligation to programs of national interest (PNI). (Creative unions have objected to Corus’s relief request.)
In a separate intervention, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters said it supports Quebecor’s and Corus’s applications for immediate relief of some of their regulatory obligations.
“Ultimately, what these applications demonstrate is that in the face of unprecedented competition for content, audiences, and advertising dollars from unregulated online providers, Canadian broadcasters need operational and regulatory flexibility now,” the CAB said.
“We urge the Commission to immediately recalibrate the system, to approve these applications, and others that may follow, and help to ensure the sustainability and continuity of healthy Canadian broadcasting businesses to the ultimate benefit of the Commission’s cultural objectives.”
In another Part 1 application, Rogers has requested that the CRTC amend its broadcasting licence to allow it spend 100 per cent – from 75 per cent – of its programs of national interest spending on independent programming provided it is given the flexibility to devote that money to all other television program categories, including music, dance, music video, game shows, and reality television shows like CityTV’s Canada’s Got Talent.
Rogers said these programs are expensive to produce “yet are central vehicles for communicating Canadian stories and values.”
The relief request would only apply until the next licence renewal period, which is in August next year.
